Venaani begs the public to assist Shilongo

Opposition leader, McHenry Venaani, has urged Namibians, including national leaders and the business sector, to show sympathy for those who experience tragedies like Sam Shilongo, who recently lost his sight following a shooting incident in South Africa.

Speaking from Shilongo’s bedside at the Windhoek Central Hospital on Thursday, Venaani called for assistance to aid in his recovery.

Shilongo was left blind after he was shot through the eyes during a robbery in Johannesburg, South Africa.

During the incident, a bullet pierced through his left eye and exited his right eye, leaving him blind.

Venaani said Shilongo has lost his source of livelihood as a bus operator between Namibia and South Africa.

“As a country and as citizens, we must be united in our grief when we are losing good Namibians through various calamities that they are facing. This man is alive, luckily. He just lost his sight, but he is still alive.

The reason that I am here is that I am calling upon good samaritans, upon good citizens—never mind the divides, politics, the church, the tribe—he is a Namibian who is in trouble. And as leaders of this country, we must feel the pain he is enduring. And we are pleading to all of you – let’s try to raise money so that we can give him something as a caring nation,” Venaani pleaded.

The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president, pledged N.dollars 5000 on behalf of the party toward Shilongo’s medical care and upkeep.

Shilongo, who was in tears, said that he had accepted his fate and will now focus on the long journey to recovery. “I just have to fight and recover,” he said. His father, Amadhila Shilongo, was equally distraught and described his son as the backbone and breadwinner of the family.

A doctor who attended to Shilongo said that he was lucky that the bullet did not touch other vital organs and that he went through a successful surgery, “as you can see, we just removed his badges.”

Meanwhile, Acting executive director of the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation Ambassador Sabine Böhlke-Möller earlier this week called for calm following the shooting incident.

Böhlke-Möller in a statement said the ministry and the Namibian High Commission in Pretoria, along with the South African authorities, are in the process of establishing the facts around this tragic incident and for the culprits to be brought to justice.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency