David Sheehama | |
|---|---|
| Born | David Enghali Nehunga July 1934 Oshihenye ShaAnyanya, Outapi, Namibia |
| Died | 14 March 1980 (aged 45) |
| Cause of death | Assassination by gunshot |
| Burial place | Anamulenge Cemetery, Omusati region |
| Spouse |
Jakobina Taukondjele Anghuwo
(m. 1959) |
David Enghali Sheehama (July 1934 – 14 March 1980) was a philanthropist and prominent Namibian businessman. Owning several successful business enterprises in Namibia's northern Omusati region, he is considered a pioneer for trading businesses in the region.[1]
Life
Sheehama was an avowed freedom fighter closely associated with his political home-ground party, the South West Africa's People Organization (SWAPO) party which prior to 1960 was then the Owambo People's Organization (OPO). Sheehama was in close association with the organization's military wing, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) founded in 1962 that for more than two decades fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) to liberate Namibia from the brutalities of the apartheid regime.
With the profits of his busy supermarkets, Sheehama would fund SWAPO activities[2] and holistically supported the PLAN combatants with clothing, food and hospitality in his own home. He on occasions voluntarily transported PLAN's armed caches from Angola to Namibia and became one of the few business persons known personally by combatants in Ombalantu.
As a man of great influence in the community, Sheehama was endlessly prodded to abdicate his patriotic obligations. He had been asked to join the colonial Bantustan and puppet government which consisted of informants and accomplices of the apartheid government, reporting on the works of the PLAN liberational unionization efforts to weaken and destabilize the Namibian War for Independence. After several failed attempts to lure him, in the early morning hours of 14 March 1980, while sleeping next to his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter, he was assassinated (supposedly) by the Koevoet,[3] shot several times and died on the spot.[4] He is remembered as a martyr.
Sheehama was ranked one of the richest black men in Namibia during the 1970s together with Frans Indongo, Eliakim Namundjembo and Thomas Nakambonde.[1] He is the father of Namibian Reggae musician Ras Sheehama.
References
- 1 2 Dobler, Gregor (2014). Traders and Trade in Colonial Ovamboland: Elite Formation and the Politics of Consumption under Indirect Rule and Apartheid, 1925-1990. Switzerland: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2014. pp. 64, 99, 112–116, 120, 123, 132, 180–182, 186, 188. ISBN 978-3-905758-40-5.
- ↑ Leys, Colin; Saul, John S; Brown, Susan (1995). Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The Two-edged Sword. University of Georgia Libraries: J. Curry, 1995. p. 102. ISBN 9780821411049.
- ↑ O'Brien, Kevin (2011). The South African Intelligence Services: From apartheid to democracy, 1948-2005. New York: Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-203-84061-0.
- ↑ Herbstein, Denis (1989). The Devils are Among Us: The War for Namibia. United Kingdom: Zed Books. p. 62. ISBN 0-86232-896-9.