A Man Who Made His Own History

THE following is an edited version of a tribute to the late Reverend Hendrik Witbooi by Francis Kooper, delivered at the memorial service in Windhoek on October 23 on behalf of the family.

WE pay tribute to late comrade Hendrik Witbooi as our all-time hero. Indeed his life is a combination of many qualities so profoundly vested in one individual. We will always remember him as a trusted father figure in our family. Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and we will show you a man who can be trusted to do big things. Late Witbooi taught us that confidence grows when obligations are met, but it dies when you quit.A lesson from him suggests that ‘losers wait for fruits to fall, but winners shake the tree’. Filled with grief and sorrow we as family are now preparing to take him without a visible change in the lives of our people to his resting place, but we are still convinced that pride initiates, commitment continues, and perseverance completes. Remembering him as still having unmet dreams for his people and the country, his death reminds us that we cannot only wish our way to success, we must earn it, yes, we have to remember that courage is not found, it is deliberately developed via difficult decisions. As a family we shall and naturally we cannot let go of the moments we had together when he was still with us, especially his formative years. We shall continue to remember his integrity day by day, because, his life has been so precious to all of us. Therefore we refuse to refer to him as ‘dead’, but rather as someone who positively responded to a higher calling. His spirit lives on.CHALLENGES ANDSLEEPLESS NIGHTSComrade Witbooi, through trials and tribulations during those years of our liberation struggle you demonstrated to us that we can accomplish, because you believed in your inner ability, with the faith in our all-knowing God. Your memories are still fresh in our minds as the family, in fact you will always be a mirror in our lives. Yes, there were times we too were robbed of our private family life in so many ways simply by your commitment to the calling and the dreams of our forefathers to liberate this country, and in doing so, the family was confronted with most difficult, challenging and at times sleepless nights. There were moments along this journey when the family felt surrounded by danger and sometimes threats and even death, because of your unwavering stance. There were regular strange visits at late hours of the nights, many not with good intentions. Not only from the whites but also from black collaborators.You served our people as a traditional leader, clergyman, political leader, worthy statesman and above all as a family icon, under very trying but highly demanding stages of our liberation struggle both from the political and spiritual levels. In the mid-1970s just like in the days of late !Nanseb many of your fellow traditional leaders wavered and joined the so-called Nama Council established by the apartheid regime and only you and a few others rejected this plot, something which rendered you as a rebel, just the same as they did to our late legendary !Nanseb, but you stood your ground knowing that ideas in the head are common, but nothing changes until they are brought into action. This reminds us that man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. That was Witbooi. ‘Telling us today that the least understood cause for failure is indifference,’ so you always stepped out for difficult assignments knowing well that every action has a consequence. But, it must be a consequence for the better this time.UNDER HOUSEARRESTWe still remember the incident at the Gibeon Railway station when in the company of Mr Trougoth Schmidt, at the so called ‘mini Mills summit’ – a meeting with a certain Mr Mills from racist South Africa – where very harsh words and threats on your stance were exchanged and this must have been the turning point in your life to finally take the decision to join the liberation movement Swapo. This proves again that, ‘the best leaders in life combine relentlessness and patience with thoughtful evaluation of his options’. Your style further communicated here to us that success is hollow if the achiever is not admirable in his actions. This was one of the most outstanding/ remarkable decisions you ever made. And we say thank you today.On April 6 1978 you were summoned to appear in the regional court of Mariental (first ever in your life) on simple charges of forcing people to join Swapo involuntarily. And as a result of this you were first put under house arrest. This was followed on May 10 1978 with another arrest under AG 26 and you were detained first in Windhoek and later transferred for solitary confinement to Gobabis together with other brave sons of the soil, especially from the internal wing of Swapo. Osire was another place of detention for you.Yesterday is gone and will not return, today is what we make it to be. We want to believe we have a future in the south, and that it will be better. Anticipation keeps us going, whether it involves fear or pleasure, exhaustion or rest, hard work or leisure, excitement or boredom, career or hobby. The vision was written by our Government to focus on what we believe is the key element of our anticipation. Our hope is that it will enable us now in your absence to accomplish what you left unfinished for our own success and destiny on all fronts, both church and government.On May 20 1978 while in detention you were elected by the clan to take over the traditional leadership. The most difficult part of getting to the top of the ladder is getting through the crowd at the bottom. Only leaders with rare qualities like late Cde Witbooi achieved this.Before independence and also after independence, yes, as Secretary of Labour in the leadership of Swapo in absentia, as Acting Vice President of Swapo in absentia, as clergyman only at the call of his Father, as traditional leader at he call of the elders of the clan in absentia, as Minister of Labour at the call of the Head of State, and again at the call of the Head of State, as the first Deputy Prime Minister of the country. As servant of the people you did not hesitate to heed the call every time. Still in detention he was again charged under the notorious Terrorism Act (Act 6), but through all these hardships you did not waver and stood firm and were filled with joy when you sacrificed for your country’s freedom and for following the footprints of your forefathers. You were a courageous individual like your forefathers and will go down in history as a member of many battalions of resilient fighters, whose spirit could not be broken by the pain and suffering you endured. It is true and we agree, late Cde Witbooi made history, but he also was made by history. MEN MAKE OWN HISTORYWe have to understand and agree that men make their own history, but they do not make it under circumstances directly chosen by them, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transformed from the past. Only through deep investigation and research from his birth to his childhood will we be able to understand clearly the true nature of his dreams and the dimensions of his accomplishments. Man and women of rare qualities are few and hard to come by and when they depart, the more difficult to manage the situation. Today, we want to shed a light on the frequently but interestingly asked question of the family relationship between Late Cde Witbooi with our late legendary freedom fighter Hendrik !Nanseb Witbooi. It should be noted that he is undoubtedly closely related to him, simply put, he is in the bloodline of the fourth generation of our late legendary !Nanseb.It is undoubtedly true that our late Cde Witbooi here is born out of this very gallant, religious and brave family background. And we as the family are today very appreciative towards our Government that he is honoured in this special way as a hero and is therefore accorded a State funeral. In fact he is now the third of our family who has been deservedly recognised in this special way. This is how German Governor Theodor Leutwein to Deutsch Südwest Africa paid tribute to our late legendary Hendrik Witbooi (!Nanseb) after he was shot. I quote: ‘I still see him before me, the little captain, modest yet self-possessed, loyal, yet not without political cunning, never deviating from what he considered his duty or his right, fully understanding the superior culture of the whites, yet by no means always in love with those who purveyed it, a born leader and ruler; this was Witbooi, who would undoubtedly have become an immortal in world history, had not the fates decided him to be born to an insignificant African throne. He was the last hero of a race doomed to destruction.’ Today our family and indeed the entire Namibian nation have every reason to affirm to the world that we are a significant, independent and a sovereign nation as proven to the world and that we are not a race doomed to destruction. With the personal contributions of late Cde Witbooi and many others on different levels of our struggle, we have attained the first phase (political independence) of the dreams of our forefathers and as a nation and as a family we are proud that this was achieved in his time. It is true, we still have a vision in so many respects and our befitting tribute should be, to go for the unfinished work of our late Captain and leader, this is a challenge for us to live for. May your soul rest in eternal peace.