Kaende Naua Hendrik Witbooi!

MY readings of Namibia’s history of the indigenes exposed me to the plight of the Nama and the Ovaherero long before I met Pastoor Witbooi. His great grandfather, that revolutionary par excellence, had his tussles with the Ovaherero. The story goes that one day an expedition of the Nama ran into an Ovaherero ambush near Rehoboth.

The Nama fell and one of the Ovaherero group recognised Witbooi and pleaded for his mercy. He was saved, but thereafter Witbooi declared war on the Ovaherero. As time went by a convoy of the Nama launched a surprise attack on Okahandja. The Nama were repelled after a spirited standoff. Among the horses captured was one by the name Stomp-Oor that belonged to Witbooi. Some of the Ovaherero soldiers made a case for Stomp-Oor while others held that if Stomp-Oor was saved the horse would return to Okahandja one day, this time with Hendrik Witbooi in the saddle. Stomp-Oor was killed. Hendrik Witbooi lived long thereafter and in the end he was fatally wounded at Vaalgras. His comrades buried him at a place still unknown to Namibia and his monument was subsequently erected at Gibeon.I met Pastoor Hendrik Witbooi in 1985 at Gibeon when I co-ordinated the CCN’s Drought Relief Program. It was a hot day in December and he offered me tea. When he detected my surprise he insisted that the only thing that would quench my thirst was tea. Pastoor Witbooi was a versatile, multi-skilled person. He was ordained pastor, traditional leader, politician of high calibre and teacher. During Namibia’s struggle for justice Pastoor Witbooi served as protector and benefactor to so many people. At the height of tensions between Swapo as liberation movement and the South African regime in Namibia, Witbooi was among those who initiated the creation of three private English-medium schools at Hoachanas, Vaalgras and Gibeon. Many of the children who went to these schools were from parents in areas such as Aminuis, Okakarara, Otjinene and others where Swapo, the movement that Witbooi served as Vice President, was virtually banned.Witbooi was a churchman and he lived in the church. In Gibeon there was church service almost every day. He loved his piano and was prolific at that. He developed music for the church and for the private schools, the kind of music that struck a nerve in a sensitive listener. I once stayed over at his house on my way from Keetmanshoop. He gave me a bird’s eye view of the community and took me to the private school. Principal Johannes Kariseb assembled all in the school hall and after some introductions the children sang ‘Tsanseb’ to Witbooi’s piano accompaniment. This was the name of the Great Hendrik Witbooi. I became emotional and broke down. Some twelve years later we gathered in the Gibeon church to pay our last respects to Pastoor Witbooi’s first wife. A mourner from the back broke out with the song ‘Tsanseb’ and Witbooi walked to the piano and accompanied the congregation. My memory tumbled back to that day at the private school and I broke down. Chief Stefanus Tjikuirire of Vaalgras handed me a white handkerchief and wrapped his arm around my shoulders… We both wept.The context of Hendrik Witbooi’s passing reminds me of a statement made by an officer of the South African troops during the funeral of one of Apartheid South Africa’s Presidents. He said: ‘Staan op aandag Suid-Afrika… Hier gaan ‘n man verby.’ It is fitting to repeat: ATTENTION NAMIBIA, A BRAVE MAN IS PASSING THROUGH!

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