Staff Reporter
FOUNDING President Sam Nujoma has sent a message of condolences to the Uukolonkadhi Traditional Community following the death of their long-serving Chief, Tatekulu Daniel Shooya, who passed away last week at his traditional residence in Oshika village near Onesi settlement in the Omusati Region at the age of 100.
According to Nujoma, Shooya’s widow has lost a loving husband, the Shooya family has lost a caring relative and friend, and the Namibian nation has lost a respected traditional leader. He described Tatekulu Shooya as a pillar of strength and a fountain of wisdom, a man who cared about the well-being of his people and had a keen interest in the protection, promotion, and preservation of his culture.
Nujoma, who is the patron of the Olufuko Cultural Festival, said that the late Shooya was one of the strongest supporters of Olufuko (the ritual passage of girls to adulthood).
Nujoma and Shooya were acquaintances in their youth, and as friends and leaders in independent Namibia, they visited each other regularly, although the frailty that comes with age eventually made such mutual visits less frequent. Nujoma visited Shooya for the last time in 2022, when they had lunch together—a joyful occasion, according to Nujoma.
Tatekulu Shooya’s residence attracted visitors from all walks of life, and he welcomed them all gladly, even when his health was declining. Trustco’s Chris Jacobie, a journalist well-known among traditional leaders in the North, visited Tatekulu Shooya in 2022 and described him as “one of the most impressive traditional leaders” who, although frail at the time, “still had the time and courtesy to share a watermelon with his visitors in the shade of a shelter in the middle of his homestead, which is a mix of the old and the new.”
Jacobie recalled a warm conversation with Shooya after being served watermelon by Ms. Shooya. The Chief shared that he enjoyed speaking with people who valued traditional norms and customs, often reminiscing about the good old days, including his time as a soldier for the Union of South Africa during the Second World War. However, when Jacobie visited the Chief a year later, Shooya’s health had deteriorated, limiting their conversation to a brief formal greeting.
Chief Shooya, the father of ten children, had led the Uukolonkadhi Traditional Authority since 1985, one of the eight traditional communities that comprise the Ovawambo ethnic group. He also served as a minister in the pre-independence administration of then-Owamboland.
Although funeral arrangements are still in the early stages, it is expected that Tatekulu Shooya will be accorded a State Funeral.