Tribute to Sadike Nepela

MOCKS SHIKALEPO SHIVUTEA GIANT in spirit has passed on on 15 June after a short illness.

Our friendship and family bond with the late Luke Ndawedapo Nepela stretches over 60 years – from the Old Location to Katutura.

Ndawedapo, or ‘Sadike’, as he was known to many of us, was more than just an ordinary human being.

He was a genius to the extent that I called him ‘Doctor’.

He was a people’s person, helpful, generous and truly a good Samaritan.

He was always kind no matter the circumstances.

‘Impossible’ and ‘failure’ were not part of Sadike’s vocabulary.

Among many hobbies we had in common were our own Tigers Sports Club, and Arsenal, the English Premier League Club.

Sadike’s father and my grandfather were among the founding members of the Tigers Sports Club, better known as ‘Ingweinyama’, in 1927 at the Old Location.

Sadike was so passionate about the Ingweinyama Club.

He grew up wishing to play for his childhood club, but unfortunately his condition wouldn’t allow him to do so.

After Namibia’s independence, he continued being involved in the club’s activities, attending every single Tigers game – unless he was out of the country.

In the mid-1990s, Sadike got involved in the management of the club as chairperson, – a position he held in high esteem – and added immeasurable value to both Tigers’ soccer and netball teams.

Around 2011 he donated a minibus to the club.

Kelly Asser, Tigers’ longest-serving team manager, says Sadike was a “chairman in the true sense of the word”.

He remembers him giving club members motivational speeches from time to time, and describes him as a “truly inspirational figure”.

“You brought joy to the Ingwe diehards when we lost faith in the ability to win trophies, and under your true leadership, you brought back self-belief and pride among staunch supporters,” Asser says.

Sadike and I have also been staunch supporters of the English Premier League Club Arsenal, popularly known as the ‘Gunners’.

Whenever we were both in Windhoek we always made sure that we watch any of the Gunners’ games together at his place or mine – irrespective of the day of the week.

If we failed to watch the match together, we would always call each other and share the joy of victory or frustration at losing.

Another patriotic stalwart, Chippa Tjirera, in his tribute shared with me says although he had known Sadike as the brother of Ndeshi Namases (née Akwenye), a good friend of Noddy Hipangelwa, and a pupil at Martin Luther High School (MLH), it was in exile that they grew closer.

Sadike, with a group of pupils from MLH and Uis Secondary School, in the now Daures constituency, joined Tjirera at the Mamomo border post, in Botswana, in 1978.

He was in the company of now chief Manasse Zeraerua, Rudolf Hongoze, Teckla Taraki Uwanga, Pau Shilongo, the late Dr Helen Star Nkandi-Shiimi, pastor Simeon Kanyemba and many others.

When they reached Francistown in Botswana, they were joined by Benny Petrus, deputy chief justice Petrus Damaseb, former member of parliament Tsudao Gurirab, Haroldt Urib, Revival Bon-Bon Smit and others.

After arriving in Lusaka, Zambia, Tjirera says Sadike and others were enrolled at the United Nations Institute for Namibia (Unin), where they met the charismatic enigma at the helm of the organisation – Hage Gotfried Geingob, the first prime minister and now president of the Land of the Brave.

In 1981, after two years at Unin, Tjirera, Sadike and the late Lohmeier Angula, were attached to the United Nations Economic Council for Africa (Uneca) in Addis Ababa, in the then socialist Ethiopia, for secondment and hands-on learning, and practising management and administration.

Tjirera says the two enjoyed life together and each other’s company, cherishing the hallmark of having the same background and a lot in common, “including being highly detribalised”.

Sadike’s business acumen is said to have started in Yugoslavia, where he started as a layman foreign currency dealer or middleman between the US dollar-rich students from oil-rich Arab countries, locals and other foreign students.

At home, we shall always recall Sadike as that entrepreneurial magnet and gentle but incisive business personality tested, served and graduated from the board of directors of Deep South Resources Incorporated, the general manager of Kalahari Minerals PLC, Etale Fishing Company, and in the political and administrative terrain as the gatekeeper, right-hand man and personal assistant to the then minister of mines and energy.

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