Adios Dr Hage Geingob, the political dribbler
'Mbauta ngunda unomuinjo enangarasi memana nai tjiuatu nanguari uendji uru', as the poets would say – your death has struck a pen on my bolt, even though I am happy that you are now eventually at peace.
Well done, political punching bag of our time, who eventually got them to praise you. They are grabbing the microphone, claiming special political proximity in an attempt to relaunch themselves into political relevance. That aside.
This is not to analyse your time in office, but to say adios. Leaders are not meant to solve all ills but to inspire. Yes, we will eventually differ on what you could have done better or did not do at all. What I know is that you introduced us to the systems, processes and institutions that eventually benefitted us on that fateful Sunday of your departure.
I am certain that you went to sleep reciting those three words that will be the hallmark of your time on this side. You modernised our republic and taught us that a president can get to work without disrupting traffic. True to your mantra of third-wave leadership, you were the first president to address an audience without that soldier standing at pole behind you. True too – you stretched transparency to our advantage but own disadvantage.
For all Namibians
When the second president Dr Hifikepunye Pohamba made the decision for ‘Hage’ to become president, the intention must have been to reconcile ourselves to the idea that the country needed to cement that important idea of 'One Namibia, One Nation.'
Dr Hifikepunye Pohamba having been the necessary compromise to prevent the implosion, Dr Hage Geingob was that necessary assurance of a Namibia accommodative of all her children. We dare not depart from this.
I pay tribute to a hugely vulnerable, accommodating and contradictory person, all in one.
Hage Geingob was the last one of the trios. Whilst the late Hidipo was a tactician of mathematical precision like the needle of a sewing machine who lived ahead of his time, and the late Theo-Ben was a modest and intelligent man in love with himself, awake to purpose and jealous of his own space, Geingob was a political dribbler and administrator of note substituted by the Great Devine Coach in the last quarter of the game to great applause and appreciation.
I met Geingob during his first stint as prime minister in 1998 at Casa Rosalia, accompanied by Sacky Shanghala and that disciplined daughter of the soil, Lucia Iipumbu, whom we had started to groom within the party as part of a generation of disciplined future leaders.
We were founding members of the Unam SPYL branch who resolved to invite the prime minister to a debate on the proposed third term of the founding president. We had no choice but to bring the advocate of the third term himself, Hage Geingob, as Ben Ulenga had packed a lecture hall to the rafters the previous week on the invitation of the Political Science Club, of which I was the chairperson. On that day, I sat on the main couch by mistake, which incident introduced me to the Hage Geingob, who once walked this planet.
Personal invitation
In his fourth act, and three years after my interview with Blanche Goreses on who the Boss of the Bosses is, I received a call from a person who introduced himself as ‘This is Geingob...”.
He called to thank me for changing the narrative, apparently saving the day and to wish me a belated Happy New Year.
Late Geingob attempted on various occasions to invite me for political and intellectual communion, only for me to refuse, as I saw my interventions on his behalf as a matter of principle and not personal allegiance. He would send Johaan Ndjaronguru (condolences to you and a job well done) to my practice at the MVA building and his main foot soldier of many years, Alfredo Hengari (condolences to you and a job well done), to no avail.
Only the late Mandela Kapere (MK) succeeded when he forced me into a meet and greet with the president at State House on 12 November 2020, where we both could not hide our excitement of eventually meeting each other, the author and the subject. He took me around State House, introducing me to everyone and all the offices, except the one on the western side of his main office. I leave it at that.
Late Kapere complained that despite them having been friends, he had to benefit from my visit to get such a comprehensive tour. Realising that he was approaching the end of his second and last term, we met at Casa Rosalia on a Sunday after his church service in January 2022. I informed him of my impression of the improvements and his taste. As I requested that we only be two, and in a relaxed environment, Nangula (sincere condolences to you and your siblings) was the only person to pass by once for an introduction by a proud father. We touched on various subjects whilst watching the Liverpool game. When two people discuss issues in confidence, it is an unwritten rule that the survivor takes it to his grave.
Last encounter
Nation-building president
My last encounter with him was at a meeting of the party ‘leadership’ at State House, where he would shield me from those around the table with ‘Spera spera...you talk too much’..(in his typical commanding Hage tone) pushback.
It was at this time that I encountered Hage the statesman, refusing, despite the pressure, to drown the person who risked all in defence of his attempts at nation-building as president for the last eight years and who refused to be the one to have killed his Swapo Party.
His spokesperson called me to inform me that he said that I should immediately inform the media that the third president of Swapo granted me permission to make my duty-bound pronouncements and that 'I had balls'.
On that day, he did not mince his words to inform those around the table that the Swapo Party was bigger than all individual needs and aspirations and had survived bigger challenges. At that table, he was annoyed with threats and instead promised to solve any problem in the house. He requested one female comrade to let it pass and accord him time. I informed my team after the meeting that he would eventually make appointments to put infighting to bed, which he did in September 2022.
The greatest honour
On Sunday morning of 4 February 2024, I heard that Geingob the Eagle departed amidst the soothing sound of the rain, for which this country had so long thirsted. He just took off on a holy day, leaving the Namibian tree and his beloved Swapo Party intact. ‘Yours truly’ had signed off.
I am certain he refused to be hoodwinked by those who refused to defend him during his time on this side. I will remember our third president as a good person surrounded by citizens with subjective interests, who schemed to undermine his nation-building efforts and only acknowledged his immense footsteps in creating the path of our nation once his breath had been silenced on the road. Well.
We can bid him a befitting adios by dedicating ourselves to the preamble of the National Constitution and that of the Swapo Party. Indeed, the third president’s departure is 'our date with destiny, our rendezvous with history’.
When it comes to our future as a country, we dare not fear 'our date with destiny, our rendezvous with history’ but ensure that 'enlightened interests and not egos will save Swapo and eventually Namibia'. (Asser Ntinda 2024, edited).
We are called upon to answer this clarion call by Asser Ntinda and be ruthless in this resolve, for national interests supersede all other interests.
It was the greatest honour to defend you and our party. I have been absolved. Sincere condolences to Madame Monica Geingos.
Kaende naua Kainikova, when you meet HH, TBG and Mose Tjitendero, tell them everything is under control and still doable. Nanguari uputara noho. !Gaise !gure. #Khib !na sa re. !Gari aotse.
Well done, political punching bag of our time, who eventually got them to praise you. They are grabbing the microphone, claiming special political proximity in an attempt to relaunch themselves into political relevance. That aside.
This is not to analyse your time in office, but to say adios. Leaders are not meant to solve all ills but to inspire. Yes, we will eventually differ on what you could have done better or did not do at all. What I know is that you introduced us to the systems, processes and institutions that eventually benefitted us on that fateful Sunday of your departure.
I am certain that you went to sleep reciting those three words that will be the hallmark of your time on this side. You modernised our republic and taught us that a president can get to work without disrupting traffic. True to your mantra of third-wave leadership, you were the first president to address an audience without that soldier standing at pole behind you. True too – you stretched transparency to our advantage but own disadvantage.
For all Namibians
When the second president Dr Hifikepunye Pohamba made the decision for ‘Hage’ to become president, the intention must have been to reconcile ourselves to the idea that the country needed to cement that important idea of 'One Namibia, One Nation.'
Dr Hifikepunye Pohamba having been the necessary compromise to prevent the implosion, Dr Hage Geingob was that necessary assurance of a Namibia accommodative of all her children. We dare not depart from this.
I pay tribute to a hugely vulnerable, accommodating and contradictory person, all in one.
Hage Geingob was the last one of the trios. Whilst the late Hidipo was a tactician of mathematical precision like the needle of a sewing machine who lived ahead of his time, and the late Theo-Ben was a modest and intelligent man in love with himself, awake to purpose and jealous of his own space, Geingob was a political dribbler and administrator of note substituted by the Great Devine Coach in the last quarter of the game to great applause and appreciation.
I met Geingob during his first stint as prime minister in 1998 at Casa Rosalia, accompanied by Sacky Shanghala and that disciplined daughter of the soil, Lucia Iipumbu, whom we had started to groom within the party as part of a generation of disciplined future leaders.
We were founding members of the Unam SPYL branch who resolved to invite the prime minister to a debate on the proposed third term of the founding president. We had no choice but to bring the advocate of the third term himself, Hage Geingob, as Ben Ulenga had packed a lecture hall to the rafters the previous week on the invitation of the Political Science Club, of which I was the chairperson. On that day, I sat on the main couch by mistake, which incident introduced me to the Hage Geingob, who once walked this planet.
Personal invitation
In his fourth act, and three years after my interview with Blanche Goreses on who the Boss of the Bosses is, I received a call from a person who introduced himself as ‘This is Geingob...”.
He called to thank me for changing the narrative, apparently saving the day and to wish me a belated Happy New Year.
Late Geingob attempted on various occasions to invite me for political and intellectual communion, only for me to refuse, as I saw my interventions on his behalf as a matter of principle and not personal allegiance. He would send Johaan Ndjaronguru (condolences to you and a job well done) to my practice at the MVA building and his main foot soldier of many years, Alfredo Hengari (condolences to you and a job well done), to no avail.
Only the late Mandela Kapere (MK) succeeded when he forced me into a meet and greet with the president at State House on 12 November 2020, where we both could not hide our excitement of eventually meeting each other, the author and the subject. He took me around State House, introducing me to everyone and all the offices, except the one on the western side of his main office. I leave it at that.
Late Kapere complained that despite them having been friends, he had to benefit from my visit to get such a comprehensive tour. Realising that he was approaching the end of his second and last term, we met at Casa Rosalia on a Sunday after his church service in January 2022. I informed him of my impression of the improvements and his taste. As I requested that we only be two, and in a relaxed environment, Nangula (sincere condolences to you and your siblings) was the only person to pass by once for an introduction by a proud father. We touched on various subjects whilst watching the Liverpool game. When two people discuss issues in confidence, it is an unwritten rule that the survivor takes it to his grave.
Last encounter
Nation-building president
My last encounter with him was at a meeting of the party ‘leadership’ at State House, where he would shield me from those around the table with ‘Spera spera...you talk too much’..(in his typical commanding Hage tone) pushback.
It was at this time that I encountered Hage the statesman, refusing, despite the pressure, to drown the person who risked all in defence of his attempts at nation-building as president for the last eight years and who refused to be the one to have killed his Swapo Party.
His spokesperson called me to inform me that he said that I should immediately inform the media that the third president of Swapo granted me permission to make my duty-bound pronouncements and that 'I had balls'.
On that day, he did not mince his words to inform those around the table that the Swapo Party was bigger than all individual needs and aspirations and had survived bigger challenges. At that table, he was annoyed with threats and instead promised to solve any problem in the house. He requested one female comrade to let it pass and accord him time. I informed my team after the meeting that he would eventually make appointments to put infighting to bed, which he did in September 2022.
The greatest honour
On Sunday morning of 4 February 2024, I heard that Geingob the Eagle departed amidst the soothing sound of the rain, for which this country had so long thirsted. He just took off on a holy day, leaving the Namibian tree and his beloved Swapo Party intact. ‘Yours truly’ had signed off.
I am certain he refused to be hoodwinked by those who refused to defend him during his time on this side. I will remember our third president as a good person surrounded by citizens with subjective interests, who schemed to undermine his nation-building efforts and only acknowledged his immense footsteps in creating the path of our nation once his breath had been silenced on the road. Well.
We can bid him a befitting adios by dedicating ourselves to the preamble of the National Constitution and that of the Swapo Party. Indeed, the third president’s departure is 'our date with destiny, our rendezvous with history’.
When it comes to our future as a country, we dare not fear 'our date with destiny, our rendezvous with history’ but ensure that 'enlightened interests and not egos will save Swapo and eventually Namibia'. (Asser Ntinda 2024, edited).
We are called upon to answer this clarion call by Asser Ntinda and be ruthless in this resolve, for national interests supersede all other interests.
It was the greatest honour to defend you and our party. I have been absolved. Sincere condolences to Madame Monica Geingos.
Kaende naua Kainikova, when you meet HH, TBG and Mose Tjitendero, tell them everything is under control and still doable. Nanguari uputara noho. !Gaise !gure. #Khib !na sa re. !Gari aotse.
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