10,000 crowd capital for chief’s funeral

Press, 11 April 1978, Page 9

10,000 crowd capital for chief’s funeral

NZPA-Reuter Okahandja (Namibia). Weeping women of the • Hereto tribe clad in flowing red robes gathered to mourn their murdered chief, Clemens Kapuuo when he was buried in Okahandja on Sunday. More than 10,000 people crowded into the ancient Herero capital to pay tribute to the chief, one of Namibia’s leading political figures. The police and troops were out in force in case of violence. Feelings have been running high since Chief Kapuuo, tipped as a future President of an independent Namibia (also known as South-West Africa), was killed by gunmen on March 27.

As the funeral procession set out on Saturday from Windhoek’s Katutura black township, 65km south of (Okahandja, five people were (killed and 10 wounded in (shooting. ' The police said that the shooting broke out after the cortege was stoned as it passed a hostel for workers of the Ovambo tribe.

Ovambos, the biggest tribe in Namibia, provide much of the support for the SouthWest Africa People’s Organisation nationalist movement which is bitterly opposed to the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, Chief Kapuuo’s political party

Authorities have blamed S.W.A.F.O. for the murder, though the movement has disclaimed responsibility.

The police reported that all was quiet in Okahandja during the funeral apart from a fight between one man and mourners after an argument. The man was slightly hurt and was taken to hospital. Katutura, scene of bloody clashes between Hereros and Ovambos before Chief Kapuuo was killed, was also reported calm.