Maria Amakali
Windhoek-Namibia Defence Force (NDF) retired Brigadier General Kayambu Amupolo passed on last week in a car accident. He was 63 years old.
Amupolo died on the Leonardville-Dordabis road in Omaheke Region on the night of August 3.
According to the Namibian police spokesperson Kauna Shikwambi, a head-on collision occurred on the Leonardville-Dordabis road in which two minors and four adults died on impact and one of them was the general. Eight passengers and the two drivers sustained serious injuries in the accident.
The late Amupolo dedicated most part of his early life to the liberation struggle, having joined the People’s Liberatioon Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1974.
He has been described as a fearless soldier who fought in many of the defining battles against apartheid colonial South Africa’s defence force.
“This is a man who tirelessly fought together with his fellow comrades for the independence of this country. His passing is not only a loss to the Amupolo family but to the entire nation at large,” is how his niece, Laina Amupolo-Mwanyangapo, described Amupolo.
He served in the NDF as an army commander for Grootfontein Millitary Base before his retirement in 2014.
Although retired, his dedication to serve was eminent as he continued assisting the Ministry of Veterans Affairs in tracing war veterans across the length and breadth of the country, a job he held dear to his heart until his untimely departure.
“We have lost a strong pillar of the family and words cannot express the devastating feeling we have because of his sudden death,” expressed Amupolo-Mwanyangapo.
Amupolo is survived his wife Commissioner Jutty Amupolo, 12 children of whom six are men and six women, his mother, two biological brothers, four sisters and countless half-siblings.
Amupolo-Mwanyangapo informed New Era that funeral arrangements would be announced at a later stage –however the family is gathering at his homestead at Oshuungu village, Elim, Omusati Region.