Africa-Press – Namibia. PRESIDENT Hage Geingob has described former DTA president Katuutire Kaura as a politician who has contributed greatly to the political landscape of the country during his tenure as leader of the DTA from 1998 to 2013.
“The late Katuutire Kaura will be remembered for his contributions to the socio-economic development of Namibia as the official leader of the opposition in parliament and later as the special adviser to the governor of Kunene region,” said Geingob yesterday.
Kaura died on Saturday evening at Roman Catholic Private Hospital in Windhoek at the age of 80. “It’s a tragic day for the family and for the work he has done,” were the words of vice president Nangolo Mbumba following Kaura’s death.
Mbumba and Kaura were students in the United States in the 1970s, where, as Namibian students, they campaigned together for the independence of the country.
The vice president added that all that Kaura wanted for the country was the attainment of independence and for political parties to flourish so that there are versatile views.
“He was quite a good debater. He had a very good command of the English language and he was quite a formidable member [of parliament]. At no time was he a nasty person. He did not attack people in terms of personality, but attacked their ideas if he disagreed with them – which is what a member of parliament should do,” said Mbumba.
Kaura had many political homes but died as a member of Swapo, which he joined in November 2017. His start in politics was as a member of the South West Africa National Union (Swanu) in 1959. He was Swanu’s representative to the United Nations from 1961 to 1971. In 1975, he joined the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo).
Kaura returned to Namibia in 1978 after completing his education in the US. The same year, he was elected to the pre-independence National Assembly. At the time, Nudo was affiliated to the DTA.
Kaura was critical of Swapo at the time, and in 1981 denounced the UN for supporting Swapo, which at the time he described as “an organisation of schoolchildren-kidnappers, rapist thugs and bandits”.
Swanu president Tangeni Ijambo, although he disagreed with Kaura’s movement between political parties, described him as an intellectual and a very articulate man.
“It’s just that one cannot pinpoint and say what it is that made him move from party to party. But if you listen to him speaking… I remember one of his speeches where he talked about agricultural products in Kunene and Erongo regions where wheat used to be grown along the Ugab River and he wanted to resuscitate that,” said Ijambo.
Former deputy prime minister Libertina Amathila, who has worked closely with Kaura in recent years in the Kunene region where she has been doing a lot of community work, says the nation must remember Kaura for the good things he has done.
“I am very sad because I have known him from a long time ago. We were at Augustinium (Secondary School) together with Hage Geingob, Theo-Ben Gurirab and Hidipo Hamutenya. It’s rather sad, but we must make room for younger people to take over,” she said.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani has described his predecessor as a great political teacher and legislator. “He was an iron-willed and gallant leader, who played an unmistakable role in shaping the political discourse of his time. The death of the late honourable Kaura robs the Namibian political sphere of a wealth of experience,” said Venaani.
Ndumba Kamwanyah described Kaura as a big tree of Namibian politics before and after independence. Before independence, Kaura during the mid to late 1980s represented the DTA in the Multi-Party Conference and the Transitional Government of National Unity where he also served as deputy minister of finance and government affairs.
In 1989, he became a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Namibian Constitution. “It is really a great loss for the Namibian people, particularly in the sense that when a person like him and many others that contributed to free Namibia depart a lot of history also departs with them,” said Kamwanyah. Kaura is survived by his wife, Vicky, and children.
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