Kazenambo Kazenambo, commonly known as KK, (6 July 1963 – 17 August 2021) was a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician. A member of

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

, Kazenambo was first elected to the 4th National Assembly of Namibia in 2005 and appointed deputy Minister of Local and Regional Government, Housing and Rural Development. In 2010 he was promoted to Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture and served until 2012. He was a member of SWAPO's

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

Early life

Kazenambo was born in Maun,

Bechuanaland Protectorate The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a British protectorate, protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (later the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) in So ...

(now

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

), the son of Namibian refugees. He joined SWAPO in 1979, at the age of 16. Five years later in 1984, he travelled to

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, where he received military training. In 1986, he joined SWAPO's military wing as a combatant,

People's Liberation Army of Namibia The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the Sout ...

. He fought with SWAPO until 1989, when negotiations ended the

Namibian War of Independence The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...

. Prior to independence, he also worked as a journalist for the Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) and the

Voice of Namibia Voice of Namibia (VoN) was a pirate radio station propagating Namibian independence, and the political mouthpiece of the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) during the Namibian War of Independence. It operated from 1966 until Namibian ...

radio program. A year later, Namibia became independent and moved to Namibia, the land of his family, where he became a journalist for ''

Namibia Today The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

'', the official mouthpiece of the SWAPO Party.

Political career

Kazenambo joined government in 1992 and became an advisor to Prime Minister

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

in 1996. A longtime member of the

SWAPO Party Youth League The SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL), formerly known as the SWAPO Youth League (SYL), is the youth wing of the SWAPO Party, the ruling party of Namibia since 1990.Swapo party constitution It shares the same principles as those of the SWAPO Party. ...

(SPYL), Kazenambo was a member of its

central committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

from 1991 to 2002. Following the 2004 general election, president Pohamba appointed Kazenambo as the deputy Minister of Local and Regional Government, Housing and Rural Development behind

John Pandeni John Alphons Pandeni (30 July 1950 – 14 March 2008) was a Namibian politician and trade unionist. A member of SWAPO, Pandeni was Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development at the time of his death in 2008. Early l ...

. Prior to the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

, Kazenambo was placed 9th overall out of 72 spots on the SWAPO list for the National Assembly. Kazenambo was appointed Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture in 2010 and served in this position until a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

reshuffle on 4 December 2012. In 2014 he was appointed to SWAPO's

Controversies

Kazenambo was known as a man of his words, never shy to offer his opinion. In January 2011,

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

police were called to separate Kazenambo and the manager of

Hochland Park Hochland Park (also ''Hochlandpark'', seldom ''Highland Park'') is a residential suburb in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It is named after the German ''Khomas Hochland'', the central-Namibian plateau area in which Windhoek is situated. Hochlan ...

Spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

Supermarket when the Minister confronted the manager regarding his alleged mistreatment of black customers. Police removed Kazenambo from the store after a heated exchange which included allegations of racism. The cabinet minister had a similar incident at the airport in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany. In November 2011, Kazenambo publicly accused journalist Jan Poolman of the ''

Namibian Sun The ''Namibian Sun'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Namibia. It was launched on 20 September 2007 as a weekly tabloid newspaper published on Thursdays. The initial print run was planned to be 36,000 copies. The paper publishes mostly in English w ...

'' of "buffoonery of the highest order of a perverted mind" and of being a thief and added that "whites should not take reconciliation for granted .. will grab farms if they push this matter. We will push the Constitution aside if they scratch too far. Mark my words, give us time ... if they continue, we'll also take some action to claim what is ours". The Namibian government was criticised for treating Kazenambo with kid gloves and not reprimanding him after the outburst. Kazenambo was responding to an article written by Poolman that Kazenambo spent N$1.7 million instead of the budgeted N$1 million to send 65 delegates to collect the skulls of some of the victims of the

Herero and Namaqua Genocide The Herero and Namaqua genocide or the Herero and Nama genocide was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment waged by the German Empire against the Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama in German South West Africa (now Namibia). ...

of 1904–1907 from Germany. During an interview in February 2012 with ''

The Namibian ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' journalist Tileni Mongudhi, Kazenambo allegedly made a racist attack against his fellow ministers, calling them "stupid Owambos", and said that Ovambo people "are just like the

Boers Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this area ...

, worse because you are hungry and stupid". The interview apparently started on a cordial note until Mongudhi asked if Kazenambo was proudly acting "more of a

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

than a national representative" in relation to the delegation he led to Germany to retrieve Herero remains. Kazenambo then accused Mongudhi of being part of an "Owambo conspiracy" and seized his voice recorder. The recorder was then sent to another country to get its contents professionally erased before being returned to Mongudhi's lawyer.

Private life

Kazenambo descended from a family affected by the Herero and Namaqua genocide and was lobbying for German reparation payments. He had three children. Kazenambo died from post-

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

complications in August 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazenambo 1963 births 2021 deaths Herero people Namibian journalists Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) People's Liberation Army of Namibia personnel Alumni of Oxford Brookes University Namibian expatriates in Botswana Namibian expatriates in the United Kingdom SWAPO politicians Urban and rural development ministers of Namibia Youth ministers of Namibia Sports ministers of Namibia Culture ministers of Namibia 20th-century Namibian writers 21st-century Namibian writers People from North-West District (Botswana) Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia