Itula questions selective reburial of national heroes after Heroes’ Day honours 

By: Josia Shigwedha 

As Namibia commemorates Heroes’ Day, Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula has questioned whether the government intends to exhume all Namibians who died during the liberation struggle and are buried outside the country, or whether the current reburial exercise could be viewed as selective. 

Itula’s comments come after the government announced that seven national heroes and former political prisoners were reburied on 24 August, two days before the official Heroes’ Day commemoration in Windhoek.

He said government should consider whether the reburial will provide a meaningful benefit to Namibia and whether there are alternative ways of honouring those who contributed to the country’s liberation. 

Itula said while Namibia honours the sacrifices of those who contributed to the liberation struggle, many Namibians who died during the struggle remain buried in places such as Lubango and the former Yugoslavia. 

“Is the Swapo government going to exhume all the Lubango heroes that are lying there and elsewhere, or are they going to be practicing apartheid and discriminatory, seek to exhume only those known?  Is our government not based on egalitarian principles, equality for all, even in death?  So, there are serious questions that needs to be answered and not only look at we are reburying our heroes, but what is their moral principles? What is the cultural and traditional principles that we are actually violating,” questioned Itula?

Itula further questioned the moral and political justification for the reburial, asking whether it is morally and politically corrected to rebury the heroes and what benefit the exercise would bring to Namibia. 

“What we need to look therefore is the moral, morally is it correct? Politically is it correct? What is the advantage to Namibia? Is it to be able to go and visit them at Heroes Acre? Can we not have a token as we had a token for several of their leaders when you go to Heroes Acre? Some of the people are not buried there. It’s a token grave. Can we not have a token grave,” questioned Itula? 

Meanwhile, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is expected to bestow national honours on more than 1,000 deserving individuals in recognition of their invaluable contributions, bravery and commitment to the country’s liberation struggle and the attainment of independence. 

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