Shortly after Namibia achieved independence, a group of influential political and traditional leaders in the Kavango region petitioned the government and the newly formed Ministry of Defence to transfer a specific member of the 261 Battalion back “home.”
The soldier was posted in Grootfontein, but community leaders, led by the late Uukwangali king, Hompa Sitentu Mpasi, wanted him stationed at a base in Kavango.
The soldier was Neulikufa Naeman Kalomoh, better known by his combat moniker: Commander ‘Akushinda’.
He was not born in Kavango, nor did he grow up there. His sole connection to the region was the four years between 1981 and 1984 spent fighting South African forces during Namibia’s liberation struggle.
During that period, Akushinda led People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan) operations across the region until he was cornered by South African security forces, shot nine times, captured, and tortured.
By then, the legend of Commander Akushinda had become so deeply woven into local folklore that the community embraced him as one of their own. Decades after retiring, Kalomoh remains domiciled in Rundu, a town he still calls home.
Infiltrating the Kavango Front
In 1981, the Plan Military Council resolved to infiltrate the Kavango region. At the time, Plan lacked an operational presence or established local networks in the area, making it difficult to gain a foothold or execute guerrilla strikes.
The military leadership selected a battle-tested commander capable of winning local support. Akushinda was then attached to Plan’s elite special forces unit, Typhoon, serving as chief of staff under Ruben ‘Danger’ Ashipala.
By that point, Akushinda was already a revered figure within Plan structures.
He joined Plan in 1974 as a 19-year-old. Before seeing direct combat, he earned the trust of senior leadership, serving as a bodyguard and courier for figures such as Wilbardt “Nakada” Tashiya and Matias ‘Mbulunganga’ Ndakolo. He worked closely with commanders including Martin Shalli, Andrew Intamba, Elias Haulyondjaba, and Dimo Hamaambo.
Akushinda was even assigned to Sam Nujoma’s security detail during a visit by the SWAPO president alongside central committee members Hendrik Witbooi and Daniel Tjongarero.
Uncovering the UNITA Shift
During this period, Akushinda helped uncover evidence that the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) had switched allegiances to align with South African forces against Plan.
While on a mission with Tashiya and Ndakolo to a shared base near Kuito in Angola’s Bié Province, Akushinda noticed white soldiers at a local eatery wearing American-supplied uniforms identical to UNITA’s and yet they were speaking Afrikaans.
“That was a big red flag, and I reported to the commanders that it seems UNITA was working with the Boers,” Kalomoh recalled.
Plan Chief of Operations Martin Shalli was tasked with investigating the intelligence. Tensions escalated after Plan fighters sabotaged military vehicles belonging to the emerging UNITA, South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF) coalition, prompting Plan commanders to order an immediate evacuation.
From Training to the Front Lines
Akushinda saw his first battle in 1976. By his third engagement—following an assault at Ingidi, Angola, where he stayed behind under heavy fire to ensure wounded fighters were safely evacuated, he was promoted to section commander by Epaphras ‘Denga’ Ndaitwah, who is currently Namibia’s first Gentleman..
He was later dispatched to the Soviet Union for advanced military schooling.
Upon returning, he served for two years as an instructor at the Tobias Hainyeko Training Centre in Lubango, Angola. In 1978, he was posted to the Northern Front under Commander Fillipus Amutenya ‘Zulu’ Nandenga.
Appointed deputy regional commissar, Akushinda turned down the administrative role, requesting instead to command frontline combat units.
Granted a unit of 100 men whom he retrained, Akushinda launched a series of guerrilla strikes against South African forces across north-central Namibia, sweeping from the Angolan border through Eenhana and Endola toward Ondangwa and Ongwediva.
Following further military training in Ukraine in 1979, he returned in 1980 to join Plan’s elite unit—variously designated over time as the Special Group, Special Forces, Volcano, and finally Typhoon. He led high-profile assaults, including an attack on the Ongwediva military base and daylight ambushes on South African military personnel along the Ondangwa, Oshakati highway.
The Kavango Campaign and the 1984 Ambush
When the Military Council deployed Akushinda to Kavango in 1981, his orders were clear: conduct guerrilla operations while mobilizing the local population to support Swapo.
Initial mobilization proved difficult due to local skepticism and unfamiliar terrain. Akushinda shifted tactics to high-impact direct actions, launching an assault on the Onepara base that killed 42 South African soldiers. He used the operation to demonstrate to locals that Plan targeted military installations rather than civilians. Subsequent attacks targeted bases at Onankudu, Musese, Mpumu, Mashare, Taratara, and Mile 30.
During this campaign, Akushinda built a strategic alliance with Hompa Sitentu Mpasi, who began assisting PLAN with local intelligence. An effective underground network was formed, including key figures such as Rudolf Ngondo, Miranda, Severinus Siteketa, Andreas Kudumo, Gospel Sikerete, and Siyonguti Haingura—a SWATF soldier who secretly supplied Plan with base layouts and troop movements.
The campaign came to a bloody end on 12 October 1984.
After detecting suspicious enemy reconnaissance aircraft, Akushinda’s unit used a British-made Racal radio to communicate with bases in Angola. He believes South African forces triangulated their signal.
At approximately 7 that morning four South African attack helicopters opened fire on the unit’s position. The battle raged for hours. Plan fighters shot down one helicopter, while Akushinda’s bodyguard, David ‘Mfitu’ Matheus, destroyed two Casspir armored vehicles using an SKS rocket launcher.
By 2 that afternoon, the unit ran out of ammunition. Facing imminent capture, Akushinda attempted to turn his sidearm on himself, but was struck by incoming fire. Shot nine times in the arms, legs, and face, he was taken alive by South African forces.
Captivity, Escape, and Legacy
Akushinda was held and tortured for two years at Osire and Oshakati as interrogators sought to break his intelligence network in Kavango. He refused to reveal his collaborators.
By 1986, while held at Oshakati, his captors periodically forced him to perform manual labor at local establishments under guard. After learning he was scheduled for execution, Akushinda seized an opportunity during a detail at a SWATF-owned establishment in Oshakati, escaped his guards, and traveled on foot overnight until crossing the border into Angola.
He received a hero’s welcome from Swapo senior political and military leadership.
On 27 July 2024, nearly 40 years after their capture, Akushinda and his former bodyguard, Mfitu, returned together to the site of the 1984 battle in Kavango, donning their Plan regalia as part of Swapo’s campaign mobilisation.
