Mourning period for Nujoma halts Valentine’s Day, school sport events

Lovers and schoolchildren are some of the groups affected by the government decision to declare a period of mourning, leaving most sport events and activities banned to honour the late former president Sam Nujoma.

Nujoma (95) died in Windhoek on Saturday.

The City of Windhoek yesterday said they have cancelled the planned Valentine’s Day movie event at Zoo Park this week and in honour of the ongoing national mourning period.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture yesterday issued a directive to all directors of education, inspectors, officers, school principals, and staff members to postpone events of a celebratory nature.

The statement was issued by executive director of education Sanet Steenkamp.

“However, routine athletics and sport practices may continue at school level only,” she said.

Steenkamp said the purpose of the communication is to outline the operations of the education sector during the mourning period and the protocols that should be followed.

“All educational institutions including schools, libraries, and resource centres must fly the national flag and all other flags at half mast. A moment of silence should be observed at all official meetings and gatherings.

“The portrait of the late founding president should be displayed at the main entrance of regional offices, circuit offices, and schools [where feasible], and a book for condolences could be placed near the portrait to allow staff, parents, and community members to express their messages of sympathy and remembrance,” she said.

She added: “Schools should hold a special remembrance assembly dedicated to his memory, where pupils and teachers can share reflections, poems, and historical insights about his role in Namibia’s development.

“The regional office, in collaboration with the regional council, should have a commemoration service for our late founding president on a date mutually agreed upon at the regional level,” she said

City of Windhoek spokesperson Harold Akwenye says the cancellation of the Valentine’s Day movie night is not a big deal, labelling it as “just Valentine’s.”

He says despite everything being planned, the cancellation comes as a directive from the government.

“It is part of the prohibited directive, and there was nothing much to spend. Everything was planned, yes, but normally, things are paid for after events. It is just Valentine’s Day, it is not a big deal. People can have picnics somewhere or at their houses and plan their gathering. It is just N$25 000 for the event that was cancelled,” he says.

Deputy minister of information and communication technology Modestus Amutse in a press statement on Monday announced that large public gatherings and celebrations are prohibited during the mourning period for the founding president.

“The Namibian government would like to discourage the nation from large public gatherings and celebrations that could be deemed disrespectful during the mourning period for Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, founding president and father of the Namibian nation,” he said.

Amutse, however, said the “continuation of service delivery and indoor gatherings” may be allowed.

This means companies, like the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), which had planned the launch of the NTB information desk at Hosea Kutako International Airport today, have postponed events.

Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, NTB spokesperson Flora Quest said the tourism board was slightly affected.

“It is just the caterers who are a problem, but there is no major breakdown. For other supplies for the event, for which we had paid 50%, we just told them we are not cancelling, we are postponing,” she said.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) on Sunday announced the postponement of the launch of the Hage Geingob commemorative banknote.

BoN communications practitioner Josefina Oskar said the bank will not be affected.

“We need to take this time to mourn the passing of our founding father.

I would not say we have been affected after the postponement of the event. The operations of the bank were not affected, and with that, we just have to find another date,” she said.

Meanwhile, Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme external affairs and communications manager Jona Musheko has expressed a similar sentiment.

“The Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme had planned an internal media training session to engage local journalists on industry insights and updates.

“However, given the current national circumstances, many of the journalists we invited are actively covering events related to the death of our founding father. Out of respect for their commitments during this time, we decided to postpone and will resume once the timing allows for broader participation,” he says.

The government stated that no sporting activities are to be held during the period of mourning, but athletes are permitted to train during this time.

The duration of the mourning period has yet to be announced. However, the decision to halt “all sporting events and gatherings until further notice” was made on Sunday and announced on Monday.