Agony of Truth (extended edition)
Autobiography of Samson Ndeikwila
By Samson Ndeikwila
ISBN 9789994576630
Kuiseb Publishers, 2019
Many books have been written about Namibia, yet few are truthful and frank accounts of the long and meandering walk towards independence. Without fear or favour, Samson Ndeikwila’s book narrates the journey of those who fought for Namibia’s liberation – of those in exile as well as of those often unsung men and women who fought for independence at home. Ndeikwila is among the rare people left among us who have experienced or gained insight into what happened among Namibians in exile in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Angola and other countries. He thus has the bigger picture of developments between the early 1960s and the late 1980s.
Based on his personal experiences and meticulously researched information on names, places and events, Ndeikwila’s book allows us to share in the dreams, agonies and hopes of hundreds of Namibians before and after 1990. Many dreams were shattered when paranoia took over in the high echelons of the liberation movement to the point that nobody was really safe anymore. But also many dreams have remained vivid until today. Namibians and Africans need to tell their stories while they are alive. They need to tell about their experiences as they remember them, so that others who were not privy to these experiences can get closer to the truth. By learning about the greatness of those who went before us we learn to become better human beings, and by learning about their mistakes we learn, as much as we can, not to repeat them.
Joseph Diescho, March 2014
