Job Amupanda: Kuku’s little boy who was destined to lead

Land activist Job Amupanda has established himself as a household name. At 27, he wears many hats: politician, academic, author, lecturer, and now land activist. The vibrant politician has had his fair share of ups and downs and has been embroiled in controversy throughout the years. He was recently expelled from the ruling party Swapo over his Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement. The AR is a movement that Amupanda established after he and two others, Dee Nauyoma and George Kambala, occupied land in Windhoek’s Kleine Kuppe residential area in November last year - just days before the general elections. The AR movement has grown by leaps and bounds since then. It started with Windhoek, where over 14 000 applications for plots were submitted to the municipality. In February of this year another mass submission of applications for land was initiated countrywide and 50 000 applicants turned to town councils under the banner of AR. Despite receiving flak from politicians, especially those from Swapo, Amupanda and his team soldiered on and threatened to forcibly occupy land on July 31 if the government didn’t address the land issue. After talks between Swapo and the AR trio broke down, President Hage Geingob extended an invitation to the land activists to propose solutions for the housing crisis. Like a real statesman, Geingob embraced AR and after a marathon meeting the two parties came up with resolutions. One of the resolutions is to embark immediately on a Massive Urban Land Servicing Project, which will see the servicing of 200 000 residential plots, starting in Windhoek, Oshakati and Walvis Bay. Namibian Sun travelled to Amupanda’s home village of Omaalala in the Oshana Region, where his grandmother, Theopolina Adolf, shared with us how Job’s teachers often told her that he was destined to lead. The first building we noticed upon arrival at Omaalala was the youth centre head office. We met Gideon Kafume from the neighbouring village of Ekolanaambo while asking directions to Amupanda’s house. “Job is our icon here. Everybody knows him. He brought a tap for the community to use and now we come here to the youth centre to read newspapers. He comes to motivate us every time he is here,” Kafume said. We arrived at a white house, with a couple of homesteads, little children playing around. A translator told them to call their grandmother, but instead they went inside to bring us all chairs, clearly taught by Kuku Theopoline never to let guest stand. Kuku came out, reminding us that she had to leave for church shortly. “Job was born and raised right here. When he was small, he always went to church with me but we had to go early, because he always wanted to ring the church bell. Someone used to pick him up, and then he would pull on the bell,” she said, her face lighting up as she spoke of her grandson. Little priest The 68-year-old Kuku Theopolina said that growing up, Amupanda was always obedient, active and showed a leadership instinct. She said Amupanda was quite the singer at church. “He could sing all the notes. He was always smart and could read very early, and would stand on a chair to read the scriptures.” Asked what his chores were as a young boy, Kuku Theopolina said Amupanda was always ready to assume a parenting role when she wasn’t around. “While I wasn’t around he would cook for the children, but he was best at herding cattle. He also collected firewood and pounded mahangu. His favourite meal is oshikwiila (traditional bread).” Thriving in the midst of struggle While raising Amupanda and his cousins, Kuku Theopolina said, there were often hard times as she wasn’t always able to provide for them, but she remembers how Amupanda never complained, and instead would do all he could not to cause her any stress. “He was a very neat child. So when there was no lotion or Vaseline, he would take cooking oil and put it on his body. But he would do it so perfectly no one would even notice. He always had a plan.” Amupanda also helped his grandmother earn some money. He attended Iipumpu Senior Secondary School and on weekends he was entrusted with the task of selling his grandmother’s needlework. “He would go and sell my needlework so he could bring money for me to buy things and also so he could take some money to school,” she said. Job the sportsman Kuku Theopolina said Amupanda always said he wanted to become a priest, until someone told him that priests couldn’t marry and have children. “He immediately decided that he didn’t want to be a priest, after hearing that he wouldn’t have a family,” she said with a smile. In high school, Amupanda played soccer and developed an interest in boxing. “He liked boxing, but I didn’t like it. I used to tell him this isn’t a good sport and told him to stop, but he was also good at soccer and always made the team at Iipumbu.” She wanted Amupanda to become a teacher. Asked whether she was excited when he went to university, she said she was happy but she had always known her grandchild would go to university because he was a smart boy. “When he came home after graduation he was wearing his gown and had medals. He had three medals and I was so happy. I was very proud,” she said. On the land issue We asked Job’s grandmother whether she followed the news and what she thought of the Affirmative Repositioning movement. She believes it’s a great initiative, as “people really need land”. “You find six people living in one shack; the people need land,” she said. Kuku Theopolina said she was proud to see her grandson, who came from a poor background, shaking President Geingob’s hand. She praised Geingob for sitting down with the young people and listening to them. All these achievements, however, are not what makes Kuku Theopolina most proud of Amupanda; it’s his efforts to improve the lives of those at his home village that bring joy to her heart. “He hired the building for the youth centre, helped the community to reconnect a tap that was cut off, helped set up a kindergarten for the kids and always speaks to the young people when he is here. He cares about his village,” she said with a smile. OMAALALA GORDON JOSEPH