Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah described the late Mathias Kanana Hishoono as a reminder that leadership is not about being seen, but about serving. She emphasised that he lived by the principles of unity, resilience and service, and highlighted that he made many sacrifices in the struggle for the country’s independence and advancement.
This was highlighted in the President’s speech delivered at the memorial service of the late Hishoono at Onambutu Village in the Eenhana Constituency, Ohangwena Region. The speech was delivered on her behalf by Vice President Lucia Witbooi.
The President’s full speech can be read below:
“We gather here today under the heavy yet sacred silence that follows the passing of a giant.
MEMORIAL SERVICE: Scenes from the memorial service. Photo: MICT Ohangwena Regional Office.
On the 14th of January 2026, our nation lost not only a son of the soil, not only a gallant veteran, but a living chapter of our history. We lost a man whose life wa s woven into the long and painful journey of Namibia’s march to freedom. We lost Comrade Mathias Kanana Hishoono.
Today, we stand together in mourning, but also in reflection.
Because to speak of Comrade Hishoono is not only to speak of a man, it is to speak of a generation. A generation that rose at a time when the future of this country was uncertain, when freedom was only an idea carried in the hearts of the brave, and when the price of believing in that idea was often suffering, exile, imprisonment, or death.
He belonged to a generation that made peace with the possibility that they might fight for a Namibia they would never live to see. Yet they fought anyway. Not for recognition.
Not for reward. But for a people they believed deserved dignity, justice, and the right to stand tall in their own land.
From humble beginnings, Comrade Hishoono grew into a pillar of our liberation struggle. His life was guided by the values of unity, resilience, and service. He understood that freedom is never the work of one individual, but the result of many hands, many voices, and many sacrifices moving in one direction.
As a migrant labourer in South Africa in the 1950s, he encountered ideas that would shape the rest of his life.
Influenced by the late Comrade Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, he chose the difficult road of resistance instead of the safer path of silence.
Together with the late H.E. Dr. Sam Nujoma, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Kahumba Kandola, Mzee Simon Kaukungua, Comrade Helao Vinnia Ndadi, and himself, Comrade Mathias Kanana Hishoono became part of the founding generation of the Ovambo People’s Organisation, the movement that would later grow into the South West Africa People’s Organisation, SWAPO, and become the torchbearer of our national liberation.
These were men who did not simply form an organisation.
They formed a vision. A vision of a Namibia that would belong to all its people, free from oppression, free from domination, and free to determine its own destiny.
Fellow Mourners, Comrade Hishoono was not only a mobiliser of people, but a builder of minds. He believed deeply in education as a tool of empowerment. He taught, guided, and inspired young Namibians, both in exile and at home, to see beyond the chains of their circumstances and to imagine a free and sovereign nation. Through his words and his actions, he planted courage where there was fear, and purpose where there was uncertainty.
He endured hardship, torture, and imprisonment at the hands of a brutal system that sought to break the human spirit. But his spirit did not break. It stood firm in the belief that one day, Namibia would be free. That belief was rewarded on the 21st of March 1990, when the flag of an independent Namibia was raised, and the dream he had carried for decades became a living reality.
But for Comrade Hishoono, independence was not the end of the struggle. It was the beginning of its second phase.
He understood that political freedom, while historic and sacred, would only be fully meaningful if it was matched by economic emancipation. He believed that true independence is measured not only by a flag and a constitution, but by whether ordinary citizens can live with dignity, opportunity, and hope in their daily lives.
In this second phase of our national journey, he continued to serve as a guide and a conscience. He encouraged leaders and young people alike to see nation building as an ongoing responsibility, not a finished achievement. He reminded us that the task of lifting our people out of poverty, inequality, and marginalisation is as important as the task of freeing them from political domination.
Fellow Mourners, Even after independence, Comrade Hishoono did not step aside. He continued to serve, to advise, and to guide. As a Political Advisor to our Founding President, Dr. Sam Nujoma, and to the Second President, Dr. Hifikepunye Pohamba, he offered wisdom shaped by experience, humility, and a deep understanding of our nation’s journey. His counsel was never about personal gain. It was always about the greater good of Namibia.
To those who knew him closely, he was a source of calm in moments of uncertainty, a voice of reason in times of tension, and a reminder that leadership is not about being seen, but about serving.
As we honour Comrade Hishoono today, we are reminded that the freedoms we enjoy were not handed to us. They were earned. They were paid for with years of sacrifice, with broken families, with lost youth, and with lives laid down in the hope of a better tomorrow.
Fellow Mourners, As we gather here today, we are mindful that among us, and watching from afar, are young Namibians who may be asking a simple but profound question: Who is this man we have come to honour, and why does his life matter so deeply to our nation?
That question is not a failure of the young. It is a responsibility of the elders.
It is our duty, as those who carry memory, to tell and to keep telling the Namibian story in our own voices, through our own experiences, and through the lives of men and women such as Comrade Hishoono. For if we do not tell our story ourselves, we risk losing it, or having it reshaped by those who did not walk the long road that brought us here.
At the same time, we must encourage our young people to be curious about their past, to ask questions, to seek understanding, and to learn how the independence of this country was achieved, not as a distant chapter in a textbook, but as a living heritage that continues to shape their present and their future.
For a nation that becomes detached from its own history risks becoming unanchored from its values, its purpose, and its sense of direction.
Let this moment, therefore, be not only a farewell, but a handover. A handover of memory, of responsibility, and of hope, from one generation to the next.
Fellow Mourners, We carry a responsibility, not only to remember these sacrifices, but to protect what they gave us. To safeguard our peace. To nurture our unity. To ensure that the Namibia they dreamed of continues to move forward, not backward.
Let us take from his life the lesson that progress is never achieved alone. It is achieved when we walk together, when we listen to one another, and when we place the interests of our nation above our own.
Though we mourn today, we also give thanks. We give thanks for a life lived in service. For a voice that spoke when silence would have been easier. For a heart that remained loyal to the cause of freedom until the very end.
As he departs from this physical realm, we take comfort in the belief that Comrade Hishoono now joins the ranks of his peers, the brave men and women with whom he walked the long and difficult road to freedom.
On behalf of the people and the Government of the Republic of Namibia, I extend my deepest condolences to Meme Elina Ndeshipewa Hishoono, to the children, the entire bereaved family, and to all comrades and friends who feel this loss so deeply.
May you find comfort in knowing that his name is written not only in history books, but in the story of this nation itself.
May his rest be peaceful. And may his legacy continue to guide us as we work to build the Namibia he and his generation sacrificed so much to secure.
May the soul of Comrade Mathias Kanana Hishoono rest in eternal peace.
I thank you.”
