Reverend Hendrik H. Witbooi (7 January 1934 in Gibeon

Gibeon (Namibia)

Gibeon is a village and a constituency in the Hardap Region region of Namibia. In the 2009 presidential election, 3669 people voted in the Gibeon constituency. The place normally receives an annual average rainfall of , although in the 2010/2011 rainy season were measured.-Buildings and...

 - 13 October 2009 in Windhoek

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...

) was a Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

n politician and traditional chieftain. A member of SWAPO from 1976 until his death, Witbooi brought with him several clans of Namaqua

Namaqua

Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama now speak Afrikaans. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group,...

 into the liberation organization. Imprisoned numerous times during the Namibian War of Independence

Namibian War of Independence

See also South African Border War.The Namibian War of Independence, also known as the South African Border War, which lasted from 1966 to 1988, was a guerrilla war, which the nationalist South-West Africa People's Organization and others, fought against the apartheid government in South...

, Witbooi was first elected as Vice-President of SWAPO in 1984 and was re-elected for the last time in 1997. A member of the Constituent Assembly

Members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia

Below is a list of members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which became the National Assembly of Namibia upon independence in March 1990. Individual members were selected by political parties voted for in the 1989 election, the first multi-racial, universal franchise elections in Namibian...

 in 1989-90, Witbooi served in the National Assembly until his 2004 retirement, including a stint (1990-1995) as Minister of Labour and Manpower Development. In October 2009, it was reported that Witbooi was facing major medical problems and had slipped into a coma at the Roman Catholic Hospital

Roman Catholic Hospital

The Roman Catholic Hospital is a private hospital in Windhoek, Namibia run by the Roman Catholic Church. Founded in 1907 by the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing, the Roman Catholic Hospital had 87 beds in 2007....

 in Windhoek

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...

. On 13 October, Witbooi died at the Roman Catholic Hospital due to cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

Personal

Witbooi was the great-grandson of Hendrik Witbooi

Hendrik Witbooi

Hendrik Witbooi may refer to:* Hendrik Witbooi * Hendrik Samuel Witbooi * Hendrik Witbooi , deputy prime minister of Namibia...

, the early resistance leader who led his chiefly followers against European colonization.