ONGWEDIVA MERJA IILEKA
Immanuel Engombe's widow and some of his children are about to square off in a battle over his property in Ongwediva.
Engombe, a former Swapo member who defected to Swapo-Democrats and eventually joined the National Patriotic Front (NPF), was the man accused in 1990 of attempting to shoot down Sam Nujoma's presidential aircraft at Oshakati.
Although he was cleared of all the charges due to a lack of evidence, he lived with the stigma and became an outcast in his community until his death last year.
Engombe's last will and testament showed that he wanted his 39-year-old widow and mother of six of his 13 children, Ndilimeke Kanasho Shatika, to inherit his large property in Ongwediva.
The property, situated just a few metres from the Ongwediva main traffic lights, consists of a house and bar, as well as 23 flats which Shatika rents out to make money.
On Monday, however, Shatika had to fight off a lawyer allegedly hired by one of Engombe's adult sons to valuate her house, as he allegedly planned to sell the property without her consent.
Speaking to Namibian Sun after the incident on Monday, Shatika said the lawyer from Windhoek, who failed to identify himself or the firm he works for, also tried to lure her into signing documents whose content she did not understand.
"The lawyer told me to sign a large pile of papers. He said decisions were made in Windhoek and I should simply sign them. I of course refused," said Shatika.
After she refused the unnamed lawyer, who said he was hired by her stepson Sebulon Engombe, entry to the house, the lawyer allegedly told her that he would get the assistance of the police to allow him to carry out his duty.
"He told me that I was supposed to receive a lot of money, but because of my stupidity I will get nothing. He then threatened to get the police but he still has not returned," she said on Wednesday.
In his will, Engombe also instructed that his money be divided amongst his 13 children, with each receiving between 2% and 15%.
When he died at the age of 72, Engombe was a pensioner and did not have any money to share amongst his living children, leaving some of them angry and bitter.
"Some of his children feel like their father did not take care of them while alive, so he must at least take care of them while dead. They also feel it was unfair for me to get this house," said Shatika.
Shatika claims that apart from her eldest child, who is 20, her remaining five children are all in school and if her house is sold, they would be left destitute.
When contacted for comment, Sebulon said the lawyer had gone to his late father's house following a High Court order that the house should be sold to settle the debts his father accumulated while alive.
"That house has a lot of debts and he also built flats, materials for which he has still not paid for. We are not trying to take the house from her [Shatika] so that we can live there. We want to sell it, pay off the debts and share what is left amongst the children, herself included. She is just being difficult," he said.
He added that the will is not legitimate and cannot be fulfilled as Shatika allegedly coerced his father to sign the document while he was gravely ill in hospital.
