[1] David Sheehama was born in July 1934, the second child of Mwaehamange Josef Nehunga and Mhingana Wilhelmina Shiweva in Oshihenye shAnyanya, a village less than a kilometer South of Ombalantu's northern town Outapi in Omusati Region.
[2] After securing employment as a household aide with a Van Zyl family in Windhoek,[1] Sheehama swiftly garnered their confidence.
[citation needed] Colonial Ovamboland saw trade become the locals' lifeline to the modern economy, offering an escape from the dependency of short-term labor contracts.
He dedicated himself fully to his tailoring and clothing sales business around 1956, setting up a mobile stall selling various affordable goods after church services and weddings.
Initially driving himself, Sheehama later recruited local youth as drivers, including Oswin Mukulu, who currently is the Chief of Ombalantu Traditional Authority.
With the profits of his busy supermarkets, Sheehama would fund SWAPO activities[4] and holistically supported the PLAN combatants with clothing, food and hospitality in his own home.
After several failed attempts to lure him, in the early morning hours of 14 March 1980, while sleeping next to his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter, he was assassinated (supposedly) by the Koevoet.
[5] He was shot several times with an AK - 47 automatic rifle, his wife and unborn child were left wounded[6] but he was pronounced dead on the spot.