Allexer Namundjembo
The Ondonga Traditional Authority leader, king Fillemon Nangolo Shuumbwa, has dismissed claims that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) kings supported Muammar Gaddafi’s proposal to be recognised as Africa’s “king of kings”.
Speaking at a Council of Traditional Authorities meeting in Ondangwa this week, Shuumbwa responded to remarks by Professor Joseph Diescho, who suggested some leaders backed Gaddafi’s idea in 2008.
Shuumbwa said none of the kings or chiefs from the region agreed to the plan.
He explained that he was part of a delegation invited to Libya by the Libyan Embassy in Namibia after the late king Immanuel Kauluma, who was unwell at the time, asked him to represent the Ondonga Traditional Authority.
“We went with some kings from SADC, including a chief from Kavango. When we received the invitation, it did not state that we were going to meet Gaddafi, but upon arrival in Libya, we were informed of a new programme,” Shuumbwa said.
He recalled being treated with high-level protocol.
“There was no direct route to Libya, so special arrangements were made for us to get there. It was like a presidential treatment,” he said.
According to Shuumbwa, the situation changed when the SADC delegation rejected Gaddafi’s proposal.
He said they were confined in what he described as a “room prison” at their hotel for three weeks.
“We were told that we could only move from our rooms to the dining hall. One day, we went to the reception and demanded to see Gaddafi himself. We then told him straight in his eyes that we would not agree to the proposal, reminding him that our King of Kings remains God,” Shuumbwa said.
He added that their passports were only returned after the confrontation. Without any special escort, the group left Libya for Egypt before returning home via South Africa.
“I said this according to what is written and recorded in books. I thank Omukwaniilwa for correcting me. As scholars, we rely on what is documented,” Diescho said.
In 2008, Gaddafi launched his vision for a “United States of Africa,” which included the idea of being recognised as the continent’s “king of kings.”
At a gathering of more than 200 traditional leaders in Benghazi, he crowned himself with the title, saying Africa needed a unifying monarch to counter Western dominance.
While some leaders appeared to endorse his coronation, many governments and traditional authorities in Southern Africa distanced themselves from the proposal.
The African Union (AU) never recognised it, and Gaddafi’s push for continental leadership collapsed before his downfall in 2011.
