By Timoteus Mashuna
THE analysis of the biographical collections on the life and political history of Simon Theofilus highlights that he is one of the many sons of the Land of the Brave who refused to remain ideal and make peace with the repressive and discriminatory policies of the apartheid administration. He took it upon himself to closely work with PLAN combatants, assisting them with logistic support and providing information about the operation of the colonial forces inside the country. It is perhaps with reference this that his biography prepared for the conferment of his Liberation Medal by the Office of the President of the Republic of Namibia comments that Theofilus is one of the local cadres who played a formidable role in gathering information about the enemy inside the country. This was in addition to the material support he rendered in the name of the struggle and the day-to-day assistance he provided to combatants.
Theofilus was born on the 14th of February 1956 at Oluvango village in the former Ovamboland. He was the son of Teofilus Angala and Lea Sackaria. Notwithstanding the sketchy details regarding his childhood upbringing and early education, Theofilus is noted to have been actively involved in politics during the 1980s. He was one of the people inside the country who had good contacts with PLAN combatants such that at times he used to secretly travel to Angola to have meetings with PLAN commanders.
“He worked underground and passed a lot of information including those of disguised guerrillas and classified information from the office of Peter Kalangula’s meetings through using his sources. He further worked with Comrade Erastus Negonga. He was summoned inside Angola for consultation with PLAN commanders on several occasions and provided his personal car (Ford) to PLAN fighters during the attack on the Oshakati military base. Comrade Theofilus also availed his car to PLAN cadres to utilize in Angola and, later on provided bicycles for them from his own shop,” writes the Office of the President. This is further reaffirmed by Theofilus himself in an interview conducted in 2011, in which he noted that he worked inside the country operating in areas such as the present day Omusati Region and the Okaoko area.
His support of the liberation struggle and continuous interaction with combatants earned him a high level of respect and trust from his fellow cadres such that he was at times assigned responsibilities to facilitate military operations inside the country. He was for instance instructed to travel to Oranjemund to Comrade Israel Kalenga in order to transport weapons and radio communication equipment. He also availed transport for weapons that were used by PLAN combatants to attack the South African military base at Ongongo.
However, his support of the liberation struggle activities was not without cost both to himself and his family. The biography drafted by the Office of the President for instance notes that “his family was brutally beaten up by the racist members of the South African Defence Force (SADF) for providing information and for collaborating with PLAN cadres.” It further adds that his shop was ransacked and looted by the racist troops on several occasions. Theofilus spent three weeks in detention at Ruacana detention centre for his activities.