Message of condolence from the Founding President to the Tjiriange Family

Allow me to bid farewell to one of the drafters of our Constitution and a founding member of the Namibian Parliament as well as the first cabinet in an independent Namibia, Honourable Dr Ngarikutuke Ernest Tjiriange.

Even though consumed with grief, we celebrate the profound meaning of his life, as a former Secretary General of the Swapo Party and a lawyer who forged a rich legacy and left indelible marks that will define our country’s Judicial System for generations to come.

I was saddened to learn that Dr Tjiriange passed on Wednesday 23 June 2021 in Windhoek, followed by two of the first petitioners of our country at the United Nations, the Late Professor Mburumba Kerina and Ambassador Dr Zedekia Ngavirue as well as the Paramount Chief of ovaHerero- people, Advocate Vekuii Rukoro and the ovaMbanderu Chief Kilus Munjuku III Nguvauva, whose death followed the passing of Gaob Eduardo Afrikaner of the Afrikaner Traditional Authority.

To lose them all in such quick succession is indeed a huge loss for our country. Against this background, the month of June and July will be recorded as one of the darkest months which have robbed us of many precious souls, when wells of despair and what seems to be insurmountable mountains engulfed our nation.

I am sure much has been said about Dr Tjiriange in the eulogy and the many tributes delivered so far. Allow me therefore to just highlight a few things on how I remember him. For this, I will make use of his memoir, titled ‘To Hell and Back: My Experience under Difficult Colonial Rule’.

I remember Dr Tjiriange as a young man who was working with OPO in the late 1950s with Erasmus Nganjone at the time of the Windhoek Uprising. Together with Comrades Peter Katjavivi, the Late Mose Tjitendero, Karumburumbu Kahimise, Erasmus Nganjone, Zebulon Tjondaura, Luther Zaire, Alphons Ngeama and others, he joined Swapo at its inception in 1960.

At that time, it was expected that the young Otjiherero-speaking people were to either join Swanu as the first option or work in the ranks of Chief Hosea Kutako’s Council. But these young men decided to join Swapo against all odds. Dr Tjiriange was then appointed as the Swapo secretary for the Windhoek Branch, taking over from the late Comrade Joseph Ithana.

For this reason, when we changed the name of OPO to Swapo in April 1960, Comrade Dr Tjiriange, together with the Swapo leadership at the National Headquarters such as Comrades Jason Mutumbulwa, Levi Nganjone, David Meroro, Aaron Hamutenya, Brian Bessingweith, John Ya Otto, Engelhardt Festus Karita, Benjamin Namalambo, Mitiri Karuhumba, including the Late Comrade Immanuel Ndemulungila Nathaniel Maxuilili, were aware of this decision when they were informed at a meeting that was held at the old man Gabriel Mbidi’s place in the Old Location.

In 1962, when the UN Representatives Victor Carpio, a Filipino, and Salvador Martinez de Alva, a Brazilian ,came to Windhoek, Dr Tjiriange was part of the Swapo delegation that met them together with Comrades Maxuilili, Mutumbulwa, Ya Otto and Levi Nganjone.

In January 1964, Dr Tjiriange fled the country for exile in a group called “12 White Coats” to symbolsze that they would leave the country in white coats and come back in black academic gowns as graduates with degrees.

They went through Sehitwa driven to Daniel Munamava’s house by Ludwig Stanley. After spending some weeks in jail, they went to Francistown, where they met the Late Comrade Maxton Joseph Mutongolume who was working hard to recruit Namibian people who were passing through Francistown to work on the mines in South Africa.

In Northern Rhodesia, now Zamibia, they were helped by Comrade Oliver Tambo of the ANC and some UNIP leaders to proceed to Mbeya, Tanganyika, where I met them on my way to Francistown together with Jacob Kuhangua who was the Secretary General of Swapo.

In Dar-es-Salaam they were staying at a place called Kurasini attending an American School which was preparing them for studies at high level educational institutions. While at Kurasini, the Late Comrade Dr Tjiriange was taken to Tanganyika Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) to broadcast in Otjiherero from Dar-es-Salaam while the Late Comrade Nangolo Ithete was broadcasting in Oshiwambo language.

One day I called a meeting to address our people at Kurasini and asked those who were ready and willing to go and fight at the battle front, to stand up. They all stood up and I told some of them, including Dr Tjiriange, to sit down as they were too young and promised to send them for further studies.

He got his scholarship when the Late Comrade Peter Nanyemba, who was Swapo’s Chief Representative in East Africa, got two scholarships to Finland and gave one scholarship to the Late Comrade Dr Nickey Iyambo and the other one to Dr Tjiriange.

However, one day Nanyemba called him and told him that the next day there was a Russian plane going to the USSR when Swapo got three scholarships to the USSR. This is how Dr. Tjiriange got his scholarship to study law in the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and obtained a doctorate degree in law from Kiev University in 1973.