Utoni Nujoma reminisces about his exile journey

Founding president Sam Nujoma’s eldest son, Utoni Nujoma, says when his father pursued the struggle for the independence of Namibia he did not spare his own children from joining the liberation war.

Speaking at his father’s 94th birthday celebration at the former president’s home village, Etunda, in the Omusati region on Saturday, Nujoma said he and his two brothers went into exile in June 1974.
He said they went through Angola with the late Swapo veteran John ya Otto Nankudhu.

In Angola, Nujoma said, the Portuguese authorities detained them for two months before he proceeded to Zambia, where he was trained as a People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan) combatant.
Nujoma said he was prepared to lay down his life for Namibia’s liberation struggle.

“I was trained as a Plan combatant to go and reinforce our comrades at the battlefield at the eastern front,” Nujoma said.
Nujoma’s father, who was the first president of independent Namibia, turned 94 years of age on Friday. He was born at Etunda on 12 May 1929.

In a statement read on his behalf by the chairperson of the Sam Nujoma Foundation, Nahas Angula, the former president said his celebration of his birthday at Etunda was a homecoming to pay homage to his parents and the village where he grew up.

“Indeed, this is my birthday place where my roots are and where my culture was installed in me. It is here, at oshoto [sitting area], where my father used to send me to the salt pan and cattle post,” Nujoma recounted.