‘Plan Fighters Not the Only Heroes’

Nico Smit

30 June 2011

NATIONAL hero status should not be reserved exclusively for members of the ruling party or former People’s Liberation Army of Namibia combatants, says Youth and Sport Minister Kazenambo Kazenambo.

“It does not mean that if you are in the ruling party then you are automatically a hero,” Kazenambo said, adding that many leaders who have provided a service to Namibia are no longer Swapo members.

He singled out All People’s Party (APP) president Ignatius Shixwameni and Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) president Hidipo Hamutenya as two such individuals.

“Even though the Honourable Hamutenya and I now bitterly disagree on political ideology, he was my leader and my icon. He has provided a service, and when many MPs on my side of this house were asleep, Honourable Hamutenya and I were up writing Namibia Today,” Kazenambo said.

Speaking in the National Assembly on the Conferment of National Honours Bill on Tuesday, Kazenambo said the bill was long overdue.

He said that the bill would provide guidance as there is currently a lot of uncertainty as to who qualifies as a national hero.

“Any person who has contributed to shaping the Namibian nation, whether it is in the political, academic, economic or whatever field, should be considered,” Kazenambo said.

When asked by Deputy Gender Equality Minister Angelika Muharukua whether former DTA President Mishake Muyongo should qualify for national hero status should he return to Namibia, apologise and reconcile his differences, Kazenambo replied “yes.”

According to Kazenambo, Muyongo’s service to Namibia does qualify him for hero status, but he also emphasised that conferment of national honours would be the prerogative of the President under the bill.

* Meanwhile Nampa reports that Kazenambo claimed during the same debate that some former combatants of the military wing of the ruling Swapo Party (Plan) concocted very ingenious plans and tricks to avoid going to the battlefield to face the enemy during the liberation struggle.

Kazenambo said some Plan combatants took guns and shot themselves in the foot deliberately in order to avoid going to the battlefront.

Others, he said, feigned stomach problems or various other ailments just to avoid confrontation with the dreaded enemy.

“I see many of them walking around in the streets claiming to be brave heroes, but it is not the case,” said Kazenambo, who has caused various controversies in the ruling party recently because of his outspokenness.

Kazenambo’s statement seemed to have caused some uneasiness in the National Assembly, which is dominated by Swapo heavyweights, many of whom are only known for their exploits in the diplomatic struggle and not the military part of it.

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