KEETMANSHOOP – President Hage Geingob hailed Willem Konjore as a leader whose commitment to faith did not prevent him from partaking in the struggle against the apartheid colonial regime.

He said this in a speech read out by Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo during a memorial service, held last Friday in Karasburg in honour of Konjore. He was buried at farm #Gabes outside Karasburg on Saturday.

The former minister, deputy speaker and deacon died in the early hours of 11 June in a Windhoek hospital. He was 75. Konjore, a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1989, also served as deputy speaker of the National Assembly from 2000 to 2005, environment and tourism minister in 2005, and was moved to the youth, national service, sports and culture portfolio in 2008 before he retired from active politics in 2010.

In 2014, Konjore was conferred the Most Brilliant Order of the Sun – Second Class.

‘’The dark spectre of death has cast its shadow over this land once more – and, indeed, these are troubling times when the heavy air of melancholy permeates throughout the nation as we face an unprecedented battle with the invisible enemy, Covid-19,’’ Geingob said. 

He also said Konjore’s legacy will endure for years whilst the memory of his life will remain with those he left behind forever.

Geingob further said, the fact that Konjore, “one of Namibia’s cherished sons”, was also a teacher has provided him with another avenue, through which he clandestinely mobilised the community to support and join the liberation struggle.

‘’Indeed, comrade Konjore, both in persona and through his actions, is a man deserving great praise for commitment to the Republic of Namibia,” the President said. 

Geingob, on behalf of the government and the people of Namibia, extended the nation’s most sincere condolences to the surviving family.