AS we say their blood waters our freedom with reference to our fellow sons and daughters who perished in quest of the freedom we are enjoying today, the same applies to those who endured indescribable pain and survived yet never wavered but stood firm in their fight against colonial oppression.
Although Tjipira Mbimbo survived to see and live in a liberated Namibia, he is one of the sons of this country who perhaps by calculation tops the list of the most tortured and colonially dehumanized Namibians during the liberation struggle. It is perhaps with reference to this that his biographical note prepared by the Office of the President in 2002 for the conferment of his national honor narrated: “Bimbo is one of the many Namibians who suffered at the hands of the colonial troops.”
Mbimbo was born on the 17th of July 1939 at Okakuva village in the present day Kunene Region.
Details regarding his childhood upbringing and education career are rather sketchy in the existing biographical collection. However, he is noted to have been one of the people from that region who played a formidable role in the struggle against South African colonial oppression.
Hailing from Kunene, an area described by many combatants to have been one of the deadliest areas to operate in during the liberation struggle, Mbimbo did not distance himself from the activities of PLAN combatants.
When PLAN combatants began to operate in his area he became one of the local people who offered a helping hand of support to the PLAN combatants.
However this did not go undetected by the agents of the colonial authority. Hence he was ultimately detained and held in solitary confinement.
“He rendered material support to PLAN combatants, including hiding their weapons. Unfortunately, his support to PLAN combatants was undetected by the occupationist troops through their informants. He was therefore detained by the enemy troops and held in solitary confinement at Opuwo,” reads his biographical note.
While in detention things took a turn for the worse.
The colonial authority in their attempt to intimidate and deter him and perhaps everyone else from that area from supporting Swapo, he was severely tortured, brutalized and subjected to inhumane conditions.
The ordeal he endured at the hands of the South African colonial authority is well captured in his biographical note from the Office of the President of the Republic of Namibia. His biographical note reads further: “While in detention, the soldiers interrogated him to reveal the whereabouts of the PLAN combatants as well as their weapons. He denied any knowledge of having seen PLAN combatant or having hidden their weapons.”
To amplify this, the Office of the President added: “After having failed to get his cooperation, the South African soldiers beat him until he fell unconscious. He slowly regained his consciousness that was coupled with terrible pain. [However] while lying under severe pain, a certain white told him that they had taught him a lesson that he would never forget. The soldier then showed him a small bowl that was placed a few meters away [and told him] without any mercy ‘we have castrated you because you provided food and shelter to SWAPO’. The soldier then threw the bowl to the dog that helped itself to his testicle. Thereafter the enemy troops released him from detention.”
Despite all the suffering he endured, the biographical note cites that Mbimbo had a conviction that the PLAN combatants were his sons and as such he had to “stand by them”.
As a result of his distinguished deeds and actions he bravely demonstrated whilst in the hands of the colonial authority and contributions to the liberation struggle, the Office of the President honored him with “The Most Distinguished Order of Namibia” on the 26th of August 2002.
By Timoteus Mashuna