Africa-Press – Namibia. THE tombstone of the late liberation stalwart Nathaniel Maxuilili at Kuisebmond cemetery continues to be a target of vandalism.
On Saturday, vandals again gained access to his grave, stole his picture, and removed the engraved message. Maxuilili’s eldest daughter Penny Uukunde, is distressed at the thought that so many years after her father’s death some people still harbour hatred towards him or the family.
“This is not the first time we are witnessing such barbaric incidents. It is probably the third time at the cemetery and also the second time at his monument (accident site). The family is praying for the perpetrator/s to find peace and to let our father rest in peace,” said Uukunde.
Although Maxuilili is renowned for his contribution to the liberation struggle, he is among those who, have not been given space at Heroes Acre, nor has his grave been given the hero’s symbol.
Maxuilili passed away in 1999, five years before the construction of the Heroes Acre in 2005. Over the years, the government has exhumed the remains of liberation stalwarts, including those who died in exile, and reburied them at Heroes Acre in Windhoek.
The latest re-burial was that of a lawyer and a prominent member of Swapo, Anton Lubowski, who died in 1989 and was buried at Golgota cemetery in Katutura, in Windhoek.
Lubowski was declared a national hero by president Hage Geingob in 2015, raising the question that was once asked by the presidential press secretary Afredo Hengari: “Who is fit for Heroes’ Acre?”
However, the grave of Swapo’s first vice president and its acting president in Namibia during the apartheid regime continues to be a playground for vandals.
“Given that we have been going through this kind of vandalism year in year out, we hope that the Swapo leadership will do something. It was made aware of the past vandalisations,” added Uukunde.
Uukunde’s sister Nauke added that vandals do others things to her father’s grave beyond vandalisation. “Occasionally, we have found human faeces. It hurts. My father went to rest, yet there are people who continue to disturb him even in his death,” she said.
Maxuilili fought with Owambo People’s Organisation (OPO) against the apartheid regime within the country and was vice president in 1960 when OPO became Swapo. He served as the ruling party’s acting president in Namibia between 1960 and 1989.
Post-independence, he served as a deputy Cabinet minister in the 1990s. Maxuilili died in 1999 when the ambulance that was taking him to the airport collided with another vehicle.
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