Albertina Nakale
Windhoek-The Presidency has said a national mourning period for the late governor of Kunene Region, Angelika Muharukua – who died at the age of 59 on October 1 – will soon be announced.
State House also said government will soon gazette President Hage Geingob’s conferment of hero status on the late Muharukua, as announced last Monday.
“It will be gazetted as is legally required and the period of national mourning and so forth will be announced in good time. We will communicate all details as they are finalised,” press secretary in the Office of the President Albertus Aochamub said.
Aochamub’s clarification aimed to quell the confusion on social media regarding President Geingob’s decision to confer a national hero status on the late Muharukua. He explained that the conferment of national hero status on the late governor would be gazetted, in terms of Article 32(8) of the Namibian Constitution on conferment of national honours.
Aochamub said all the due processes that accompany such a proclamation would be followed.
In addition to national hero status, Muharukua’s special advisor, Katuutire Kaura, in an interview with NBC Otjiherero Radio Service, has suggested naming the road between Opuwo and Kamanjab the Angelika Muharukua Highway.
Kaura recalled that it was Muharukua during her tenure as a member of parliament, who successfully advocated for the tarring of the road between the two towns.
Born on January 12, 1958 in Opuwo, Kunene Region, she joined Swapo as a youth in 1979. Muharukua became more widely known in political circles when in 1995, then president Sam Nujoma appointed her to the National Assembly.
In May 2004, she replaced Marlene Mungunda as deputy minister of women affairs and child welfare, which was renamed the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare.
In 2015 President Geingob appointed her as the governor of Kunene Region, a position she held until her death. Her husband Kenatjironga Festus Muharukua died in March 2015 when his car was swept away by a flood at his home village Ovinjange.
Muharukua died on Sunday morning at her residence in Windhoek. She is survived by her siblings and several adopted children.