Zaaruka breaks silence

Oshakati bomb blast survivor, Ben Zaaruka, has broken his silence 30 years after the incident, by recounting how his life was saved by a man who kept him from entering the then Barclays Bank.Zaaruka, who is now a prominent businessman, said yesterday during a commemoration of the 19 February 1988 blast in which 28 people died that he decided to speak up this year, after becoming too emotional in the past.Zaaruka was standing outside the bank when the bomb blast happened, but his fiancé who died a few days later from her injuries told him that the explosion had happened after a white man had left a bag inside the bank.The businessman said his life was saved by a man who had asked him for a job and who had kept him talking outside the bank.Zaaruka's fiancé, Johanna Onesmus, who was waiting for him inside, died a few days later from her injuries.He said that just after leaving the man to enter the bank, all he could remember was being thrown onto his back and “seeing money coming from the sky”.“It was like a dream. Next to me was a half a human body and I could not understand what type of dream it was. Later, I saw my fiancé running towards me and her whole body was on fire. That is when I realised that something happened in the bank. I grabbed my fiancé and took her with a few other victims to the hospital,” Zaaruka said.He said he was the first person to transport victims to the hospital, as it took the police and army almost an hour to arrive at the scene.He said that his fiancé died on 26 February and for three days she could not talk.“On the fourth day, when I went to visit her, she was talking. I asked her what happened. She told me that while she was seated at the reception there was white man in short trousers with a bag and he was writing on a paper. Later he put the bag down and after a few minutes he left. She said she stood up and followed the white man to tell him that he left his bag, and while approaching the door, she doesn't know what happened next,” he said.Zaaruka said he is not saying the white man had planted the bomb, but was only recounting what he had been told.Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) Western Diocese Bishop, Shekutamba Nambala, said the commemoration of single events that claimed Namibian lives during the colonial era is a mistake, and urged that all such events should be commemorated on Cassinga Day.Former President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who also attended the event, supported Nambala's sentiments. ILENI NANDJATO

Zaaruka breaks silence

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Namibian Sun 2026-06-10

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Zaaruka breaks silence

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Namibian Sun 2026-06-10

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