‘Lubango forgiveness’ proves new first lady’s kindness

Freedom fighters say Namibia&#039;s new first lady Sustjie Mbumba has shown no signs of vengeance for the trauma she might have endured in relation to the infamous Lubango dungeons, where those suspected of spying on Swapo for the enemy were allegedly tortured.Sustjie, who is turning 71 in May, has been described as the “personification of kindness” by fellow ex-fighter Ellen Musialela and some Swapo members who came to know her.Musialela, who quit Swapo to join the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) before being welcomed back to the former liberation movement in 2015 by its then secretary-general, Sustjie’s husband Nangolo Mbumba, described the new first lady as a nurturer and a mother by heart.The Mbumbas ascended to president and first lady after the recent death of president Hage Geingob."She has a heart for people and is a natural-born mother. Sustjie loves to cook and is soft by nature,” Musialela told Namibian Sun. “She never once spoke or thought about revenge following the struggles in Lubango. That is part of the liberation struggle and one doesn&#039;t want to go into too much detail about that.“She is a very good person and she never changed or became bitter about her past. I won&#039;t even try to describe what happened there, but many people who went through the same thing came back bitter and full of vengeance - not Sustjie," she said.Trust issuesThe so-called dungeons were detention centres in Angola where those suspected of spying on Swapo on behalf of its war enemies were interrogated, sometimes through torture.A dungeon survivor told Namibian Sun yesterday: “Swapo had trust issues, especially with people from south of the red line, the so-called ‘mbwitis’. They wanted to arrest Sustjie around the same time when Tauno Hatuikulipi [James Hatuikulipi’s father] was suspected of being a spy for South Africa and got killed in 1984”.Born and raised in Rehoboth, Sustjie met Mbumba in Cuanza Sul, Angola, in the early 1980s when he was the principal of the Namibia Education Centre. She was a teacher at the time.She is currently a businesswoman, who had interests in fishing companies Dun-Al Fishing, Cadilu Fishing and Embwinda Fishing. She was also the director of Women at Work, a non-profit organisation providing training to marginalised women. It is not clear whether she is still involved in these organisations.Private personFormer ombudsman Bience Gawanas described her friend Sustjie as a private person, which is why so little is known about her by the general public."She has always been there. Sustjie has been the spouse of President Mbumba since independence, so it is strange that people now want to find out who she is and where she&#039;s from,” she said.Gawanas added that in the late 1970s, Sustjie tried to flee Namibia through the Gobabis border, but was arrested instead.After overcoming those hurdles, Sustjie received a bursary to study oral hygiene in Jamaica and would later serve in that field in refugee camps in Angola."In the past, when we were activists in the country, you were either part of the Swapo youth league or the Swapo women&#039;s council and Sustjie served in the women&#039;s council,” Gawanas shared.In the refugee camps, Sustjie worked alongside former deputy prime minister Libertina Amathila, taking care of the health needs of refugees.“In Cuanza Sul, she continued helping people with her vast knowledge of oral hygiene," Gawanas told Namibian Sun.

‘Lubango forgiveness’ proves new first lady’s kindness

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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‘Lubango forgiveness’ proves new first lady’s kindness

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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