Forgotten unsung heroes
Two unmarked graves of PLAN fighters serve as an example of how the memories fallen heroes are neglected, say proponents.
CATHERINE SASMAN
The sunken and barren graves marked by fading gravestones numbered 640 and 642 in the Katutura municipal graveyard tucked between Dolam and Golgota are as indistinguishable as hundreds of other forgotten, unmarked and neglected gravesites.
This bleak picture belies the significance of the fact that those buried there under unclear circumstances for more than 50 years were two of the unsung heroes of the first contemporary battle at Ongulumbashe in August 1966.
According to the only available record of the gravesites kept at the Oponganda cemetery near Ramatex in Khomasdal, PLAN fighters Veranus Akapeke Ipangelwa and Jonas Nghipukulwa Kahenge were buried at the Katutura cemetery in graves 640 and 642 respectively on 27 August 1966.
The information in the record is as bare as their graves – there is no information regarding their dates of birth or places where they died. The date on which they were buried at the cemetery is given as the date of death. No other information is available.
Unconfirmed information obtained is that Ipangelwa and Kahenge were killed in the battle of Ongulumbashe on 26 August 1966 and were first buried somewhere in northern Namibia.
According to this information the occupying apartheid South African security apparatus for unknown reasons decided to reinter their remains in Windhoek in September 1966.
Their remains were handed to the municipality of Windhoek, which oversaw the burial at the Katutura cemetery.
According to a source preferring anonymity, Ipangelwa and Kahenge were among five or seven PLAN fighters who had travelled from Tanzania to join the battle along the Namibian border with Angola in 1966.
Another source, who also prefers anonymity, said the two graves were first discovered when a relative of Kahenge’s decided to trace his remains.
“These forgotten combatants are not respected. No one is thinking of them,” the source said.
There is, however, now a growing clamour among members in the Swapo Party that the bodies of the two fallen PLAN fighters be exhumed so that they be given heroes’ burials either at the Heroes’ Acre in Windhoek or at the Ongulumbashe memorial in the Omusati Region, which was erected in commemoration of the start of the so-called bush war against the apartheid South African forces and Swapo.
“Ipangelwa and Kahenge should have been considered as among the top categories of those upon whom hero status is conferred. However, they seem to have fallen through the cracks,” the source said.
“This omission is significant. You cannot say you honour your heroes but the unknown, unmarked and unrecognised graves of the two PLAN combatants serve as a classic example of how people are forgotten. This is just the tip of the iceberg of all other neglected freedom fighters.”
This source did say that a written appeal to Swapo’s secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba for the consideration of hero status to Ipangelwa and Kahenge and reburial was made in 2013 already. This matter has not yet been considered by the party.
Mbumba was not available for comment.
The sunken and barren graves marked by fading gravestones numbered 640 and 642 in the Katutura municipal graveyard tucked between Dolam and Golgota are as indistinguishable as hundreds of other forgotten, unmarked and neglected gravesites.
This bleak picture belies the significance of the fact that those buried there under unclear circumstances for more than 50 years were two of the unsung heroes of the first contemporary battle at Ongulumbashe in August 1966.
According to the only available record of the gravesites kept at the Oponganda cemetery near Ramatex in Khomasdal, PLAN fighters Veranus Akapeke Ipangelwa and Jonas Nghipukulwa Kahenge were buried at the Katutura cemetery in graves 640 and 642 respectively on 27 August 1966.
The information in the record is as bare as their graves – there is no information regarding their dates of birth or places where they died. The date on which they were buried at the cemetery is given as the date of death. No other information is available.
Unconfirmed information obtained is that Ipangelwa and Kahenge were killed in the battle of Ongulumbashe on 26 August 1966 and were first buried somewhere in northern Namibia.
According to this information the occupying apartheid South African security apparatus for unknown reasons decided to reinter their remains in Windhoek in September 1966.
Their remains were handed to the municipality of Windhoek, which oversaw the burial at the Katutura cemetery.
According to a source preferring anonymity, Ipangelwa and Kahenge were among five or seven PLAN fighters who had travelled from Tanzania to join the battle along the Namibian border with Angola in 1966.
Another source, who also prefers anonymity, said the two graves were first discovered when a relative of Kahenge’s decided to trace his remains.
“These forgotten combatants are not respected. No one is thinking of them,” the source said.
There is, however, now a growing clamour among members in the Swapo Party that the bodies of the two fallen PLAN fighters be exhumed so that they be given heroes’ burials either at the Heroes’ Acre in Windhoek or at the Ongulumbashe memorial in the Omusati Region, which was erected in commemoration of the start of the so-called bush war against the apartheid South African forces and Swapo.
“Ipangelwa and Kahenge should have been considered as among the top categories of those upon whom hero status is conferred. However, they seem to have fallen through the cracks,” the source said.
“This omission is significant. You cannot say you honour your heroes but the unknown, unmarked and unrecognised graves of the two PLAN combatants serve as a classic example of how people are forgotten. This is just the tip of the iceberg of all other neglected freedom fighters.”
This source did say that a written appeal to Swapo’s secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba for the consideration of hero status to Ipangelwa and Kahenge and reburial was made in 2013 already. This matter has not yet been considered by the party.
Mbumba was not available for comment.
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