Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has express sadness over the death of Namibian liberation struggle icon Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo who was interred at Heroes’ Acre on Saturday.
Ya Toivo, who died on June 9 at the age of 92, was buried at the Heroes’ Acre where thousands paid their last respects. He was laid to rest on the third tier of the cemetery next to Peter Mweshihange’s grave.
Government accorded him a state funeral with full military honours.
“We express our deep condolences, and extend sincere sympathy and solicitude to the Swapo Party and Central Committee and through you, to Comrade ya Toivo’s family,” the Chinese Communist Party said in a statement sent to Swapo.
“The demise of Comrade ya Toivo is a great loss for your party and your people,” the statement read.
The Chinese ruling party said it felt deep grief to be bereft of such a good comrade and a friend.
“We believe that the Swapo Party will inherit the legacy of ya Toivo to achieve greater success in governing and developing Namibia,” the statement further read.
Cuba’s ambassador to Namibia, Giraldo Mazola Collazo also expressed a deep sense of loss when addressing mourners at ya Toivo’s memorial services at the Independence Stadium on Friday.
He said that in ya Toivo, Cuba had lost a great friend whom he met during the intense days of the recently concluded 5th Continental Conference of Solidarity with Cuba.
“Through the conversations I had with him in those days, I could appreciate his modesty and joviality, said Collazo in a statement read on his behalf by the deputy head of the Cuban mission, Aldo Luis Fuentes Acosta.
“On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Cuban people, we transmit our deep sorrow for the physical loss of fellow comrade ya Toivo, an icon of the Namibian people and co-founder of Swapo,” Aldo Luis Fuentes Acosta read.
He said ya Toivo was a true fighter against the oppression of the apartheid regime.
“He suffered detention and prison at Robben Island for 16 years. He was a permanent militant in the struggle for Namibia´s freedom and independence, for social justice, and against racism,” he added.