The Swapo Party in Zambezi Region commemorated the life of the late Tobias Hainyeko at Namwi Island.

The commemoration, which took place on the day he was shot and killed in 1967, is said to be the first since Namibia's independence of the former PLAN commander.

Lawrence Sampofu, Governor of Zambezi said that even though efforts to locate Hainyeko's remains or burial site were never fruitful, it was important for his name to never be forgotten, and to be remembered as one of Namibia's fallen heroes.

"When we came from exile, I was given the task to identify where Hainyeko was buried, and also where Brendan Simbwaye was buried. These were very difficult tasks so we had to interview those who were policemen in the South African regime, none of them gave us the information they were all saying it was the whites who were handling those cases, both for Tobias Hainyeko and for Brendan Kangongolo Simbwaye."

Sampofu says, eventually information was made available on where Hainyeko was killed, hence the commemoration held on the site on Thursday.

The governor in addition applauded Namibians for having kept the peace since independence and said that young people especially should work hard towards economic freedom.