Deputy prime minister, minister of works and transport and representative of the chief mourner, president Nangolo Mbumba, John Mutorwa delivered a statement at the regional state memorial, in honour of Namibia’s founding president, Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, at Keetmanshoop on 26 February 2015.
On Saturday, 8 February 2025, at 23h45, Namibia came to – figuratively speaking – to a complete standstill! That was the day and time, when our beloved, respected and revered founding president, father of the nation, and leader of the Namibian revolution, his excellency Sam Nujoma, departed from this earthly world.
Today, Wednesday, 26 February 2025, Namibians, residents of the Hardap and //Kharas regions, but also Namibians from other regions in our country as well as visitors from other countries, are assembled here, in the town of Keetmanshoop, to pay our last respects, celebrate the life and appreciate the noble deeds our departed hero, the founding president of the republic of Namibia; father of the Namibian nation and leader of the Namibian revolution, Sam Nujoma has done.
Greatness of any human being is not necessarily appreciated or valued by only looking at what the particular human being says about himself or herself; nor is greatness appreciated, admired, measured or valued by what any individual does or gives to people who are only so dear and near (family, close friends, relatives) to her or to him. Greatness is largely determined, appreciated, measured, remembered or valued by what other ordinary people say, what other ordinary people appreciate and value, about another person.
In other words, what someone has done or is doing to those ordinary people who are in real need – the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the downtrodden! Founding president Sam Nujoma was a great man and shall remain a great leader in Namibia, in the Southern African Development Community, in Africa and beyond the borders of the African continent – not only in words, but in the numerous exemplary deeds and noble public work he has done as a public leader in Namibia, in Africa and the world over so many years of his earthly life.
Let me at this stage quote a passage from his autobiography, entitled ‘Where Others Wavered: My life in Swapo and My Participation in the Liberation Struggle of Namibia.
He writes, “This book is dedicated to the gallant sons and daughters, heroes and heroines; under the leadership of their vanguard Swapo, and to those who struggled and sacrificed their precious lives, for the total liberation of Namibia.”
David Hosea Merero, chairman of Swapo for many years; a great pan-Africanist and one of the many distinguished leaders and heroes of the protracted Namibian liberation struggle, writing in the forward of the autobiography stated the following: “Over the last few decades, I have had the honour and privilege, to know and work with Sam Nujoma, the man, the leader of the national liberation movement, Swapo; and the first president of the independent republic of Namibia. Sam Nujoma dedicated his whole adult life to the achievement of Namibia’s liberation from apartheid and colonial domination. He did not rest, until Namibia’s independence and sovereignty were celebrated on 21 March 1990,” (page XVII). We all know that after 21 March 1990, founding president Sam Nujoma did not rest, but continued, as the president of Namibia, following the elections in 1989, 1994 and 1999. We must, therefore, as a nation, be forever grateful that we had, as a nation, president Nujoma as our leader and torchbearer of the Namibian state from 21 March 1990 until 21 March 2005; whereafter his excellency Hifikepunye Pohamba was democratically elected as Namibia’s second president from 21 March 2005 until 21 March 2015, followed by his excellency Hage G Geingob, from 21 March 2015 until 4 February 2024.
Finally! Your excellency, Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, death has taken your body, your physical presence, away from us! Your spirit, your soul, your legacy and your numerous good and noble exemplary works as a citizen of Namibia; as a statesman of our country, cannot die and shall never die! For us, as mortal human beings: death is and death shall forever remain an unwelcome robber and a thief! As believers, though: we do believe that death is but a transition — that is a process or period of changing from one life to another! The best index to a person’s character is really how a person treats ordinary people who cannot do him or her any good or harm, and also, how a person treats ordinary people who cannot fight back! Because those people do not have any means to do so!
His excellency, Sam Nujoma, our founding president, had that character! He has taken that humane character with him to eternity! But, he has also left his good exemplary character and good deeds with us who are still living today. Let us thus emulate and follow his good character, the good deeds that he did, his personality – hard work, honesty, discipline, time management, decisiveness and steadfastness – as we continue with the tasks of building and developing our country Namibia to greater heights.
May the gentle and humane soul of Namibia’s founding president, Sam Nujoma, now and forever, rest in perfect and eternal peace. Amen!
Thank you all, most graciously!
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