By Surihe Gaomas
WINDHOEK
As Namibia gears up for Heroes’ Day – a public holiday for the collective commemoration of the country’s heroes and heroines whose blood waters the country’s freedom, officials are still trying to formalise the definition of a hero.
It turns out that as much as Namibians come together to mark this annual national holiday, many feel 17 years after independence, there is still no clear definition of a hero.
However, in view of this, the Government has for long been looking into this issue and has recently decided to come up with an all-inclusive set of criteria that determines who is and what constitutes a national hero, not just politically, but in all spheres of life.
Once finalised towards the end of this year, the guidelines are expected to officially become law by early next year.
An ad-hoc Cabinet Committee on Heroes and Heroines appointed by Cabinet last year and chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, is working on the issue.
Other members in the committee are Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the Minister of Defence, Charles Namoloh, Minister of Safety and Security, Peter Tsheehama and Director General of the Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS), Lukas Hangula.
The setting up of a committee is based on experiences from countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and North Korea who all have Heroes Acres.
The Deputy Premier informed New Era that the task of defining a national hero has been there ever since the Heroes Acre was inaugurated on August 26, 2002.
“We are coming a long way together, even when the Heroes Acre was established five years ago.
“At the time, the committee was led by (Founding Prime Minister) Hage Geingob and I was the chairperson of the sub-committee. Now, we have been re-assigned to look at a set of criteria and define what is a hero by coming up with a report,” explained Amathila.
The committee will recommend a Verification Committee to assist and advise President Hifikepunye Pohamba in conferring honorary medals.
It is anticipated that the first draft report, which will go to Cabinet for further inputs, will be ready by the time Parliament re-opens next month.
So, the question on everyone’s lips is what would be the official definition of a national hero in Namibia and based on what criteria?
The committee states that the main definition of a hero or heroine is “a person of great strength or ability admired for his/her achievements and qualities, who showed exceptional courage, perseverance and charisma in performing extraordinary deeds for the benefit of the nation or society.”
It further states as part of its criteria that a hero/heroine must be someone with “extraordinary bravery, goal oriented, remains level headed in crisis, does more than what is expected or prepared to sacrifice far greater than self-interest and willing to risk his or her personal safety for others.”
Since the Heroes Acre has only close to 200 gravesites, Amathila said “it is not a cemetery but a place for national heroes”.
A hero/heroine can mean different things to different people. Some people argued that promoting heroes and heroines in any given country promotes nationalism. Yet some critics argue that the concept of nationalism is an outdated idea for the 21st Century.
Analysts say that due to the country’s long liberation struggle a lot of focus has been placed on the forefathers who are recognised for their tireless sacrifices.
“We have to go backwards and its not a bad idea for the Government to debate this issue now. Generally in Africa, as victims of colonialism, we always look at things in the concept of the liberation struggle.
I therefore commend the Government for taking this up because it will answer the many questions about who is a hero,” said political analyst, Joseph Diescho.
He argues that heroes are not only the Namibians who fought in the war of liberation, but also those of today who are “ordinary people who do extraordinary things”.
“To go and shoot people in war does not make you a hero. A hero does not do things to be recognised, but acts at the spur of the moment by following a value, belief, system or to save lives of the vulnerable,” said Diescho.
In view of this, the anticipated set of criteria on a national hero by the committee, will also look at other spheres of heroism like sports, economics, social, cultural, arts and so forth.
This is the side of heroism which author of the book “Triumph of Courage – Profiles of Namibian Political Heroes and Heroines,” Mathew //Gowaseb calls “Contemporary Heroes.”
//Gowaseb said that while it is important to acknowledge the forefathers, nationalists and freedom fighters, it is good to also broaden the definition of a national hero/heroine with the changing times.
“What we need to do is to educate Namibians that a hero is not only in the political sphere, but in other spheres like an ordinary housewife who does extraordinary things, a long serving school teacher or a fire-fighter who rescues a family from a blazing fire single-handedly,” said //Gowaseb.
He said a process of recognising all these groups of heroes (forefathers, nationalists of the 1950’s and 60’s, freedom fathers and contemporaries) will take time and must be dealt with accordingly in stages.
“Namibia is coming from 100 years of a dark struggle and we can’t acknowledge all these people overnight. It must be done in a conciliatory spirit,” he said.
In the meantime, all roads lead to the town of Eenhana in the Ohangwena Region, where Namibians from all walks of life will commemorate Heroes Day on August 26.
On the same day, human remains that were discovered at the town in 2005 will be reburied. War veterans of the liberation struggle will also be conferred Honorary Military Ranks.