WINDHOEK – The Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo Fundraising Bowling Fun Day, held yesterday at the popular Windhoek Country Club Bowling Course, proved a massive success as it attracted more than 45 bowlers from 9 corporate teams.
The fun-filled day was graced by the presence of Helmut Angula, former Minister of Works and Transports and member of parliament, and also MVA Fund former chief Jerry Muadinohamba and a total of N$90 000 was raised through participation fees.
Angula is the chairman of the Organising Committee of all Ya Toivo’s 90th birthday countrywide events, while Muadinohamba is also a member of the organising committee. The N$90 000 and other donated monies will go to the Ya Toivo Foundation. The main birthday celebration is scheduled for the Windhoek Independence Stadium on 13 September.
The bowls fun day, which was won by MVA Fund, was staged as a token of appreciation for all the personal sacrifices Ya Toivo made as a torchbearer of the liberation struggle for Namibia and for the role he played in the fight for human rights.
Ya Toivo was born 22 August 1924 in the Omangundu village in the Oshana Region. He is a founding member of the Ovamboland People’s Congress (OPC) in 1957, at the beginning of the independence movement and also fought for the Allied Forces during World War II.
Later, because of his political activities in support of Namibian independence, he was arrested in 1966 by the South African authorities and 1968 he was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment at the historic Robben Island Prison, near Cape Town. Ya Toivo was released on 1 March 1984.
From 1984 to 1991, he was the Secretary General of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO). Ya Toivo was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, immediately prior to independence and upon independence in March 1990, he became a member of the National Assembly.
He was also Minister of Mines and Energy from 1990 until his appointment as Minister of Labour in 1999. After three years in that position, he was appointed as Minister of Prisons in 2002, switching posts with Marco Hausiku. He remained Minister of Prisons until 2006.