Retired Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (Elcin) bishop Kleopas Dumeni says he had arranged for founding president Sam Nujoma to meet his late mother, Helvi, after they had been separated for 26 years.
Dumeni (94) says in doing so, he pretended to send Helvi to Finland for medical treatment.
“I wanted her to meet her son, because they had not seen each other for 26 years at the time. When he left the country, Sam was young,” he told The Namibian at Etunda, Nujoma’s home village, on Thursday.
Dumeni said Nujoma’s mother had been assaulted by apartheid forces at Etunda while they were looking for Nujoma.
“I sent her with a nurse, Nuusita Amakutuwa, who is now married to Utoni Nujoma,” the bishop said.
He said he and Nujoma met many times in New York, Finland, and Geneva before Namibia gained independence.
Dumeni said Nujoma’s mother would send messages through him.
Nujoma fled Namibia in February 1960 via Botswana and returned to Namibia in September 1989.
He died in Windhoek on 8 February.
A memorial in his honour will be held at the Nujoma family house at Etunda on Thursday afternoon.
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