Swapo Party Central Committee member Laurencia Stephanus remembers the Founding President, Dr. Sam Nujoma, as instrumental in forming the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) in the 1970s.

The NUNW became the mouthpiece for workers' rights during the Apartheid era.

Stephanus revealed this during a memorial service held in Keetmanshoop and organised by the Swapo Party in the ||Kharas Region in honour of Namibia's first democratically elected president.

According to Stephanus, SWAPO was banned from conducting public gatherings and campaigns, so it had to rely on secret meetings at venues such as churches, schools, sports gatherings, funerals, weddings, and other social activities to avoid detection by authorities.

The formation of NUNW was crucial, as it provided the best disguise for sharing messages and information about SWAPO activities inside and outside the country.

"Although several attempts to form trade unions inside the country were made before, the colonial regime constantly suppressed them from time to time. But the late Dr. Nujoma advanced the formation of a trade union because he believed that a strong and formidable working class among the grassroots would be able to break the yoke of colonial oppression. He believed that the workers' rights and struggle were at the same time a struggle for a new demarcating government as well as an economic system in our country."

Mourners who gathered at the Swapo Party Regional Headquarters at Keetmanshoop remembered the late Nujoma as a beacon of hope and a unifier whose gallant leadership inspired the next generation of Namibian leaders.