ECL MOURNS PRESIDENT GEINGOB

…says the spirit of Pan Africanism is either being sacrificed or traded at the altar of expediency and personal interests, worried that hypocrisy among some of the leaders is reigning supreme

ZAMBIA’s Sixth President Dr Edgar Lungu has described the death of Namibia’s President Hage Geingob as a big blow and loss not only to Namibia but to the entire Southern Africa Coordinating Community (SADC).

“It’s a big blow, a big loss to Namibia in particular and the SADC region in general,” former President Lungu said.

Mr Lungu said news about the death of President Geingob earlier yesterday had left his heart wrenched.

Mr Lungu said he was privileged to share a brotherly relationship with President Geingob, 82, from the time “when both of us were given the grace to become Heads of State in our respective countries in the year 2015.

“We have no answer when death comes. All our strengths and hopes as we journey on mother earth lie in the faith of our Lord, the God Almighty, former President Lungu said.

He said the passing on of President Geingob was hard to take and that the SADC region and Africa as a whole was sadly losing its icons, the staunch, revolutionary and legendary Pan Africanists, at a time the region needed them most to tap into their wisdom, knowledge and experience.

Mr Lungu said the late President Geingob would always be remembered as a liberation struggle icon of Namibia who dedicated his life to help his country gain independence in 1990.

“President Geingob was one of the last, if not the very last, of our freedom fighters remaining, who was able to meaningfully infuse into the new generation of African leaders, the true spirit of Pan-Africanism from the liberation struggle against colonialism, against neo-colonialism, right up to the ongoing anti-imperialism struggle, which many African nations do not fully comprehend,” former President Lungu said.

Mr Lungu said as the region and Africa was mourning President

Geingob, the people of the region should find ways to preserve and inculcate the patriotic values of the great sons of Africa in Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe, Oliver Tambo and Julius Nyerere, among others.

He said in the ever complex world of today, the region’s forward path would be safe if citizens relentlessly referred to independence heroes for guidance, especially now when hypocrisy among some of our leaders is reigning supreme.

“The spirit of Pan Africanism is either being sacrificed or traded at the altar of expediency and personal interests. Africa needs to look inward, to virtues of Pan Africanism. That is where our renaissance lies,” Mr Lungu said.