Gerson Uaripi Tjihenuna
Jane Katjavivi (1952 – 2022) was an English born, naturalized Namibian by marriage to Speaker of Parliament Professor Peter Katjavivi. She was laid to rest last Saturday, 20th August 2022, in Windhoek, the capital of her beloved Namibia.
After the memorial service that was held last Thursday (18th August 2022) in her memory, I spoke to Dr Jill Kinahan, the current publisher of the University of Namibia Press. She took over the reins from Jane, the founding publisher, after the latter had retired in 2016. Dr Kinahan was one of the speakers on that sombre occasion. Her immediate response to me was, “…it was a rich memorial service….” I guess by that she meant that all the tributes had been delivered in style and in rich and colourful tones.
Since the tragic passing on of Jane on 09th August 2022, different messages of condolences were delivered as friends and relatives were trying to weigh in on the life of this remarkable woman as they recalled fond memories they had shared with her. This great woman of positive influence and deep meaning crossed paths with many people from different walks of life and cultures and she imparted them with her magic touch.
It is, however, her contribution to the Namibian and, by extension, the African literary landscape in general, that I want to call to remembrance in this humble tribute.
Her adopted Otjiherero name is Tuauana, which means “we are one or we are united” in English. If I were to mourn her in the rich traditions of our people, I would not be able to render those laments effectively in a foreign language because the English language is too distant and too tame to capture those expressive emotions.
Her friend of many years, Phyllis Johnson, the founding Director of the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), who also spoke on behalf of friends at the memorial service, put it this way: “…Jane was a creative presence in the literally circles…”
Jane Katjavivi had worked in publishing and book development since the early 1980s.
Six months after arriving in Namibia in 1989, she opened a publishing house – New Namibia Books. According to a close friend, Advocate Bience Gawanas, who also read her eulogy at the memorial service, Jane published books by Namibians, especially giving voice to women who had fought and struggled during the days of the armed conflict – ‘The Price of Freedom’ and ‘Last Steps to Uhuru’ becoming best sellers.
A few years later, Jane opened the New Namibia Bookshop – a very special place for people to go and peruse through books written by Namibian and African authors, as well as a wider selection.
She was founding chairperson of the Association of Namibian Publishers and the Namibian Book Development Council, a founder member of the African Publishers’ Network (APNET) and a member of the Management Council of African Books Collective.
She wrote short stories and her memoir, ‘Undisciplined Heart’, was written while she was in Europe with her husband who was Namibian ambassador to Brussels and Berlin.
UNAM Press, her baby, successfully published academic papers and commissioned Namibians to write accounts of their lives. It currently has a list of 36 titles, seven of which are co-publications with other international university presses such as Cornell University Press.
In his message of condolence, read on his behalf by Vice-President Mbumba, President Geingob described Jane as… “a talented writer and editor who believed that through reading books, many Namibians who had been prevented from accessing important literature by the Apartheid regime, could liberate their minds and in turn, liberate themselves from the sense of inferiority which was forced upon them by the racist policies of the then South African government.”
During the dark days of Apartheid colonialism, some books were banned in both Namibia and South Africa and it was even illegal to quote from them. We were allowed to get exposure to one-sided set of ideas only, of which the chief aim was to justify racial oppression. Karl Marx once remarked: “The ideas of the ruling class are the ruling ideas.” In our context then, you could say “…. the ideas of the ruling race were the ruling ideas…”
That was the past we emerged from in 1990 and it was that gap that Jane, as an accomplished writer and editor, felt duty-bound to help fill. She knew the liberating effect of the written word and she seemed to have lived, breathed and slept letters – for her, it was a noble calling.
I have it on good authority that, at the time of her passing, Jane was working on a novel. Therefore, to borrow a phrase from self-taught writer and unsung hero; the founding owner and former editor-in-chief of the Observer newspaper, the late Hannes Smith, Jane “died in the harness.”
In trying to put this piece together, I need to walk a tightrope between connecting to her narrative in a personal way, while avoiding stealing her thunder. I have discovered that Jane and I had a few things in common – apart from the fact that I had the honour to work under her husband as the Director in the Office of the Speaker of Parliament (2015 – 2020). I am saying this with the greatest discretion because I need to avoid the temptation of stepping into her limelight.
Apart from both of us being great lovers of words, according to her eulogy, Jane was a member of the Communist Party in her youth and she later became an Anglican Church lay preacher in the sunset years of her life. I too had to transit from communism to becoming a lay preacher in the latter years of my life.
If I may step out of topic for a few seconds, it is worth noting that communism, as it was originally conceived by Marx and Engels, was an ideal that aimed at the creation of a more egalitarian and just society. These are the ideals that the likes of Che Guevara and Thomas Sankara lived and died for. Unfortunately, in Eastern Europe and elsewhere where communism was put to practice, top-heavy centralism, suffocation of freedoms and party-elite dictatorship destroyed what was supposed to be the dictatorship of the proletariat (working class) – that should have eventually led to a classless society. These were the original ideals that attracted the radical youth of the sixties and seventies; the generations to which the likes of Jane and I belong.
We were informed that Jane, as a lay preacher, had written a sermon in the July 2022 edition of the Anglican community newsletter. Her sermon was based on Mathew 28:20, which reads as follows: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” What a comforting word for her family and friends in this difficult time.
For me, there were two outstanding touchstone moments at that “rich” memorial service of Jane Katjavivi. The first one was when the husband shared with the mourners how he had to sit helplessly next to the dead body of his wife of more than forty years while on flight. The second one was when their last born, Isabel, said: “…mother I wish I could have loved you a little bit more and that I could have hugged you a little bit longer…” I guess she was speaking for all of us, because in her memoir, ‘Undisciplined Heart’, Jane reflected, “In Africa there are no half siblings – all children are whole.”
Jane was a cultural bridge-builder, a woman of substance and every inch, a woman of letters. Can a human being die better?