He never surrenders. He never gets annoyed. He believes in teamwork. He is decisive. He is agile. He is the health minister. He is Dr Kalumbi Shangula.

For many Namibians, Shangula has been a source of inspiration, assurance and hope for a better tomorrow during a time of despair as the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc, destroying both lives and livelihoods.

For others, Shangula is a medical doctor, ex-combatant, husband, father and sports enthusiast.

Some fondly call him ‘Dr Kalux’ or ‘Nona’.

He is clearly more than a three-course meal from which each Namibian has a bite, depending on one’s vantage point.

At the time of writing, the deadly virus which has engulfed the globe had killed 3 067 people in Namibia. A further 279 died from COVID-19 related complications, among them, outstanding Namibians.

As Namibia commemorates Heroes Day on 26 August, Nampa sat down with Shangula to hear from the horse’s mouth who Dr Kalumbi Shangula is.

We also travel on a short journey during which the medical doctor and politician give an insight on the fundamental pillars upon which his life is founded and the ethos he lives by.

DR SHANGULA

Shangula is the third-eldest child and has seven other siblings. He hails from the Omusati Region in northern Namibia.

It is in Omusati where he attended primary school before heading to Ongwediva in Oshana, where he would matriculate.

To cut a long story short around Shangula’s life in the academic world, he now holds a medical degree from a Moscow university and another from Harvard University, where he banked a degree in public health.

Added to this endless list is a Master of Medicine centred on public health and infectious diseases from the University of London, he tells Nampa.

BLOOD RIVERS

During the culminating stages of May 1974, Shangula crossed the border that separates Namibia and Angola to participate in the liberation struggle under the Peoples’ Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), Swapo’s military wing.

Shangula vividly recalls the journey as though it was yesterday.

“From the end of May until 11 July, I was somewhere in Angola. We were four. But it was a very hard journey with a lot of difficulties, getting arrested and so forth. It’s a chapter on its own,” he reminisces.

Days later, he would cross over into Zambia, before jetting off to the Soviet Union (present-day Russia) to receive military training.

While serving on the battlefront, Shangula was also overseeing a military hospital that had over 300 beds.

But the medical field, he says, was never his area of choice at the genesis of what would become a distinguished career.

“When I was in high school I didn’t know what I wanted to become, but I knew what I did not want to become. It was my mathematics teacher who encouraged me to choose a medical career,” he recalls.

He was stunned: “It was unheard of because I had never seen a black doctor during that time. And there was nobody that I could aspire to or a role model in that field. It was farfetched.”

Liberation history aside, Shangula returned home at independence and joined the health ministry as a medical doctor in Oshakati and soon became a medical superintendent before becoming health director for the then North-West regions [Omusati, Oshikoto, Oshana and Ohangwena].

He would later serve as permanent secretary in the health and later environment ministries before going into retirement.

Soon after retirement, Shangula went into private practice before joining the University of Namibia’s Medical School after which he was appointed as health minister, a portfolio he holds to this day.

TEAMWORK

Fast forward to March 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was recorded in Namibia. Shangula says Namibia’s previous experience of handling outbreaks such as polio, cholera and meningitis came in handy.

“When we had a polio outbreak in Namibia I was the permanent secretary in the ministry [of health] and I headed the team of public health experts to control poliomyelitis,” he says.

Through a robust vaccination drive, he recalls, the health officials vaccinated over 2.2 million Namibians over a relatively short period.

“I led a formidable team that worked together with commitment and understanding and we were able to manage that outbreak. It is proven that teamwork really helps,” Shangula notes.

As such, when COVID-19 hit the local shores, Namibia already had a blueprint for handling infectious diseases.

“One thing we learned which is critically important is that when you are dealing with an outbreak, the impact on the public is quite immense. The first thing is to manage the public,” he says.

He explains: “Information dissemination is critical. You inform the public what the danger is, what it can do to a person, how you can get it and this is how you can prevent yourself from getting it.”

When handling an outbreak, he says, “You must build up a team which has shared values and the same understanding and which strives to achieve the same objectives. There must be cohesion among the group.”

On the downside, the biggest challenge government faces in the handling of COVID-19 is public misinformation and disinformation, particularly around the vaccines.

“Maybe during that time [polio epidemic] social media was not developed so the information was mainly coming from reliable sources and the public was prepared to internalise that message and behave accordingly,” he added.

Shangula went on: “The challenge we have right now with COVID-19 is really disinformation and misinformation, especially the counter-actions against what the government is doing and this is more pronounced in the case of vaccination campaigns.”

COVID-19 HITS CLOSE TO HOME

Initially when Namibia started recording COVID-19 deaths, when announcing deaths, Shangula and his deputy, Utjiua Miunjangue would refer to the deceased based on their case numbers.

But soon, the narrative changed as the case numbers now had familiar faces attached to them.

While he puts on a brave face when addressing daily media briefings on COVID-19, deep down, Shangula feels the pain as he too has lost loved ones, comrades, friends and acquaintances to the lethal virus.

“We are all human beings. We are all touched by the situation,” he says.

“During my clinical practice, if I lose a patient, I would always reflect and say ‘Is there anything I could have done to save this patient? Did I miss out on something?’ It is always depressing to experience such phenomena.”

Some days, he says, he goes home depressed.

“There were times when in one day we announced that 150 people had died. It’s depressing. But at the same time, there is one word which should never be in your vocabulary, which is surrender. Never surrender,” he stresses.

“Kakuna oshikuktu iha shilu [There is no difficulty which will never come to an end],” he reiterated in his vernacular, Oshiwambo.

However, there is a balance in which Shangula and other medical doctors find solace.

“When you see a patient coming in on the verge of death and then after that, the person is moving and is going out healthy, recovered, that is your best reward. It encourages you throughout the good and the bad.”

Asked how he managed to safeguard his own personal mental health during the pandemic, he says: “I relate to my military training that if you are in a situation of war, keep collected, and keep your calm. Otherwise, you will not take the correct decisions. Try not to have emotions interfering with your judgment.”

In addition, Shangula notes, he has been able to develop what he termed internal shock absorbers.

UNSUNG HEROES

Shangula could not go without taking his hat off to healthcare workers who selflessly put their lives on the line every day to save that of others, sometimes at the expense of their own.

“Some health workers get infected [with COVID-19], some of them have died but they’ve remained the heroes because up to now, nobody has absconded from their duty station. It is a difficult situation but they have never given up,” he states.

Asked who a hero is in his dictionary and if he has any, he declined to be drawn into that debate.

“I don’t want to define who a hero is. I will leave that to others,” he says while chuckling.

When put to him what he makes of those Namibians who perceive him as a hero, the ever-composed Shangula says: “I don’t care what people think about me. I don’t get a big head if they think I am a hero. All I know is I have been assigned to this role and will do it to the best of my abilities.”

Source: Namibia Press Agency