On 1 April 1989, despite the negotiated agreement for Namibian political independence, Sam Nujoma ordered all 2,000 Swapo combatants to enter Namibia from Angola to form internal bases. This contradicted the Tripartite Accord of December 1988, which agreed on the cessation of hostilities and the confinement of all armed forces to base. The rash decision – reportedly instigated by Robert Mugabe – was all about Nujoma being able to pretend, with the upcoming Independence elections of November 1989 in mind, that Swapo had inside bases during the anti-colonial struggle. Tragically, the apartheid regime killed hundreds of the Swapo fighters, and the Independence process was almost derailed. And, unfortunately, Nujoma had never been held accountable for the unnecessary loss of so many lives due to that highly irresponsible command. But generally, this reflected his appalling and callous leadership. Notwithstanding the armed propaganda, Swapo did not have internal bases during more than two decades of struggle and was not even at Cuito Cuanavale itself or did not shoot one bullet during that battle. (See Piero Gleijeses – Visions of Freedom). Swapo propaganda has always maintained that the organisation liberated Namibia at Cuito Cuanavale, because there was nothing else to point out. Two early attempts in 1966 to set up internal bases were speedily thwarted. Overall, that organisation never fought a significant armed struggle or, for that matter, never made a serious effort at internal mobilisation against colonialism.
If anything, from 1966 to 1989, the focus of the Nujoma faction seemed to have been on eliminating opposition within Swapo. This ultimately led to the killing, torturing and raping of thousands of Namibians who were demanding organisational democracy. (See Oiva Angula – Swapo Captive). A proper investigation must still be done, and the remaining perpetrators prosecuted for war crimes. Swapo camps were set up in Zambia (Mboroma) and Angola (Lubango), which could be referred to as concentration camps, to the eternal disgrace of those ruling elites that allowed that. Many Swapo members were also imprisoned by the Tanzanian ruling class. Samson Ndeikwila (Agony of truth) presented lists of the Namibians who perished. The Nujoma faction called them spies, but not a shred of evidence has been provided up to today. Calls for a truth and reconciliation commission have been ignored. Is it possible that the Nujoma clique were the real undercover agents for the apartheid regime and the CIA? Maybe this clarifies Swapo’s sole and authentic status at the UN? Were they desperate to stay in the leadership due to their avarice and to prevent their duplicity from becoming widely known?
On 20 March 1966, Nujoma, who was Swapo president already, and Hifikepunye Pohamba (who became the second president of Namibia) flew back to Windhoek on a commercial flight, despite being in exile. They were allowed to quickly leave the country again, but Nujoma’s briefcase with vital information seemed to have stayed behind. Magnus Malan said it served no purpose to imprison them. Nevertheless, when 10 Swapo guerrillas entered Namibia a few days later, on their way to Rundu (north-eastern region), the radio stations had already announced their arrival. How did they know? The colonial regime was also able to swiftly arrest Swapo fighters at Omgulugwombashe in north-central Namibia in August that year. Unlike Nujoma and Pohamba, these fighters were imprisoned. By 1974, the Swapo leaders were meeting with a US imperialism that panicked after the Portuguese revolution. In their meeting with Henry Kissinger, he encouraged Swapo to “get rid of the radicals.” (See Hans Beukes – Long Road to Liberation).
Commemoration of the Battle of Cassinga. Photo: John Liebenberg
With regards to the Cassinga massacre on 4 May 1978, the attack by the apartheid regime might have been coordinated with the Nujoma faction. (See Keshii Nathanael – A Journey to Exile). The racist regime needed a morale booster after their defeat in 1976 at the hands of the Cuban army in Angola, while Nujoma had a problem with the Andreas Shipanga faction that demanded internal democratic elections (and democratic accountability for the massive anti-apartheid funding). And Shipanga was a serious challenger to Nujoma for the presidency of the organisation. About 300 Swapo prisoners – from the Shipanga group – were transported from Mboroma (Zambia) to Cassinga (Angola) three days before the attack. Consequently, around 800 unarmed Namibians were butchered by the apartheid regime. The ethnocentrists should also note that most Namibian activists killed at Cassinga (and Lubango) were Oshiwambo-speaking Namibians. The issue was not about ethnocentrism, but about internal democracy in Swapo and the deception of the Nujoma leadership.
Despite all the myths about how Swapo liberated the country, it is noteworthy that the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale is not an official holiday in Namibia. What the Nujoma faction had done was to instead declare 26 August as Heroes’ Day, as the day that the national liberation struggle apparently started in 1966. This date was chosen because Swapo fighters were arrested on that day at Omgulugwombashe, which is in the region that the Nujoma faction comes from. Nevertheless, this was all to claim that the Nujoma camp – one of four Swapo factions – was in the forefront of the struggle and that they were engaging in armed struggle. Of course, there was the real fighting incident months earlier on 23 March 1966 near Rundu. This is covered in the book “Never follow the wolf” by Helao Shityuwete (accused no. 7), a fighter involved in that battle who was eventually imprisoned on Robben Island for it. But those Swapo combatants came from a different faction, and the fighting happened in a Namibian region that did not fit the Nujoma myths. The leader of the Swapo guerrillas during the battle in the north-eastern region was Eliaser Tuhadeleni (accused no. 1), while the incident at Omgulugwombashe was spearheaded by John Nakudhu (accused no. 2), but all 37 Namibian fighters were put on trial together in June 1967 for high treason, with documents from Nujoma’s briefcase used as evidence against them. (Andimba Toivo ya Toivo was only accused no. 18, but read the court statement because he spoke English.)
Nonetheless, Heroes’ Day in Namibia should rather be declared on 12 January since the secondary phase of the liberation struggle in southern Africa – despite the claims of Swapo (and the ANC) – started on that day in 1904 already. The main leader, Jakob Marengo, defeated the German colonisers in major battles on 21 March 1905 (Narudas) – the greatest victory against colonialism in Namibian history – and 16 June 1905 (Narus). Jonker Afrikaner, descendant of the original (‘’brown’’) Afrikaners who established Windhoek around 1840 – but does not even have a statue in the city – could also be regarded as the founder of the Namibian state-in-the-making since he set up borders (more or less the same as today), trading systems, roads, etc. The original Afrikaners who fled in the 1890s to Riemvasmaak (in the Northern Cape of South Africa) from German colonialism (and changed their surname in the process), became the first guerrilla army of Marengo. However, there is a deafening silence among the Swapo elite about Marengo and Jonker because that early history of Namibia exposes Swapo revisionism since that organisation cannot point at any victory against colonialism. If anything, the Nujoma circle falsified the history of the liberation struggle to try and cover up their malice. A nation simply cannot have such an ignoble figure as the founder. Marengo, after being released from a Cape Town prison, was killed and buried outside Upington by the English colonisers who feared a southern African uprising, and is therefore more deserving of being called the founder of the Namibian nation.
So, in the end, it is such a pity that the Nujoma faction has not yet been held to account for the many war crimes that they committed against the Namibian people. Moreover, besides Swapo’s implementation of neoliberal capitalism that made socio-economic conditions worse (with Namibia currently suffering the highest unemployment rate in the world), a thorough investigation is also needed into the wealth of Nujoma: from the price-fixing agreement in the diamond sector between Nujoma and Maurice Tempelsman (See Janine Roberts – Glitter and Greed), the fishing industry deal with the Spanish, the disappearance of the UN funds for refugees, etc. Maybe the Nujoma fortune could be used as reparations for the thousands of Namibian families who endured so much due to Swapo’s atrocities?
Shaun Whittaker and Harry Boesak are members of the Marxist Group of Namibia.
