WINDHOEK – President Jacob Zuma’s special adviser and spokesperson, MacMaharaj, has described Andimba Herman Toivo ya Toivo as a stubborn and an ethical freedom fighter.
Maharaj who was a fellow prisoner with Ya Toivo on Robben Island described him as a towering figure in the liberation struggle of Namibia and its people.
Maharaj was speaking at the gala dinner held in honour of Ya Toivo at Parliament Gardens last Thursday. Ya Toivo turned 90 on Friday.
Maharaj said ya Toivo stood his ground against the apartheid officers at the prison.
Commenting on Ya Toivo’s experiences, Maharaj said : “Toivo remained in his cell totally isolated. He was denied all reading materials as well as the company of his fellow prisoners. We feared for his sanity. We smuggled news to him. And we urged him to lay a complaint against the conditions of his incarceration.”
He said on one occasion the national prisoner commissioner went to Ya Toivo and asked him whether he had any complaints.
“Toivo remained silent. The prison commissioner then told Ya Toivo that if he were to request his removal from the cell so that he rejoins us, he would facilitate this,” reminisced Maharaj.
“Ya Toivo had a simple response: ‘You put me in this cell. You have the power to get me out of it. When you put me here you did not do so as a result of a request by me. I see no need for me to make a request for you to move me from this cell’,” he quoted Ya Toivo as having said.
Maharaj’s account reaffirms Ya Toivo’s unwavering dedication and courage in the midst of extreme inhuman conditions he experienced during his incarceration.
The dinner was graced by family and friends in the political arena most notably among them the Prime Minister Dr Hage Geingob, the Minister of Finance Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, the Minister of Lands and Resettlement Alpheus !Naruseb, among many others.
Meanwhile, President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of South Africa and its people sent his warm sentiments and congratulatory message to the renowned Pan-Africanist and liberation struggle veteran Ya Toivo on his 90th birthday.
“It is indeed a singular honour and privilege to join the people of the Republic of Namibia in celebrating the birthday of this struggle veteran and former Robben Island prisoner, Comrade Andimba Herman Toivo ya Toivo,” said Zuma.
“He is one of the gallant heroes of the African liberation struggle, not only for his country, but for South Africa and the entire oppressed world at large. He fought for Namibia’s freedom both in South Africa in the early 1950s and in Namibia from the late 1950s until his long period of imprisonment in 1968, and after his release from Robben Island in 1984.”
Zuma who himself served time on Robben Island said Ya Toivo was sentenced by the erstwhile South West Africa oppressive regime to 20 years in prison where he forged fraternal bonds with other freedom fighters especially leaders of the South African Communist Party, Umkhonto we Sizwe and the African National Congress, including Nelson Mandela.
“We wish him a happy 90th birthday,” stated the message from President Zuma.
A huge birthday bash is to take place at the Independence Staduim on 13 September while more public lectures are also to be held in the Khomas, Erongo, Ohangwena and Omusati regions during September on the remarkable and courageous life of Ya Toivo.