I REGARD the late Ludwig Hiambura Stanley a hero and a committed person. I remember very well what Ludwig Stanley did in helping us during the difficult times when we escaped from the then South West Africa/Namibia.
I together with Rapatua Batholomeus Tjivikua, Karumburumbu Rahimisa Kahimise, Marukuyani Reinhard Kapuike and Jephta Kapute escaped from the then South West Africa in January 1964. We went through the borders of the then Bechuanaland Protectorate and South West Africa all the way to Makunda in the then Bechuanaland. There in Makunda the other Namibians who were living there put us in a small hut and they went to have a meeting to decide what they could do with us. It was a dangerous and risky situation, because the South African Police and the British Police in the Bechuanaland Protectorate were working together and sometimes the British Police would send people back to South Africa. After a long meeting fellow Naminbians from our tribe came to us and told us that someone had volunteered to take us to Sihitwa with his car.
That someone turned out to be Stanley. I still remember when some people asked him what they could say if the police came to look for us. Stanley just told them that they should just say they saw us last with Stanley and they don’t know where we where and leave the rest to him. Later on when we were alone with him he just said – I do not know why these people are such cowards. He took us to Sihitwa with his new car were he handed us to Daniel Munamava and he went away. That action by itself shows that he was fearless and he was committed to helping Namibians who were escaping from the country and in the process sacrificing his own safety. I shall ever forget what Stanley did for us during those difficult times of the liberation struggle. He deserves to be respected by all of us, because he really contributed fearlessly to the cause of the liberation of our country. Another person who was like him was Daniel Munamava who also helped those of us very much when we were escaping from colonial oppression.
Dr Ngarikutuke Tjiriange the former secretary general of the Swapo Party is the Special Advisor to the Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration.
By Dr Ngarikutuke Tjiriange