Opinions

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro “Celebrating a Revolutionary, Honouring an African Icon” has been the theme during the mourning of the passing of the Founding President and Father of the Nation, Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma. Indeed, such accolades are befitting of Tatekulu given his dedication to Namibia’s liberation struggle, following in the footsteps of nationalists such as Ovaherero Ombara Otjitambi, Hosea Katjikururume Komombumbi Kutako, and others. Pathfinders and pioneers of the resistance movement who passed on the baton to the Kaukuetus, Nujomas, Garoës, and Beukeses, steering the cause all the way to the country's freedom and independence on the 21st of March, 1990.…

P T SHIPALE I. PROLOGUE Once again, let me repeat here that it is as if the departure of the Founding President was well-orchestrated by the ancients of days for his burial to take place on the 1st of March 2025 coinciding with the day on which he crossed the border fence into the British Bechuanaland Protectorate, on the 1st of March 1960.  The 1st of March 1994, it was the re-integration of Walvis Bay and the offshore islands to Namibia.  There is also the date of 21st March.  In a bid to test South Africa’s claims at the International…

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro REALISTICALLY, the road towards reparations is a long and hard one because the immediate task now staring the Ovaherero, Ovambanderu and Nama in the face is getting the campaign back on track following its attempted derailment by both the Namibian government and its German counterpart.  With the Joint Declaration (JD), which was made in 2021 after what seemed like ten years of negotiations on reparations, the two governments have come up with nothing more than a bilateral aid package. This, by the standards of genocide and subsequent reparations, cannot and will never come closer to being defined and…

P T SHIPALE I. Prologue Indeed, a great tree has fallen and a great shadow hangs heavy across the entire land because our beloved Founding President and Father of the Namibian Nation, H.E. Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma is no more.  For those of us who knew him, who worked alongside him, who counted and relied on him, who were led by him, who learned from him, who loved him, it is unbearable that we will not see him again. The sad news of his passing struck a deep and solemn note as he was an iconic and quintessential revolutionary leader,…

Lot Ndamanomhata The Lobito Corridor, an ambitious trans-African project, is reshaping the geopolitics of Southern Africa. Spanning Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the corridor connects mineral-rich regions to the Atlantic Ocean, facilitating the export of critical resources such as copper and cobalt. These materials are vital for renewable energy and green technology, and the project’s backing by the U.S. and its allies underscores its global significance. However, the corridor has sparked concerns about sovereignty, resource exploitation, and geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China. The Corridor: A strategic gateway The Lobito Corridor links the DRC’s…

P T Shipale Although, in my capacity as the Senior Special Assistant to the Founding President, I was kept abreast of the condition of the Founding President, one is never prepared to hear the sad news of the passing of a person who is close to our hearts.  More so, if such a person is of the calibre of the Founding President and Father of the Namibian Nation, H.E. Dr Sam Nujoma.  The first time I met the Founding President in person was in 1979 after the Cassinga Massacre on the 4th of May 1978 as I was part of…

Lot Ndamanomhata History sometimes unfolds in ways that no one anticipates. When Dr. Nangolo Mbumba was sworn in as the fourth President of the Republic of Namibia on 4 February 2024, it was under circumstances no one could have foreseen. The nation was in mourning following the passing of President Hage G. Geingob, and in that moment of deep national sorrow, leadership fell upon a man who had never sought the highest office but whose service to the nation had been unwavering for decades. Dr. Mbumba, the unassuming statesman from Olukonda, Pohadopate, became the nation’s guiding hand at a time…

In its 1976 political programme the Swapo Party of Namibia notes two economies that existed in parallel in colonial Namibia. “Wealthy white-owned economy based on the extensive extraction of varied natural resources” and “a separate subsistence economy enveloping the majority of the African population who are forced to live in Bantustans.” “The two economies have been consciously designed in accordance with the social interests of the white settler group and international monopoly capitalism.” Yours Truly Ideological cannot but note the observation of, by and in the Swapo 1976 Political Programme of the two economies existing side by side, most notably…