Nearly 69 years ago, a young Sam Nujoma married the love of his life, Theopoldine Katjimune Nujoma.
He was 27, she was 23.
Theopoldine later became known as ‘Kovambo’ to identify her as an omuwambo child, since her mother was Herero and her father an Ovambo man.
Kovambo (91) was a distant cousin of Nujoma.
Together with her father, Johannes Mushimba, she would travel to Walvis Bay from Windhoek to visit Nujoma’s aunt.
Nujoma started writing to Kovambo and their relationship blossomed.
The couple tied the knot in Windhoek’s Old Location in May 1956.
They had three sons and one daughter: Utoni Daniel, John Ndeshipanda, Sakaria ‘Zacky’, and Nelago, who died at the age of 18 months while Nujoma was in exile.
LUBANGO DUNGEONS
In 1960, during South West African rule, Kovambo was put under house arrest together with her brother, Aaron Mushimba.
She was accused of planning to join Nujoma in exile in Angola in 1960, and was raided by the South African security forces, who tried to persuade her to kill her husband.
One of Swapo’s dark times involved the Lubango dungeons in Angola.
In the 1980s, hundreds of Namibians who joined Swapo in exile were accused of being enemy agents.
They were detained and tortured at Lubango in southern Angola by Swapo’s security apparatus.
Nujoma’s wife was not spared.
Kovambo was eventually caught up in the paranoia about enemy infiltration and was placed under house arrest at Lubango in 1988.
She was later released.
VALENTINE’S DAY WITHOUT NUJOMA
As the world observes Valentine’s Day today, celebrated by couples and loved ones across the globe, Kovambo will mark the day without her life partner by her side.
Instead, she will be mourning the loss of the nation’s founding president, who died last Saturday after a prolonged illness at the age of 95.
“Loving, caring, and respectful” are some of the words that Kalumbi Shangula, the minister of health and social services and a close friend of the couple, used to describe Nujoma yesterday.
“He always spent time with his wife and loved her, the children and the grandchildren,” he said.
Shangula, who was the pair’s doctor, told The Namibian the former first couple valued family.
A LOVE THAT BLOSSOMED
Former minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, says Kovambo and Nujoma’s love blossomed from being distant cousins.
“Traditionally, Bantu people allow one to marry a distant cousin from their paternal uncle’s side, so when you see them they are cousins,” she says.
Iivula-Ithana remembers the former president as a well-rounded man who honoured his wife and marriage.
“All those years comrade Nujoma was in exile in the 1960s in Angola and then Tanzania, he valued his wife and did not have any children outside of wedlock. That shows you what kind of man he was,” she says.
She says Kovambo easily stepped into the role of mother to orphaned children who were accommodated in East Germany after the Cassinga massacre in 1978.
The former home affairs minister said the founding president’s marriage of 69 years is one of devotion, conveying the couple’s love for each other and the country.
“They acted like our parents while we were in exile and taught us how to behave, and they showed us the truth about life,” she says.
Iivula-Ithana recounts how young men would avoid the young Nujoma when they were drunk while in exile, as he would not approve.
FAMILY LESSONS
Selma Simon and Betty Wilbard worked for the former first family for 47 and 42 years, respectively.
Wilbard recalls meeting a young Nujoma in 1983 after she joined Swapo at the age of 14.
“My commander ordered me to cook and clean for the Nujomas, and I have not left their side since.
They taught me everything I know about cleaning, cooking and taking care of guests,” she says.
She says the founding president and Kovambo taught them the importance of education and even pushed them to receive training in hospitality at Hotel Thuringerhof.
Simon says Kovambo treated her and Wilbard like they were part of the family.
“I now have my own business, because Tatekulu and Mekulu always pushed us to learn and become our own independent people,” she says.
Simon and Wilbard recall “mandatory family time” observed around the fire pit, where family values were emphasised and stories were told.
“We learned valuable family lessons; that family time is important. We took those principles back to our own homes,” they say.
‘MOTHER OF THE NATION’
Kovambo Nujoma was born on 10 March 1933 and was the inaugural first lady of Namibia for 15 years – from 1990 to 2005.
She has been nicknamed ‘The Mother of the Nation’.
“It is an exemplary family life they lived, and it is unfortunate that on the occasion of Valentine’s Day 2025, she will not mark it with her husband.
“She was a woman with great respect for the founding father,” Shangula said.
Nujoma’s long-time main bodyguard, Nepando Amupanda, yesterday described Kovambo as a humble and kind person.
“She was like our mother,” he said.
According to the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, Kovambo’s responsibilities during her tenure as first lady did not involve a lot.
During the first years of a post-independence Namibia, the country was focused on rebuilding.
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