WINDHOEK- President Hage Geingob has accorded the late retired colonel Matias “Mbulunganga” Ndakolo, who passed away last week Tuesday in the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital, a state funeral.
This was confirmed by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology on Friday.
The Ministry issued a statement that Ndakolo will be buried at Eenhana Shrine, a national heritage site in the Ohangwena Region this Saturday.
A pioneer commander in the defunct Swapo military wing, the People Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan), Ndakolo died aged 75.
As a young adult, he went to Tsumeb to look for work. He stayed in the mining town for 18 months before going to work at Grootfontein where he spent another 18 months.
Confirming Ndakolo’s death to Nampa the same day, his young sister Rauna Ndakolo said that he passed away between 01h00 and 02h00 due to prolonged illness over a three-week period.
He was born at Iilagati village in the Ohangwena Region in 1943, and lived at a nearby village, Eenghango, in the same region.
His brother in arms and retired Namibian Police Force (NamPol) Commander in the Oshana Region, Commissioner Elisa Haulyondjaba told Nampa that Ndakolo was already a Plan commander when he met him on the eastern front in Zambia in 1969.
“I was told when I met Mbulunganga that he just returned from Mungu Hospital in Zambia where he received medical treatment after he was bitten by a dangerous Tsetse fly, which I believe is the cause of his prolonged illness,” stated Haulyondjaba, who is also a pioneer Plan fighter.
According to Haulyondjaba, Ndakolo returned from exile along with other freedom fighters in 1989. He has been ailing since his return to Namibia at the dawn of the country’s freedom and independence.
Former President Hifikepunye Pohamba conferred him an honorary military rank of colonel in the Namibia Defence Force during the Heroes’ Day Commemoration held at Eenhana in the Ohangwena Region in 2007.
In his honour, all flags should be flown at half-mast from 12 -15 December 2018.
– Additional reporting Nampa