Nathaniel Maxuilili: The desert lion

On 29 June, a public lecture is slated to take place to remember the resilient spirit of the late Nathaniel Maxuilili, the 'Desert Lion', a revolutionary who once resided in Walvis Bay. The choice of speakers, all stalwarts of our struggle, is indicative of the personae of Maxuilili.

Announcing his departure, Jean Sutherland described the late Nathaniel Maxuilili as one of Namibia's most prominent national figures.., [a] feisty politician who died in a head-on collision at Walvis Bay in 1999 whilst being transported in an ambulance to Rooikop Airport to be flown to Cape Town to receive emergency medical treatment after falling ill.

Maxuilili served as the vice president of the Ovamboland People's Organisation in 1959 and thereafter as the acting Swapo president in Namibia from 1960 to 1989.

Comrade Maxuilili will be remembered by some of us as the president of Swapo.

When we were kids in Omaruru, his arrival or passing through Omaruru would be the talk of the town, even for those on the wrong side of history. We would hear the elders proclaiming, "Maxuilili uo Swapo meja mo Maruru."

Even though his name could only be whispered to the nearest person (eliciting shivers of pride and fear), Maxuilili never saw himself as bigger than the collective. As we grew older, we could not understand how a person could be so daring to oppose the mighty South African army right at the doorstep of their base in Walvis Bay.

At independence, when asked about his feelings about Sam Nujoma (the founding father) being the president instead of him, he would always say, and rightly so, that Nujoma only came with forty thousand votes, but Swapo won with his votes of more than a hundred thousand. The late Maxuilili wanted to convey the message that our roles in the collective ought to be for the benefit of the collective and not necessarily for self-actualisation.

We would have done our part as humans when others could enjoy the shade of the tree we helped to plant.

Watching him after independence on national television, debating the likes of the late Chief Riruako and late Hannes Smith, two live-wire characters who were not to be tussled with by the timid, and seeing him more than hold his own, was utterly captivating.

The future

As we are faced with national elections and the direction that we want our collective civic voice to carry us, remembering the likes of Maxuilili is a must, especially for those who did not live under the system of apartheid and experienced not only skewed development but also the denial of basic rights to many of the citizens.

Whatever our frustrations with the current reality, caused by individuals who would be unrecognisable to the likes of Maxuilili, Swapo, under the leadership of Maxuilili and others, not only liberated us but also made us see and yearn for prosperity for all when it was unimaginable.

The youth of today have started to dream even further than their parents, demanding more due to already having so much.

The Namibia of Maxuilili had no tarred roads in black townships. In 1988, we had to squeeze ourselves on a tiny road that linked Katutura to the affluent part of Windhoek as we marched to the office of Louis Pienaar to demand our freedom as students under the banner of Nanso.

Today, because of the sacrifices of the likes of Maxuilili, the majority of the residents of this country have access to communication modes and information that were unimaginable at independence, opening up their worldview and allowing us to demand more as our views on the possibility that life in the 21st century has to offer have been expanded.

Indeed, there have been missteps, but those denying our progress as a nation-state since 1990 are doing so because of a lack of a baseline understanding. They do a disservice to the memories of Maxuilili and others who fought to bring about the exponential change we have seen in the last 34 years.

Public lectures such as the one on Maxuilili provide that necessary baseline, that all-important context of how the fight was won, and towards what end we carry their mantle. This is the same mantle that the Swapo Party has adorned Comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah with, and the pedigree of which enjoins her to keep emphasising the importance of writing our own history, so that we may appreciate our gains and our collective power to engineer the change we need by keeping the course that Maxuilili and his leadership cohort plotted for us.

his is the pedigree that brought about transformative social change in Namibia, and through which we are certain the keynote speaker, as Namibia’s first female president, will bring about transformative economic change by dismantling the structural inequalities impeding progress towards shared prosperity, as the only acceptable tribute to Maxuilili’s fearless and inclusive legacy.

I continue to believe that Maxuilili’s remains do not belong in Walvis Bay, but with the likes of Daniel Tjongarero, Lubowski and Kandanga at the Heroes' Acre.

The 29 June event is a must-attend event. Please do not forget to register.

*The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author in his personal capacity.

-- This piece was edited for length due to space constraints.