Constitution day celebrated

Mariselle Stofberg
Senia Mwoonde

Following the elections in 1986 under the supervision of the U.N. 72 candidates from different political parties where elected to form the Constituent Assembly. They were tasked with drawing up the Namibian Constitution and 21 of these members drafted the Namibian Constitution. On February 9, 1990, the Namibian Constitution was adopted which was a month prior to Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa.

Learners from different schools in Swakopmund gathered at Coastal High School on Friday 14, 2020 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Namibian Constitution.

About four prominent speakers were present at the celebration. Among them was the special advisor to the Erongo region governor, Adelheid Kandjala, the Deputy Mayor of Swakopmund, Assertha Marsh, and one of the members of the first Constituent Assembly who drafted the Namibian Constitution, Anton von Wietersheim, and the Ombudsman, John Walters.

The celebration was themed: The Namibian Constitution 30 years on - Are we where we want to be?

When this question was posed by the director of ceremonies, Hendrina Apollos, one could not help but feel the confusion in the atmosphere. It’s not difficult to not understand why some of the learners where confused because they weren't even born when the Constitution was drafted. Regardless, the celebration was interesting and informative.

The office of the ombudsman in collaboration with other sponsors, made sure that each learner received a copy of the Namibian Constitution. The Ombudsman gave the learners a lesson on some basic rights and emphasized on the fact that people do not take into consideration that with rights comes responsibilities.

The Swakopmund Secondary School choir was also present to keep the learners entertained. Prizes were also won for poems about the Namibian Constitution which were submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman prior to the celebration for evaluation. Two out of the six winners were from Westside High and are Tunohange Kakuayi and Tanya Mubonda. Both of them said that they did not expect to win and were ecstatic when they heard their names called out. Tunohange won a mobile phone and a TN starter pack while Tanya received a voucher worth N$500 from MTC.

The celebration ended with a powerful and encouraging speech from ombudsman John Walters as well as a song from the Swakopmund Secondary School choir in collaboration with learners from Coastal High School.