A tribute to Dr Mose Tjitendero

IT is with a deep sense of sadness and humility that I stand here to pay tribute to a very dear friend and long-standing comrade, the departed comrade Tjitendero.

Mose Tjitendero and I have been best friends and close companions for some five decades in our pursuit for intellectual development and liberation of our beloved country. The two of us first met at Augustineum College at Okahandja at the beginning of 1960.By dint of natural affinity, we became very good and close friends.Our friendship developed naturally, as we shared our books and notes at the college.And as time went on, we shared more stories about each other’s boyhood exploits.For hours and days, we could talk animatedly about our hunting prowess and brag about our horse-riding skills, etc.LIBERATION LITERATUREI remember, with fond memory, how Mose, Katuutire Kaura and I used to spend some good part of our free time from classes and study periods to play in the Okahandja River bed.We used to go there to do wrestling.Mose and Katuutire taught me the Herero wrestling style, and I taught them the Oshiwambo methods of wrestling (something called Ondjubu).They could not fathom the techniques I used to pin them down.More importantly, we used to spend time reading periodicals like New Age and The Contact, then published and distributed out of Cape Town.These publications used to cover liberation activities on the continent and elsewhere.Influenced, largely by these publications, we began contemplating the idea of escaping from the country to go abroad and further our studies outside the Bantu Education system.And that exposure enabled us to develop free play of creative imagination.In that way, the groundwork was done and foundations laid for what was to become, for Mose, me and others, many long years of life in exile.In a significant and memorable way, our days at Augustineum were historic.The college was both a cultural melting pot and a hotbed for the development of Namibian national consciousness.It was there that our generation came face to face with the realisation that apart from having hailed, as individuals, from the different ethnic groupings of the country, namely, Damara, Herero, Nama, Owambo, Kavango, Tswana, etc, we were, above all, Namibians with a common future and collective destiny.Regarding the adventurous idea to leave the country, I managed to escape before Mose and many others could join me abroad.However, upon my arrival in Dar es Salaam, I wrote Mose letters that I was now in what was then regarded as the Mecca of Africa’s liberation movements, Dar es Salaam.He wrote back telling me that he had read a piece of writing I published in The Contact.PURSUING EDUCATIONIt was not long before Mose, too, and several other fellow young Namibians left the country for Dar es Salaam.But Mose missed me there, as I had by then already crossed the Atlantic.Mose and I then re-united for a second time in the United States of America, when he joined me at Lincoln University in the State of Pennsylvania.It was only after our graduations there that we went in different directions.He went to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to pursue his post-graduate studies and I went to Canada to do the same thing at McGill University.He used to come and visit me in Canada.We also met occasionally in New York, where he first introduced me to his lovely wife, Sandy Tjitendero, in 1973.We reunited again in 1976, when Mose and I were called upon by Swapo, at the request of Comrade Hage Geingob, to join him in establishing the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Lusaka, Zambia.Mose was tasked with the development and implementation of the Institute’s pedagogic programme (professional teachers’ training).He accepted that challenge with his typical enthusiasm.I remember him telling me that he was “determined to build a core of professionally competent, intellectually strong and motivated teachers for independent Namibia”.We spent several years there, leading and participating in the process of development of a Namibian cadre, whose members were later to play a significant role in the setting up and management of various State institutions in independent Namibia.They did that as teachers, as senior administrators, as Cabinet ministers, and as judges.It was with great pride that Mose was able to see how his proteges developed into patriotic activists and mature professionals.In the 1980s, Mosé and I were reassigned by Swapo with new missions to Angola.That time, he was appointed the head of yet another UN institution for training for Namibians at Sumbe in central Angola.There, too, he displayed great capacity for leadership in establishing that training centre and implementing its programme for the training of Namibians in technical and other life skills.He acquitted himself admirably.And it can be said that he performed his tasks beyond the call of duty.Sube was then part of the active war zone in the intense civil war then being fought in Angola In June 1989, Mose and I were on the same plane from Luanda, Angola, to Windhoek.Together, we kissed the soil of the motherland at Ondekaremba.We then set about, as a part of the team of Swapo leaders led by Comrade Hage Geingob who were dispatched by the movement to come here and set up its election campaign headquarters and to launch the Swapo electoral campaign.Mose was this time tasked to lead the movement’s operation in the area of Otjiwarongo.NEW CHALLENGESAfter winning the Independence election, we still had to face the challenges of nation building.One of these challenges was the urgency to set in motion the process of institutionalising the management of multi-party democracy.This seemingly daunting task went to Mose, as he was nominated and elected to be the first Speaker of the new Parliament of a liberated Namibia.It was Theo-Ben Gurirab and I who initially conjured up the idea of having Mose as the first Speaker of the new Parliament.The two of us sold the idea to the party leadership and it was unanimously accepted.We did this because we were convinced that Mose possessed the requisite leadership qualities for the task: the virtues of honesty, humility and a sense of fair play.This is how he ended up being the Speaker of the National Assembly for 15 years; and this was a task which he performed with distinction, a great measure of fairness, dignity and intellectual sagacity.I was fortunate and, indeed, privileged to sit in the Parliament for those 15 years and be able to observe how my good friend distinguished himself in that onerous job of nation building.Mose was a principled comrade.He did not waver in his commitment to the liberation struggle, to the development and growth of his party, Swapo, and to the promotion of democracy.He lived a celebrated life.He made his mark in the building of the Namibian nation.Therefore, those of us who worked closely with him for nearly five decades and stayed with him both in spirit and action to the end of his life, will forever remember his profound sense of humility, his honesty and steadfastness, even in the face of adversity and betrayal.Before his truly untimely and highly regretted departure, Mose was busy building the Pan African Leadership Development Institute and Foundation (PALDIF), an institute designed to offer a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach to leadership initiatives in Africa and the Diaspora.This was yet more testimony to his boundless faith in the essential nobility of mankind.He earnestly believed in the possibility of transforming Namibia into a more caring and more humane society.’LONG LIVE HIS LEGACY’In bidding farewell to him, we are consoled in the knowledge that he has bequeathed our society with great achievements.The process of institutional building and human capacity development, to which he devoted his time, energy and thoughts, are enduring testimony to his greatness.We will emulate his passionate commitment to justice.We will strive to ever remember and uphold his strong sense of humility, his good and honest character and his fair mindedness, which are fitting monuments of his celebrated life.Long live the memory of Comrade Mose Tjitendero.* Hamutenya’s tribute was delivered at the memorial service for the late Dr Tjitendero held in Windhoek.The two of us first met at Augustineum College at Okahandja at the beginning of 1960.By dint of natural affinity, we became very good and close friends.Our friendship developed naturally, as we shared our books and notes at the college.And as time went on, we shared more stories about each other’s boyhood exploits.For hours and days, we could talk animatedly about our hunting prowess and brag about our horse-riding skills, etc. LIBERATION LITERATURE I remember, with fond memory, how Mose, Katuutire Kaura and I used to spend some good part of our free time from classes and study periods to play in the Okahandja River bed.We used to go there to do wrestling.Mose and Katuutire taught me the Herero wrestling style, and I taught them the Oshiwambo methods of wrestling (something called Ondjubu).They could not fathom the techniques I used to pin them down.More importantly, we used to spend time reading periodicals like New Age and The Contact, then published and distributed out of Cape Town.These publications used to cover liberation activities on the continent and elsewhere.Influenced, largely by these publications, we began contemplating the idea of escaping from the country to go abroad and further our studies outside the Bantu Education system.And that exposure enabled us to develop free play of creative imagination.In that way, the groundwork was done and foundations laid for what was to become, for Mose, me and others, many long years of life in exile.In a significant and memorable way, our days at Augustineum were historic.The college was both a cultural melting pot and a hotbed for the development of Namibian national consciousness.It was there that our generation came face to face with the realisation that apart from having hailed, as individuals, from the different ethnic groupings of the country, namely, Damara, Herero, Nama, Owambo, Kavango, Tswana, etc, we were, above all, Namibians with a common future and collective destiny.Regarding the adventurous idea to leave the country, I managed to escape before Mose and many others could join me abroad.However, upon my arrival in Dar es Salaam, I wrote Mose letters that I was now in what was then regarded as the Mecca of Africa’s liberation movements, Dar es Salaam.He wrote back telling me that he had read a piece of writing I published in The Contact. PURSUING EDUCATION It was not long before Mose, too, and several other fellow young Namibians left the country for Dar es Salaam.But Mose missed me there, as I had by then already crossed the Atlantic.Mose and I then re-united for a second time in the United States of America, when he joined me at Lincoln University in the State of Pennsylvania.It was only after our graduations there that we went in different directions.He went to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to pursue his post-graduate studies and I went to Canada to do the same thing at McGill University.He used to come and visit me in Canada.We also met occasionally in New York, where he first introduced me to his lovely wife, Sandy Tjitendero, in 1973.We reunited again in 1976, when Mose and I were called upon by Swapo, at the request of Comrade Hage Geingob, to join him in establishing the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Lusaka, Zambia.Mose was tasked with the development and implementation of the Institute’s pedagogic programme (professional teachers’ training).He accepted that challenge with his typical enthusiasm.I remember him telling me that he was “determined to build a core of professionally competent, intellectually strong and motivated teachers for independent Namibia”. We spent several years there, leading and participating in the process of development of a Namibian cadre, whose members were later to play a significant role in the setting up and management of various State institutions in independent Namibia.They did that as teachers, as senior administrators, as Cabinet ministers, and as judges.It was with great pride that Mose was able to see how his proteges developed into patriotic activists and mature professionals.In the 1980s, Mosé and I were reassigned by Swapo with new missions to Angola.That time, he was appointed the head of yet another UN institution for training for Namibians at Sumbe in central Angola.There, too, he displayed great capacity for leadership in establishing that training centre and implementing its programme for the training of Namibians in technical and other life skills.He acquitted himself admirably.And it can be said that he performed his tasks beyond the call of duty.Sube was then part of the active war zone in the intense civil war then being fought in Angola In June 1989, Mose and I were on the same plane from Luanda, Angola, to Windhoek.Together, we kissed the soil of the motherland at Ondekaremba.We then set about, as a part of the team of Swapo leaders led by Comrade Hage Geingob who were dispatched by the movement to come here and set up its election campaign headquarters and to launch the Swapo electoral campaign.Mose was this time tasked to lead the movement’s operation in the area of Otjiwarongo.NEW CHALLENGES After winning the Independence election, we still had to face the challenges of nation building.One of these challenges was the urgency to set in motion the process of institutionalising the management of multi-party democracy.This seemingly daunting task went to Mose, as he was nominated and elected to be the first Speaker of the new Parliament of a liberated Namibia. It was Theo-Ben Gurirab and I who initially conjured up the idea of having Mose as the first Speaker of the new Parliament.The two of us sold the idea to the party leadership and it was unanimously accepted.We did this because we were convinced that Mose possessed the requisite leadership qualities for the task: the virtues of honesty, humility and a sense of fair play.This is how he ended up being the Speaker of the National Assembly for 15 years; and this was a task which he performed with distinction, a great measure of fairness, dignity and intellectual sagacity.I was fortunate and, indeed, privileged to sit in the Parliament for those 15 years and be able to observe how my good friend distinguished himself in that onerous job of nation building.Mose was a principled comrade.He did not waver in his commitment to the liberation struggle, to the development and growth of his party, Swapo, and to the promotion of democracy.He lived a celebrated life.He made his mark in the building of the Namibian nation.Therefore, those of us who worked closely with him for nearly five decades and stayed with him both in spirit and action to the end of his life, will forever remember his profound sense of humility, his honesty and steadfastness, even in the face of adversity and betrayal.Before his truly untimely and highly regretted departure, Mose was busy building the Pan African Leadership Development Institute and Foundation (PALDIF), an institute designed to offer a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach to leadership initiatives in Africa and the Diaspora.This was yet more testimony to his boundless faith in the essential nobility of mankind.He earnestly believed in the possibility of transforming Namibia into a more caring and more humane society. ‘LONG LIVE HIS LEGACY’In bidding farewell to him, we are consoled in the knowledge that he has bequeathed our society with great achievements.The process of institutional building and human capacity development, to which he devoted his time, energy and thoughts, are enduring testimony to his greatness.We will emulate his passionate commitment to justice.We will strive to ever remember and uphold his strong sense of humility, his good and honest character and his fair mindedness, which are fitting monuments of his celebrated life.Long live the memory of Comrade Mose Tjitendero.* Hamutenya’s tribute was delivered at the memorial service for the late Dr Tjitendero held in Windhoek.