Windhoek
Former Swapo employee Henny Seibeb has received yet another tongue-lashing over his Facebook comments that founding president Sam Nujoma is not the founding leader of Swapo and not the father of the Namibian nation.
In a widely-circulated post Seibeb wrote: “Nujoma was and is never a founding father of Swapo nor Namibia. That is a lie and we all know it.”
This drew the wrath of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) spokesperson Neville Itope, who came to the defence of Nujoma.
“We strongly condemn the statement by Seibeb and we unequivocally call on all SPYL members to distance themselves from such false and misleading information,” Itope explained.
“It is a known fact that at its inception the then Swapo as a national liberation movement, on April 19, 1960, was led by comrade Nujoma and he was confirmed as the president at its first national congress in Tanganyika in 1969/70.
The liberation struggle was led by Swapo under the leadership of comrade Nujoma, until we gained our independence in 1990.”
According to Itope, on March 21, 1990, Nujoma was inaugurated as the first president of Namibia and led the country to peace and stability.
“We are glad to witness the establishment of the Swapo Party School this year and we are inviting Seibeb to approach the school to inform himself of the true history of Swapo and that of the Namibian government.”
“The history of Swapo has been written by those that have true recollection of the events that happened. Namibians are conscious of the national history and will not be easily misled.”
Itope then urged all progressive historians to assist the veterans of Swapo by engaging them and recording their recollection of past events, and publish such information for future generations to read.
Shortly after that, Seibeb posted a Wikipedia page link suggesting: “Emil Appolus was part of early discussions on Namibian independence.”
It further reads: “In 1957, Appolus became a founding member of the Ovamboland People’s Congress, the forerunner to the current ruling party, SWAPO. When the OPC merged to create SWANU, Appolus, Sam Nujoma and Fanuel Kozonguizi were three of the five members of the executive committee.”
The page continued: “He authored the OPC’s constitution as well as the first Black newspaper in Namibia, The South West News (Afrikaans Die Suidwes Nuus). The South West News was later banned for its nationalistic content.”
“After involvement in the 1960-65 Congo Crisis, Appolus ended up in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), where he was deported to Pretoria, South Africa for illegally leaving the country. After receiving bail, Appolus fled to Bechuanaland (now Botswana) en route to Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Appolus was the first SWAPO representative in Cairo, an important position for drawing support for the national liberation. In 1969, Appolus was sent to represent SWAPO at the United Nations.”