By Joshua Razikua Kaumbi
WHILE we celebrate the election that the whole country regarded as a necessary rite of passage, we stand to witness an actor leaving the stage, an iconic son; Theophilus Benjamin Gurirab.
In whatever other capacity he will serve this nation, my son had missed a diplomat par excellence. In whatever other capacity he will serve this nation, my son had missed the politician who could command English. A boy born to a clan, but retired a national leader.
Ou Teo comes from a generation that taught me that poverty is the best springboard for dreams. We only rise to greatness if we pursue the collective. They taught me that the highest price should not be monetary and for self, but the greater collective, for the self exists not without the collective. They taught me that, though we are born into tribes, we are safe and secure when we belong to the greater part. They stoically believed that it was the task of the leader to move his people from where they were to where they have never been. (Henry Kissinger edited)
His generation taught me that colour should not be used as a plea and that one may not control all the events that happen …but…can decide not to be reduced by same. (Maya Angelou edited)
Today Theo-Ben Gurirab is leaving public service, but behold … he is leaving poor, but fulfilled and rich in views, knowledge and experiences. He belongs to a very small and rare crop of politicians that believed love for the country should be first before everything else is to be added. That said.
My reading of the biography of Gurirab informs me that he was born in that Usakos, where he must have sang /awiha tama !as ge Usakosa to the amusement of the birds, on the 23 January 1939 in the Erongo Region. He went on to obtain a teaching diploma from Augustineum Training College , and a degree in Political Science from Temple University. He served as the Associate Representative of the SWAPO Mission to the United Nations and United States, Head of the SWAPO Mission to the United Nations and SWAPO’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1986 to 1990. In 1989 he became a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly and since 1990 a member of the National Assembly, as well as Central Committee and Politburo of the SWAPO Party. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from independence in 1990 until he was appointed as Prime Minister in 2002 and in 2010 as Speaker of the National Assembly. I am advised, which advice I verily believe to be true, that in 2000 he was bestowed Honorary Professorship of Foreign Affairs, China Foreign Affairs University, making him only the third foreigner to be bestowed with this title.
I remember him best as my principal diplomat. The man who could make you fall in love with hand gestures, defying what your teacher taught you about using your hands, and leave you wonder as to what he did not say, when he’d done with his words … play[ing] dice with his words. (Einstein)
Gurirab will forever remain the yardstick of what a Namibian diplomat should be. Despite his shortcomings, Theo-Ben Gurirab’s love for words, his ability to arrange and present same purposefully speaks volume. Through his words and actions he taught me that whatever you are, be a good one.(Abraham Lincoln) What’s worth being doing, is worth being doing well. (Age quod agis) He belongs to the rare breed of the Edward Shevardnadze, Amr Moosa, Tarig Aziz, Henry Kissinger and yes Pik Botha, et al.
He had his flaws, for a flawless life would be impossible on earth. He failed to have me employed at Foreign Affairs. Like all academics he would be embroiled in his own world of rationality least understood by the majority lay-persons. However, one thing is certain Hon.
Gurirab managed to steer clear of controversies and political notoriety all the 25 years in public service. He served my nation well and knowingly did not steal from my nation. Gurirab personifies the golden generation of my country. I met him in his office where he signed my matric farewell picture and gave me a N$100 note, which I decided to laminate same, just to unlaminate when the climb became steep.
Ome as you start life’s next chapter, may you without hesitation, enjoy the blessings of hearth and home, health and happiness…and may you retire from public office [but] not from serving the public’s interest.” (Grassley gives emotional tribute to Harkin). Even if we forget what you have said yesterday, what you did for our country at the critical time, we will never forget how you made us feel with your words, citizens of your Namibia. The claim of Usakos, the mountain of !Ganeb and the Gurirab clan to your past, present and fame will be no greater and legitimate than that of the Namibia you helped create. Indeed we cease to belong to the smaller when we rise above petty tribal squabbles
Euge serve meus legatus.