Staff Writers
PDM leader, McHenry Venaani, has said that he will bury his predecessor, DTA president Katuutire Kaura, with dignity despite the political differences between the two and the damaging decision he took to dump the party for Swapo back in 2017.
Kaura, aged 80, died on Sunday. He led the DTA, now known as PDM.
Venaani said that his ties with him rose beyond politics as they were related at the family level. Venaani said he maintained a close relationship with Kaura even after defecting to Swapo.
The PDM leader further said Kaura’s death has robbed the Namibian political sphere of a wealth of experience.
Venaani said Kaura was a forthright academic and walking encyclopedia in a statement.
Venaani also said he remembers his predecessor Kaura as a great political teacher and legislator.
According to Venaani, Kaura was an iron-willed and gallant leader who played an unmistakable role in shaping the political discourse of his time.
He was also a member of Namibia’s Constituent Assembly. He served as a member of the National Assembly from 1990 to 2015, thus bringing a legislative career spanning over two and a half decades to a close.
President Hage Geingob said Kaura would be remembered for his significant contribution to the country’s political landscape during his tenure from 1998 to 2013.
Geingob said Kaura would also be remembered for his contributions to the socio-economic development of Namibia as the official leader of the Opposition in Parliament and later as Special Advisor to the Governor of Kunene Region.
Kaura joined Swapo in 2017, and Geingob appointed him as the special advisor to the then Governor of Kunene Region, the late Angelika Muharukua.
“I have learned with sadness about the passing of Hon. Katuutire Kaura. During this hour of grief, on behalf of the people and Government of the Republic of Namibia, I wish to convey sincere condolences to his wife, Vicky Kaura, the children, the Kaura and Mbuende families. May you find comfort and solace in the Lord, and May the Soul of the Late Katuutire Kaura Rest in Eternal Peace,” Geingob said.
DEFECTION
Kaura left the DTA in a huff after losing the presidency to Venaani in 2013.
In an interview with The Namibian in 2017, Kaura said he decided to join Swapo because Geingob had expressed a wish to transform the country’s economy and uplift people from poverty.
“I support whatever he stands for, and the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) to try and take the Namibian people out of poverty,” Kaura said.
Kaura also said the DTA died when it was rebranded as the PDM.
“I was in the DTA for 40 years, but the party is now dead and buried. They have abolished it. I had to choose where to go. The only available party that still has another 200-year lifespan is Swapo,” Kaura said.
Many did not welcome Kaura’s membership in Swapo, with the then Swapo information secretary Helmut Angula accusing Geingob and the then secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba of misusing power to destroy the ruling party.
Angula said: “Those are the things that we are talking about, the non-transparency of decision-making in the party. Those in the high ranks of the party do not feel accountable to the members and the rest of the leadership,” he stated. Angula said either Mbumba or Geingob were supposed to inform the party’s leadership, the politburo or the central committee at recent meetings that there was such an application so that “we would deliberate on the matter, and take a decision collectively”.
Nahas Angula also decried Kaura’s membership, describing it as unacceptable.
“Some of us have serious reservations about Kaura joining the party. We know his history. He was in Geneva some years back insulting Founding President [Sam Nujoma] when we were discussing Namibian independence.
“To some of us, it is very unacceptable. It is not a Swapo decision,” Nahas Angula told The Namibian then.