Richard Kapelwa Kabajani (19 February 1943 – 17 May 2007) was a Namibian activist, militant, diplomat and politician. Kabajani was a military commander for

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 ...

during the Namibian War of Independence and after independence served a minister in the Namibian government.

Early life

Kabajani was born on 19 February 1943 in the

Caprivi Region The Zambezi Region is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the country. It is largely concurrent with the major Zambezi River where it gets its name from. The region has eight constituencies and its capi ...

in the village of Ivilivinzi, 117 km from Katima Mulilo. He attended school in Botswana from 1955 to 1964. While in Botswana, he attended Ngoma Primary School and Mulumba Mission School and in the later years developed an interest in politics. He was classmate of fellow future People's Liberation Army of Namibia combatant

Greenwell Matongo Greenwell Matongo is a suburb in the city of Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia. Greenwell Matongo is named after a liberation fighter, Greenwell Simasiku Matongo, who was born in 1945. Matongo was a former People Liberation Army of Namibia (PL ...

and future traditional ruler of the

Mafwe The Mafwe are one of the tribal peoples of the country of Namibia, and one of the 38 groups that comprise the Lozi people. Fwe language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fwe_language Kings and leaders Leaders since Kabende Sita carry the honorary ti ...

people Mamili

Boniface Bebi Boniface Bebi was a Mamili, or tribal king, of the Mafwe in Namibia, from 1987 to 1999. Born in Linyanti, he succeeded Richard Muhinda in 1987, as the sixth recorded king of the Mafwe. After being involved in the Caprivi conflict, in which autono ...

Career

In 1964, Kabajani joined

and was sent to

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

( Zambia) and Mbeya, Tanzania for military training. During the War of Independence, the Caprivi native was one of the first fighters to engage the

South African Defence Forces The South African Defence Force (SADF) ( Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence ...

in the northeastern Caprivi Region. In 1986, he became special assistant to SWAPO leader and future president Sam Nujoma. During the run-up to Namibia's independence, Kabajani was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which wrote the Namibian Constitution. He also was chosen by SWAPO to be in the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

(1990–1995) and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

National Assemblies of Namibia, where he served as Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communication from 1990 to 1992, as Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation from 1992 to 1995, and as Minister of Youth and Sport from 1995 to 2000. From 2000 to 2004, he was Namibia's ambassador to Cuba. Kabajani retired in 2004 and died from heart failure on 17 May 2007 at Katima Mulilo State Hospital.Christof Maletzky
Richard Kabajani passes away
The Namibian, 21 May 2007 He was buried at Heroes Acre national memorial outside of Windhoek.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabajani, Richard 1943 births 2007 deaths People from Zambezi Region Namibian diplomats Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Works and transport ministers of Namibia Land reform ministers of Namibia Youth ministers of Namibia Sports ministers of Namibia SWAPO politicians Namibian expatriates in Botswana Namibian expatriates in Tanzania Namibian expatriates in Zambia People's Liberation Army of Namibia personnel Ambassadors of Namibia to Cuba National heroes of Namibia