WINDHOEK – President Hifikepunye Pohamba is to honour the late Swapo Party cadre Reverend Batholomeaus Karuaera with a state funeral this coming Saturday at the Pionierspark cemetery.
The state will pay for all funeral costs and he will be accorded a 17-gun salute , while the last post and reveille will be performed by the NDF band.
Presidential Affairs Minister Dr Albert Kawana said the president conferred the honour of hero status on the late Karuaera and directed a state funeral be held in his honour.
Pohamba declared a period of mourning from today, and all flags will be flown at half-mast until Saturday, when Karuaera will be interred at the cemetery.
Karuaera, 93, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church died on September 22. He was well known for his immense contribution to the Namibian liberation struggle, having been involved from the early stages of the fight against apartheid and colonialism.
He was also well known for his role in the drafting of petitions, first to the League of Nations, and subsequently to the United Nations Organisation for the then apartheid South African regime to relinquish the authority it claimed over Namibia. Karuaera also served as the secretary to the Ovaheroro Paramount Chief Hosea Kutako.
According to the tentative programme provided by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the Memorial Service will be held tomorrow at Parliament Gardens in the afternoon, where both President Pohamba and Founding President Dr Sam Nujoma are expected to address mourners.
His wife, five children and grandchildren survive him.
By Tonateni Shidhudhu