Nandi-Ndaitwah: Shityuwete’s life was a record of triumph

*** Says freedom fighter helped build Namibia’s labour institutions

*** ‘His courage, discipline, tolerance and nationalism remain an example’

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia has described the late Helao Joseph Shityuwete as a “distinguished gallant son of Namibia” whose sacrifices contributed significantly to the country’s liberation and the building of its post-independence institutions.

Speaking yesterday at the state memorial for Shityuwete at Parliament Garden in Windhoek, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the late freedom fighter was “a freedom fighter, a workers’ rights advocate, a nationalist and a veteran of the liberation struggle whose dedication helped lay the foundations of our Republic.”

She said Shityuwete, like many young Namibians of his generation, “decided to say no to the colonial occupation of Namibia by the racist apartheid regime of South Africa.”

According to the President, his experience under the colonial contract labour system strengthened his determination to fight for workers’ dignity.

“He experienced first-hand humiliation, exploitation and injustice,” she said, adding that “those conditions did not make him surrender or despair. They awakened in him a lasting commitment to workers’ dignity and his people’s freedom.”

Nandi-Ndaitwah recalled that Shityuwete became involved in political activities in Walvis Bay under the Ovamboland People’s Organisation, which later became SWAPO.

“When senior SWAPO leaders were banned, restricted and watched, young party activists, including Comrade Helao, travelled the difficult routes between northern Namibia and other parts of the country, including Windhoek, carrying messages and helping to keep the movement connected,” she said.

She noted that the activities were extremely dangerous because “a single intercepted message could cost lives,” but said Shityuwete’s “courage was matched by discipline and trustworthiness.”

After leaving Namibia, Shityuwete received military training before returning home to participate in the struggle against apartheid.

“In the process of engaging the enemy, he was captured, prosecuted under the Apartheid Terrorism Act, and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after an extended trial period of two years while in detention, and served 16 years’ imprisonment on Robben Island,” the President said.

She described Robben Island as a place where Namibian and South African freedom fighters shared “one prison, one system of oppression and one conviction that injustice could not rule forever.”

“The Namibian prisoners earned respect because they had come from a small and occupied country, yet stood without fear against the mighty machinery of apartheid South Africa,” she said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said Shityuwete’s years in prison “did not break his spirit,” adding that “neither hard labour, deprivation, nor separation from home” could extinguish his commitment to freedom.

Following his release in 1984, Shityuwete returned to Namibia and later went to the United Kingdom for further studies, where he continued mobilising international support for independence.

In 1989, he returned home as the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 opened the final path to Namibia’s independence.

After independence in 1990, Shityuwete helped establish the Ministry of Labour and served as Deputy Director of Human Resources until his retirement in 1996.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said there was “a fitting completeness in that journey,” noting that “Comrade Shityuwete, a contract worker who had personally endured an unjust labour system, helped a free Namibia construct a legal order founded on the dignity and rights of workers.”

She also praised his role in preserving the history of Namibia’s liberation struggle through the Namibian Former Robben Island Political Prisoners Trust.

“Liberation must not only be won, but its story must also be safeguarded and passed faithfully to those who will come after us,” she said.

The President urged Namibians to honour Shityuwete by protecting democracy, defending workers’ rights and creating opportunities for young people.

“Honouring Comrade Helao Joseph Shityuwete requires more than recalling his sacrifice,” she said. “It requires us to protect the peace and democratic stability secured by his generation, to defend the dignity of workers, to expand opportunity for our youth and to build an economy in which Namibia’s natural resources are transformed into broad and lasting prosperity for the Namibian people.”

She concluded: “The greatest tribute we can pay him is to sustain the ideals for which he fought and to carry them forward with integrity.”

“Let us draw from his courage, discipline, tolerance and nationalism as we continue the unfinished work of building a united, just and prosperous Namibia,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.