Staff Reporter
THE Cassinga Memorial Park in Angola is substantially complete and ready for inauguration, with Namibia and Angola agreeing to begin preparations for the ceremony while addressing the remaining construction works and arrangements for the park’s long-term management.
The development follows a meeting of the Angola-Namibia Joint High-Level Committee on the Cassinga Memorial Park held in Lubango, Angola, on Wednesday, chaired by Angola’s Minister of National Defence, Former Combatants and Veterans of the Homeland, General (Rtd) Lúcio Gonçalves Amaral, and co-chaired by Namibia’s Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs, Frans Kapofi.
Kapofi said an inspection of the memorial park found that construction was about 99 percent complete, nine years after the two governments began the project in 2017.
Photos: MODVA Namibia
He said the remaining one percent of work should be completed as soon as possible, particularly the display of the engraved names of victims of the Cassinga massacre.
Other outstanding matters include finding a permanent solution to the fading and peeling of the national coats of arms, ensuring an adequate water supply and implementing a fire prevention plan due to the proximity of trees and vegetation to the memorial park.
Kapofi said the technical teams had committed to addressing the outstanding matters ahead of the inauguration.
“The completion phase of the park is substantially completed, and as it stands the park is ready for inauguration by their Excellencies the Heads of State of our two countries,” Kapofi said in his closing remarks.
He said Namibia’s President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, had indicated her readiness to co-inaugurate the memorial park and expressed confidence that an invitation would soon be extended by Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.
Kapofi said the memorial park project was launched in 2017 to honour those who died in the Cassinga massacre and preserve the shared liberation history of Namibia and Angola.
He said the project had faced several challenges, including interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but had now reached the point where preparations for the inauguration could begin.
Kapofi also stressed the need for interim arrangements for the preservation and management of the memorial park immediately after its inauguration.
He warned that further delays could result in deterioration of the completed facilities and additional costs for both governments.
Angola’s General Amaral reaffirmed his government’s commitment to continued cooperation with Namibia towards the full implementation of the agreement between the two countries on the construction of the Cassinga Memorial.
Amaral said the outcomes of the meeting would provide a basis for amendments to the agreement between the two governments to ensure the preservation and significance of the memorial for both countries.
The meeting also included a minute of silence in honour of the victims of the Cassinga massacre and those who died during the liberation struggles of Namibia and Angola.
Amaral commended the technical committees from both countries for their work during the inspection and preparation of the documentation considered by the joint committee.
The Cassinga Memorial Park is intended to preserve the shared history of the two countries and commemorate the victims of the 4 May 1978 attack on Cassinga.
