Founding president bought my first suit – Katjavivi remembers

National Assembly speaker Peter Katjavivi says he fondly remembers when late founding president Sam Nujoma bought him his first suit.

Katjavivi said this during Nujoma’s state memorial service at his residence in Windhoek on Tuesday evening.

“When I went to London to open the Swapo office, I did not have a suit.

I borrowed my brother Ben Amathila’s suit. But the suit did not fit me.

I had to fold it around my waist for it to fit. But when my president, tate Sam Nujoma, visited me at the office, he said ‘let’s go’. We went to the shop to buy me my very first suit and a tie.”

He said they used to call Nujoma the ‘old man’ all the time, and at one point, the founding president surprised them by asking who the old man they were talking about was.

“He one day gathered us to ask us to tell him who the old man was and we knew at that time he had found out that it was he we were referring to,” Katjavivi recalled.

Katjavivi said Nujoma was a man and leader who championed unity and was a beacon of hope who stood firm against adversity.

“He stood for a united Namibian country, grown from his strength, and dedicated his life to the principles of democracy, justice and quality which paved the way to the significant progress and unity within our country,” he said.

Amathila said he visited the founding president in the hospital where they had a conversation, but he says he could not believe that the brave man he knew was lying in a bed.

“I looked at him and smiled. He was well-looked after . . . the agile, hard-working man. This was my leader, and in my own uneducated conclusion, I realised that he was not going to be with us for much longer,” he said.

Amathila described Nujoma as brave.

“He was a brave man who was not afraid to tell the world that Namibians needed their own rights, with so much determination,” he said.

Despite Nujoma leaving for exile, his vision never wavered, he said.

“He always said the future liberation of Namibia lies with the young people.”

Amathila said despite Nujoma being labelled as a terrorist by the world, he never lost his faith nor his vision, citing that these were his principles – to always go all the way and to never give up.

Meanwhile, the founding president’s nephew, David Nuyoma, described Nujoma as a revolutionary man, a pan-Africanist and a leader.

He commended the overwhelming support pouring in from all corners of the world.

Nuyoma further said the founding president used to sing revolutionary songs and urged his uncle’s former comrades not to feel subdued but to sing loud for Nujoma.

In other tributes, Former Plan Combatants Association secretary for information mobilisation and Swapo Party School rector Charles Mubita said Nujoma was emphatic about ideological training for party members and the role of developing and instilling the correct mindsets for party cadres.

He said Nujoma was an educative leader who strived for excellence in future leaders, in the country and in the party.