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 those who were selected to go and study the Spanish language before going to Cuba. So we opened the N’dalatando Centre, an old coffee station and barracks close to the town of Cazengo, in the Kwanza Norte Province. That is where I met the Founding President for the first time, after he attended the Enlarged Central Committee Meeting of Swapo in Kwanza-Sul Province, in Angola.
When all other Central Committee members went back to their work stations, the Founding President decided to remain behind with us, spending the weekend with his children to enjoy a match of soccer. As I was the pioneer assigned to receive him with a scarf and a speech, he picked me up and put me on his lap. I was between eleven and twelve years old. He then asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up. I told him I wanted to become a scientist. He was very happy with the answer but little did I know that he truly wanted the Namibian children to study science in order to become doctors, engineers, agriculturalists, geologists etc. Fortunately, I managed to study political science apart from international relations when I was doing law.
After completing my secondary education in Cuba and went to France for my tertiary education, I spent some time in the West Indies, home to Pan-Africanists such as Marcus Garvey, Henry Sylvester Williams, George Padmore and Walter Rodney who were influential figures in Pan-Africanism. The last two were both based in Africa, with George Padmore working with Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana while Walter Rodney was working with Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in Tanzania. My Pan-Africanist friends in the West Indies said to me “Shipale, when you go back home to Africa, please take good care of our brother Sam Nujoma” this is after I gobbled up a number of books and was “burning the midnight oil”, staying up late at night reading all kind of books on Pan-Africanism.
Fast forward, I had this unusual dream where I saw the Founding President Nujoma followed by a sea of people waving Swapo’s flags. On the other side, there was a platoon of soldiers marching and saluting. I wanted to see who the soldiers were saluting and realized that they were saluting the Late Hidipo Hamutenya. In the middle of the two groups was former Prime Minister Nahas Angula sitting on top of a house without a roof. He said to me “Shipale, let’s build before the heavy storms arrive”.
It took me nearly five years to interpret the dream until it started to unfold right before our eyes when it came to fruition in 2004 on the occasion of the Swapo Party extra-ordinary congress, which was described as a defining moment in our country’s recent political life. The Swapo Party nominated three candidates to contest for the presidential position, namely former President Pohamba, the Late Hidipo Hamutenya and the current Chairperson of the Sam Nujoma Foundation, Nahas Angula. I then remember writing an article with the title “Let’s build”. We all know that the Founding President loved to read newspapers and consistently and devotedly followed the news.
Then I had another unusual dream where I saw former President Pohamba calling me to come and work in the Office of the President. When the Founding President read my article, he immediately called the former Minister of Information Joel Kaapanda to find out who I was. This is how the Founding President called me to his Office to become his speech writer.
I therefore concur with those who are saying that Founding President Nujoma always had an eagle eye, as a visionary leader with foresight, in identifying people with potential through his talent spotting model. I too agree with those who are saying that he was indeed our father-figure as he then started to groom me. Thus, he was not only an eagle that could carry someone under its wings but also a bull that could take care of you as well as a mighty lion as the king of the jungle.
In terms of my personal recollections when I used to work with the Founding Father as my boss, I vividly remember when one day I wrote his statement and the Founding President asked me if my supervisor had seen the statement before I handed it over to him? I started scratching my head as I knew that the speech did not go through my supervisor. He then said to me “always make sure that you go through the right channels and follow procedures. What if tomorrow you take over this Office, will you not expect your subordinates to follow orders?”
I also remember one day when I drafted his statement and wrote his name as Dr. Sam Nujoma. The Founding President immediately corrected me saying “Comrade Shipale, why should I use the title Dr.? Do you want people to say that Nujoma is there using the title D?” He also suggested that I remove the title “Founding Father” but here I was unyielding and inflexible knowing that I was right. I told him that the title “Founding Father” was from an Act of Parliament (Act 16 of 2005), which conferred on him the Status of Founding Father of the Namibian Nation, as the first President of the Republic of Namibia. I then suggested to him to use the title Founding President instead. This is how I started to write on his speeches “H.E. Dr. Sam Nujoma, Founding President and Father of the Namibian Nation.”
On another occasion, I remember when he called me to his farm and informed me that he wanted to appoint me as his Senior Special Assistant given that my supervisor was going on retirement. I took that as a direct order from my boss and thanked him for the trust he placed on me. He then said in Portuguese “Muito forza contra el imperialism” and I answered “Aqui enemigo non passa”. He started laughing and urged me to be indomitable and to never waver.
He then invited me for dinner and told me that I should sleep early as we were travelling together the next day to the North. Around 23h00 I was still on my laptop frantically putting down notes and doing some desktop research. The Founding President came knocking at my door and asked me why I was not yet asleep? Surely the next morning, around 0300 A.M., we were on our way to the North and arrived around 0700 A.M.in Oshakati. I then realized that this is how he was groomed by both his parents when they used to tell him to wake up early in the morning to go and herd the family cattle or take them to the cattle post in Uukwambi area.
As far as his famous quote “A people united, striving to achieve a common good for all members of the society, will always emerge victorious”, I remember myself trying to be innovative and wrote a famous slogan that we used to recite in Cuba saying “A people united, shall never be defeated”. The Founding President told me it was a good slogan but maybe we should not say “A people united, shall never be defeated” but say “A people united, striving to achieve a common good for all members of the society, will always emerge victorious”. So whenever I was writing his statements, he used to remind me saying “Shipale, don’t forget to add my slogan at the end of the statement”.
Thus, the Founding Father was never a copycat as he always made sure that he added his own personal touch to something, be it a slogan or a name. He was born a leader and early signs in his childhood proved that he was destined for greatness.
In this regard, when I used to hear some people saying that it was the Late Mburumba Kerina who came up with the name Swapo, I doubt very much if the Founding President did not add his personal touch. Surely, Mburumba Kerina suggested to the Founding President that the name OPO represented only one ethnic group instead of the entire country. So he suggested to change the name, probably even to SWANU, and I can see the Founding President asking “why not remove Ovamboland from OPO and add South West Africa to OPO and call the movement Swapo?” This is how I think OPO was renamed to South West Africa People’s Organization (Swapo) and on the 19th of April 1960, Dr. Nujoma was elected as the President of the movement in absentia.
Similarly, I see the Late Mburumba Kerina suggesting to the Founding President Nujoma to change the name South West Africa, which according to him simply represented a geographical location as he was told by Suharto Surkano of Indonesia, when he asked him what the name of his country was. I envision Mburumba Kerina suggesting to the Founding President Nujoma to rename South West Africa to the Namib Desert. I wouldn’t be surprised that the Founding President probably asked “why not add the letters “ia” to Namib so that it sounds like Tanzania, Zambia, Liberia, Algeria, Nigeria etc.?” This is also how I think the name Namibia came about.
Yes it is true, on both occasion of the renaming of OPO to Swapo and South West Africa to Namibia, the Late Mburumba Kerina was involved and we should not take this credit away from him but I am sure that on both occasion Founding President Nujoma added his personal touch.
I agree with former President Pohamba that the sad news of his passing did not come as a shock not only because I was kept informed of his condition but also because I had this strange feeling that the Founding President was preparing to depart from this earth. This happened as I was reminded when I saw a vision of him waving goodbye to honourable Utoni Nujoma, the current Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation as well as his first born son and to me after he had embarked on an aircraft. That is why the picture that was on the cover of The Namibian Newspaper on Monday, 10 February 2025, hit me so hard and looked like a déjà vu.
In this regard, when the Founding President was going for his annual holiday retreat at the coast in Walvis Bay, accompanied by his dear wife, Madame Theopoldine Kovambo Nujoma, Founding First Lady, aboard the Government Falcon 900B, on Saturday, 21st December 2024, I truly had that sense of a déjà vu when I was standing with Honourable Utoni Nujoma at the airport tarmac. That is why I immediately jumped into the aircraft and accompanied the Founding couple to the coast just to make sure that they arrived safely.
It was at the coast when the Founding President truly conveyed his last messages to me when he recovered a little bit and said “Shipale accompanied me to the coast and we were wearing a similar dressing code of safaris. That is why, Shipale will take me into my old age. He must prepare my statement in the next ten (10) days”. I was puzzled as to what my boss was talking about only to find out that precisely ten (10) days after his departure, the Office of the President was included in the program to pay tribute to the Founding President and I must prepare a speech and do all the necessary office’s work.
To President Nangolo Mbumba, we have heard you when you said now is the time to show if we are truly Nujoma’s soldiers. Rest assured H.E. that we are here as foot soldiers of Founding President Nujoma. Meekulu Ohamba, Martha Mwadinomho ya Kristian Nelumbu, we have heard you when you asked “Olye lye tayi ililenge momufitu eshi ependafule Nujoma letu fiyapo ngaha?” Meekulu Ohamba, fye ovakwaita va Nujoma, eendume domomufitu, opo tuli apa. Ootatekulu Aakwaniilwa nOmalenga, tse omandengu nohiinina opo tuli.
Let us heed the Founding President’s timeless call to unity of purpose and action as the echoes of his wisdom resound for eternity when he always used to say; “A people united, striving to achieve a common good for all the members of the society, will always emerge victorious!” Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and this newspaper but solely my personal views as a citizen.
