Botswana’s Batawana paramount chief Kgosi Tawana Moremi II, who was the keynote speaker at Chief Kilus Munjuku III Nguvauva’s inauguration in 2014, has described his sudden death as a rude shock.
Nguvauva, a former deputy minister of works and transport, died last Thursday in a Gobabis hospital at the age of 64 due to Covid-19 complications.
He was accorded a State funeral, and will be buried at Okahandja next to his father chief Munjuku II Nguvauva and his great-great grandfather Kahimemua Nguvauva on a date still to be announced.
“I received the message of the demise of my brother Munjuku III with shock and disbelief. Bagaetsho (my people), as Batawana we feel the loss, re latlhegetswe (we lost), because Munjuku III Nguvauva has been part of us as he continued cementing the relations between our two people,” Tawana said.
Nguvauva was born at Oruhua near Sehithwa in Botswana. Tawana said since Nguvauva was smuggled into Namibia at a tender age, he cannot say much about his youthful days as they grew up far away from each other due to the different geographical location “and artificial boundaries created by colonists”.
“I came to know Munjuku III when he invited me to officiate at his coronation on 24 November 2014 at Epukiro Pos3 in Namibia. Since then, he has been a brother to me for we continued to engage and update each other on the health of our people,” he continued.
In January 2015, they were together at the funeral of his uncle in Sehithwa, Botswana.
Again, he said they were together once again in July 2016 at Dhauga (Ondauha), Botswana, for the Ovambanderu Cultural Event.
At the event, Tawana was draped with the Ovambanderu Traditional Flag, which he still holds dearly.
“This demonstrated a continuous brotherhood between our people, and it is under these cordial relations that I say, indeed we have lost a brother,” he added.
In 2014, Nguvauva became chief after he replaced his father the late Munjuku II, who died in 2008. Nguvauva is the second-eldest son of the late Munjuku II.
The late Nguvauva is survived by his wife Mbuto, 20 children and 49 grandchildren.
- ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na