Online Reporter
Nduduzo Tshuma in WINDHOEK, Namibia
NAMIBIA has asked everyone with memorabilia associated with its late founding father, Dr Sam Nujoma to donate this so that it can be put in a museum dedicated to the liberation icon at the new SWAPO headquarters in Windhoek.
Dr Nujoma, who died at the age of 95 in a Windhoek hospital on February 8, has been celebrated for his rich legacy both at home and across the region.
President Mnangagwa and fellow Heads of State from the region and abroad will attend the late Dr Nujoma’s memorial service at the Independence Stadium today which the Sadc Chairperson is also expected to address.
Dr Nujoma will then be interred at Namibia’s National Heroes’ Acre in Windhoek tomorrow. The President, who flew in here this morning, will also be in attendance.
Early this week, President Mnangagwa signed the book of condolences for Dr Nujoma at the Namibian embassy in Harare saying the Pan Africanist had a huge impact in the region.
Yesterday, Namibian President Dr Nangolo Mbumba received Dr Nujoma’s body at the Hosea Kutako International Airport here, to start the Khomas Regional Route Procession to allow the people to bid farewell to their liberator.
It is at the same airport, then named the JG Strydom Airport, that he famously kissed the ground on September 14, 1989 as he returned to an almost independent Namibia to a heroes’ welcome and effectively ending his 30 year forced exile.
Dr Nujoma went on to lead independent Namibia from 1990 to 2005. Also present to welcome the body at the airport was Namibia’s President elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Dr Nujoma’s eldest son, Utoni Nujoma. Khomas, Namibia’s largest region, which encompasses the capital Windhoek, was the eighth and final region to hold the regional procession after the government declared a period of national mourning following Dr Nujoma’s death.
Thousands of Namibians including the young and old and members of the security forces lined up the streets of Windhoek to get a glimpse of Dr Nujoma’s casket as they paid their respects to the Pan Africanist.
The ruling SWAPO party also used the day to officially unveil Dr Nujoma’s statue at their new, almost complete, headquarters in Windhoek.
The statue depicts Dr Nujoma holding a child, a survivor of the Cassinga Massacre where more than 600 people died after airborne soldiers from the apartheid regime then running South Africa attacked a SWAPO camp in Angola on May 4, 1978.
The day has been used by Namibians as a reminder of their long and bitter road to freedom. As Dr Nujoma’s body was being driven around the streets of Windhoek, the convoy made a brief stop at the SWAPO offices to coincide with the party’s event.
Later in the day, SWAPO hosted a memorial service in honour of Dr Nujoma at the Sam Nujoma stadium. Speaking during the statue unveiling ceremony, President-elect Nandi-Ndaitwah explained that following Dr Nujoma’s death, the party decided to convert his office into a museum.
“A provision was made for an office of the founding President in this building you are seeing in front of you. Now that he has departed, the office will be turned to Sam Nujoma Museum where we will keep his valuable items such as diaries, books among others to preserve history for the current and future generations,” she said. “We, therefore, ask anyone, Namibians and non-Namibians who are in possession of valuable historical item or items that are related to the comrade founding President, to make a donation to the museum.”
President-elect Nandi-Ndaitwah said Dr Nujoma will go down in the annals of history for his sacrifices towards the liberation of his people.
