Kandando OPINION
Kandando OPINION

In Memory of Karupumbura Veii

Dr Rihupisa Kandando
It was on this day, 9 August 2012, a decade ago, that a son of the soil, a friend and a comrade in the liberation struggle, in the personality of Karupumbura Veii, passed on.

For those who do not know him - he was the former president of the South West Africa National Union (Swanu) party; the embodiment of our people’s aspirations; and the first Namibian to be incarcerated at the notorious Robben Island prison, where the cream of our people were held.

The prison was a place of white men's revenge.

His only sin , in the eyes of the diabolic Pretoria regime, was when, on 4 December 1966, he asked about the whereabouts of Jason Mutumbulwa, Johny Ya Otto and Natanael Maxuilili after Omugulubashe, 26 August 1966.

And when the racist Pretoria, in their attempt to probe the incident, cast the dice on the three compatriots, Gerson Veii called tit-for-tat so that the whites could account for the missing three compatriots.

This is part of our rich history, unknown to friends, family, Namibians of all walks of life, comrades, and political leaders, who went into exile and returned in 1989 and know nothing about this, or alternatively, who know this but are involved in a banal disinformation campaign to relegate other people’s contributions to the footnote of history.

Paying tribute to his memory is important because he operated from a platform of a national liberation movement that was viewed as an outcast simply because of a strong adherence to Pan-Africanism, black nationalism, and black consciousness, which were antidotes to white liberalism and oppression.

Liberation

The platform advocated for a people’s republic. It was a platform that opposed both Pretoria’s internal neo-colonial designs and concessionary politics spearheaded by the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) and tribal clowns; that struggled to convince the international community that baptising Swapo as the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people would not have the same synergy, latitude, and altitude to liberate our country.

This situation drove a schism between the national liberation movement and limited a section of our national liberation movement's ability to pursue its share of the liberation struggle, ultimately leading to tribalism, disunity, and regionalism, which we are currently complaining about in the current political climate.

The above constitutes the reasons why the late Karupumbura Veii’s name may deliberately not be included in the annals of our Namibian history, on account of having operated under the banner of a national liberation movement (i.e Swanu), which was an outcast.

Swanu’s political programme was dictated mainly by the minimum demands, wishes and aspirations of Namibians, which was unconditional liberation.

Our late Veii heeded the clarion call as part of the national liberation movement by engaging in underground, political and diplomatic struggles as part of the resistance against white oppression within the parameters developed by the UN General Assembly Resolution of 1960 regarding the principles of decolonisation for nations under the colonial occupation.

The narrative that he and others did not engage in the armed struggle, and therefore did not fight for national liberation, is pure rubbish.

Can the same narrative apply to Tjongarero, Maxuilili, Hoebeb, Thlabanello, Witbooi and the rest of the Namibians who belong to my sister party Swapo, who did not go abroad to join the theatre of military operations? Should they be equally labelled that they did not fight? Nonsense!

Principled

The late Veii’s contribution may be summed up in few paragraphs.

He evaded military conscription on the principle that it was imposed on able-bodied Namibians aged 16–35 and left for exile in July 1980 with Willy Kusch.

He took the Namibian political and diplomatic struggle back to Nicosia, Cyprus in 1982, where his national liberation movement was expelled in 2968 from the Afro-Asian People’s Organization (AAPSO), after denouncing co-habitation with imperialism under the guise or pretext of peaceful co-existence.

I had the distinct honour of working with him for three years in the south of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In a post-colonial dispensation, he remained the engine of our politics that defied modern Namibia with its material attraction, detractions, and opportunism in fulfilment of what Steve Biko, and Uatjindua Ndjoze, once remarked, respectively: "That leadership is incompatible with security and comfort", and "it takes both convictions and commitments for a revolutionary to be glued to his political principles".

His contributions are non-exhaustive. They include making contact with the Schlettwein Foundation, which paved the way for the repatriation of relevant Swanu documents on the liberation struggle. He represented us at the ECN Parties Liaison Committee (PLC) and was the contact person with the Embassy of Cuba during 2000.

Despite the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs, he left a legacy that represents the Welwitschia mirabilis.

He passed on a decade ago, but we take comfort from Soren Kierkegaard, who once remarked: "The tyrant dies and his rule ends, but the martyr dies and his rule begins".

*Dr Rihupisa Kandando was a liberation struggle activist who also served as President of Swanu from 1999 to 2007.

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-28

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 214.61/OZ UP +1.09% | Copper US$ 3.98/lb DOWN -0.0004 | Zinc US$ 2 456.10/T DOWN -0.02% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.19/BBP UP +0.93% | Platinum US$ 908.00/OZ UP +1.47% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.88 | EUR to NAD 20.44 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.95 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.28 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.95 | USD to ZMW 24.77 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 73909.5 Up +0.41% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1516.02 Down -0.13% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12981.98 Up +0.34% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 28224.37 Down -2.87% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 214.61/OZ UP +1.09% | Copper US$ 3.98/lb DOWN -0.0004 | Zinc US$ 2 456.10/T DOWN -0.02% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.19/BBP UP +0.93% | Platinum US$ 908.00/OZ UP +1.47%