WINDHOEK – Cadres of Swanu of Namibia on Saturday commemorated and celebrated the life of one of the heroes of the liberation struggle and revolutionary leader, the late Dr Imbu Uirab who passed away in 2002.Uirab was born in Windhoek in 1954 and was laid to rest in the Old Location cemetery in Windhoek.
He served as the party’s deputy president among the various positions he held in the party in exile and at home. Swanu of Namibia cadres and sympathisers gathered at the Old Location cemetery on Saturday morning to pay tribute to Uirab, whom they called one of the “unsung heroes of the struggle.” Visitors, some of whom travelled hundreds of kilometres to the capital, described Uirab as a liberation struggle hero and an influential revolutionary leader of his time. “There are many revolutionaries who in their time influenced and inspired the Namibian masses, young and old in Swanu to join the struggle, but the three heroes who exerted the greatest influence on my life are Hitjitevi Vei, Imbu Uirab and Uatjinda Ndjoze,” said Dr Rukee Tjigaete, a party stalwart.
Tjingaete said Uirab was a revolutionary leader whose legacy should be celebrated. “The love that ordinary cadres of Swanu had for Imbu was proven when the announcement of his death evoked feelings of despair among his friends and a sense of relief among those who hate Swanu,” said Tjingaete. Tjingaete further said Uirab was not simply an activist like many others, but he was a revolutionary thinker, with a political and moral project, Swanu remembers Dr Imbu Uirab “because he strongly believed in a system of ideas and values for which he fought until the last day of his life,” Tjingaete further said. According to him the philosophy that gave Imbu’s political ideas coherence, colour and taste was a deeply revolutionary humanism, firmly grounded in international solidarity.
“The legacy of Imbu is constantly evolving in the collective imagination of both the Swanu leadership and membership. As an icon of the Namibian struggle, he was a recognisable and influential leader of our time,” he said. Imbu was the reason for Swanu’s renewal, according to Tjingaete because he continued to embody the party’s critical position on the land question and social programmes. “I can assure you today that the seed, which he planted in our party has germinated. Times on hope are lived, but although revolutionaries like him can die, their ideas never do,” Tjingaete said.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa