UUKWANDONGO: The Ongandjera Traditional Authority and the royal family endorsed the nomination of 51-year-old Johannes Mupongolitha Tweuthigilwa yaJafet Mupiya as the new king of the Ongandjera tribe.
This followed the death of the popular king of Ongandjera, Jafet Malenga Munkundi, in the Windhoek Central Hospital of the Khomas Region at the age of 83 on 26 July this year.
Mupiya was an employee of the South African High Commission in Windhoek until his appointment immediately after the burial of the late Munkundi at the Ongandjera kings’ cemetery at Okahao last Saturday.
The chairperson of the Ongandjera Traditional Authority Council, Senior Headman Sakeus Shikongo told Nampa at ombala/palace of Ongandjera at the Uukwandongo village in the Omusati Region on Tuesday that the late Munkundi nominated Mupiya as his successor before his death.
“The late King Munkundi nominated Mupiya to be the 25th king of Ongandjera well in advance, and he had been grooming him for several years,” Shikongo explained.
He added that the Ongandjera royal family endorsed the nomination undisputed, and as such, Mupiya has already taken over the reins and started living in ombala since Saturday.
Crowned in 1971, Munkundi was the 24th king of Ongandjera after succeeding King Uushona Shiimi, who was killed in a car accident the same year near the Ogongo village, also in the Omusati Region.
The first king of Ongandjera is only known as Niilwa.
Mupiya will be the head of the Ongandjera Traditional Authority, with its six districts headed by senior headmen – Shikongo (Uuninginino district), Petrus Kathingo (Omuthitu district), Hileni Iyambo (Okalili district), Tomas Kamati (Omkondo district), Martha Iileka (Etilyasha district) and Nahum Kamati Joel (Uuzilo district).
“It is too early to set the date of the official installation of the new king, because the council of the Ongandjera Traditional Authority is yet to deliberate about it, and higher offices such as that of the country’s President, line Minister and Council of Traditional Leaders are to be informed first,” Shikongo explained.
He indicated that the Ongandjera Traditional Authority suspended its activities since the death of King Munkundi, and will resume only after members of the royal family, relatives, the traditional council and friends have paid their final tributes during a church service at Okahao this Sunday.
Mupiya’s 45-year-old wife Adelheid is currently a Parliamentary Clerk at the National Council in Windhoek, and the pair is blessed with two children.