Africa-Press – Namibia. THE late All People’s Party (APP) president Ignatius Shixwameni has been described as a hero who deserves to be accorded a hero’s funeral.
Calls have been made for president Hage Geingob to grant Shixwameni (55), who died last week after collapsing in parliament, a hero’s funeral. Geingob yesterday conferred Shixwameni with a state funeral. This was confirmed by presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari. According to Hengari, the family has accepted the conferment with gratitude.
Mourners at his memorial service on Monday said he was one of the great leaders of the country. The service was dedicated to the Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso), in which Shixwameni served as a student president.
The late politician played an important role in Nanso in 1984/85 when it was founded. According to pastor Nathaniel Ariseb, who was acting president when Shixwameni went to study in Cuba, the students of that generation were courageous and determined to fight apartheid together with Shixwameni.
“They have kept the bond,” Ariseb said.
He said Shixwameni lived a life of selfless sacrifice, indisputable patriotism, and “nothing less than a hero’s funeral would befit him for the work he has done”.
Ariseb said Nanso had a close working relationship with the late politician. “My first trip was with comrade Shixwameni to the Netherlands. In 1989 we had a trip to Lusaka to craft the first Swapo manifesto,” he said.
Everyone who has been around Shixwameni has the right to be proud of his legacy, he said. “We celebrate his life because he has contributed his part, but we are mourning because he left too soon. We should see this as a challenge to follow his example,” Ariseb said.
He said the current generation should follow in his footsteps and not wait for the next generation. “History will judge. Are you the one, or should we wait for another generation to take this country forward? We need a generation that will lead without greed,” he said.
Uhuru Dempers, former Nanso president and political prisoner with Shixwameni, said he shared many memories with the late politician. “We are here to remember one of our outstanding student leaders of this country.
“Every generation must discover its mission, betray it or fulfil it. Our generation, have we fulfilled our mission?
“Have we betrayed it? If we have betrayed it, is there still a chance to fulfil it while we are on this side of our graves?” he asked.
Herbert Jauch, representing the student alliance, said Shixwameni’s death came at a time that he thought this terrible year during which many people have lost their lives has come to an end.
He said he last saw ‘Shix’ a few of weeks ago at the solidarity march with the Cubans, and at the memorial of the late politician Marco Hausiku. He said they had plans to meet up and discuss politics, because Shixwameni was passionate about politics.
“Shixwameni, with others, that generation was instrumental in saying this was not only a struggle for students but a struggle for their parents, for the workers, for the communal farmers, and for the exploited of this earth to take their destiny into their own hands and shape a new Namibia,” Jauch said.
He said Shixwameni left the comfortable position of deputy minister, a rising star in Swapo in the 1990s, because he believed there was a need to change direction and refocus on what the generation of the 1980s had set out to do.
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