Nujoma’s office responds

The office of Founding President Sam Nujoma yesterday strongly reacted to the barrage of criticism regarding a wave of statues erected across the country in his honour. A Nujoma statue was unveiled at Ongulumbashe in the Omusati Region in August last year and another one was erected at the newly-opened Independence Memorial Museum, alongside the genocide statue. The continuous honouring of Nujoma, which includes naming streets and other facilities after him, has sparked emotional debate over the years, with critics arguing that the ageing statesman was being honoured too much ahead of fellow Namibian heroes. The Nujoma and genocide statues at the new museum replace the Reiterdenkmal, a statue honouring German soldiers and civilians who died during the European country’s war against local tribes. Government removed the Reiterdenkmal with the justification that it was a sad reminder of German atrocities against Namibians, and a symbol of victory by the former colonisers. The DTA Youth League this week accused Nujoma of being selfish for accepting all the honours bestowed upon him, and also slammed the fact that public funds are being used. DTA Youth League secretary-general Bensen Katjirijoro said the Reiterdenkmal should not have been removed in the first place. Senior aide to Nujoma, John Nauta, yesterday said he was not surprised by the DTA’s stance on the matter, especially its insistence that the Reiterdenkmal should have been left untouched. Calling them puppets of the Germans, Nauta said the DTA is evidently determined to continue siding with colonisers, like it has always done before the country’s independence in 1990. “They connived with the enemy to deliberately delay our independence and prolong apartheid,” Nauta said. He said it was an insult to cast any aspersions over Nujoma’s legacy as hero of Namibia. “Had it not been for Nujoma’s leadership, the independence and freedoms they are enjoying today would not have been achieved. He never wavered.” “The statues are a recognition of Nujoma’s contribution and we will not waste our time listening to puppets who stood in our way to freedom and self-determination.” Calling them “reactionaries”, Nauta said the DTA Youth League lacked patriotism for preferring colonial statues ahead of those of Namibia’s liberation heroes. “They are siding with German colonisers. They are agents of provocateurs and we will not sit back while they provoke us.” In an apparent election campaign jab, Nauta said the DTA - with these kinds of utterances - is proving that it cannot be allowed to rule Namibia. “Nobody can wish Nujoma’s legacy away. Every nation and every generation has its heroes and Nujoma is that hero to this country.”