ALETHA Nguvauva, mother of the late disputed Ovambanderu chief Keharanjo Nguvauva (26), yesterday said ‘new requests on funeral arrangements cannot be entertained’.
She said the funeral arrangements are at an advanced stage and any interference would jeopardise the planning and organisational processes.Aletha Nguvauva said although ‘as a biological mother, it is unconventional in our culture to issue a press release on issues pertaining to funeral arrangements, unending requests that are directed to me to reconsider and reverse my son’s wish’ have necessitated her to take this unusual step.In accordance with his three-page suicide note, Keharanjo Nguvauva will be buried next to his great-grandfather, Tjozohongo Nguvauva, at Ogango near Opuwo.The funeral is scheduled to take place this Saturday, April 23.Keharanjo Nguvauva hanged himself in a garage in Windhoek’s Khomasdal residential area on April 8.It has since emerged that a recurring problem with alcohol prompted the suicide of the contested paramount chief of one faction of the deeply divided Ovambanderu community.Funeral proceedings start in Windhoek tomorrow and end with the burial at Ongango in the Kunene Region on Saturday.The memorial service, scheduled for tomorrow, will start at 14h00 in the Parliament Gardens.On Wednesday morning at 04h00, the hearse with the body will leave for Otjijarua in the Otjombinde constituency in the Omaheke Region for another memorial service which starts at 14h00.Keharanjo Nguvauva’s body is scheduled to return to Windhoek on Thursday.At about midnight on Thursday, mourners will accompany the hearse to Opuwo.It remains unclear whether Keharanjo Nguvauva’s half-brother, Deputy Fisheries Minister Kilus Nguvauva, will attend his funeral or today’s memorial service. All he was prepared to say yesterday was: ‘No comment.’
