Thread: SWAPO – How it all started - more than 50 years ago.

Officially Monday, 19 April 2010 was the 50th anniversary of SWAPO – the liberation movement that said “enough is enough” and started a struggle against the South African Apartheid regime that ended in success on the 21st of March 1990 when our country Namibia became totally independent.

The seeds of that were, however, sown years before the official establishment of SWAPO on 19 April 1960.

For the first steps in this regard we have, in fact, to go back to 1957 when, on the initiative of the Herman Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo about 230 Namibian migrant labourers and about 30 Namibian students came together to form the Ovamboland People's Congress*(OPC) in Cape Town on the 2nd of August of that year (In formal terms the OPC was never constituted).

Among the founding members are Simon "Mzee" Kaukungua, Eliazer Tuhadeleni (Kaxumba kaNdola), Peter Hilinganye Mweshihange, Solomon Mifima, Maxton Joseph Mutongulume, Jariretundu Kozonguizi, Emil Appolus, Andreas Shipanga, Ottiliè Schimming and Kenneth Abrahams.

In 1958 Ya Toivo succeeds in sending a petition protesting against the migrant labour system and South African occupation of Namibia inside a copy of Treasure Island to the United Nations, with the assistance of Mburumba Kerina and Michael Scott. This caused him to be deported from South Africa when the South Africans traced the tape to its source. He arrived in Keetmanshoop and Windhoek and later to Ovamboland, where he is placed under house arrest in his home village Oniipa. On the way from Cape Town to Keetmanshoop, Toivo was accompanied by Jariretundu Kozonguizi and here they entered into discussions with a newly formed organisation, the Society for the Advancement of the African People in South West Africa (SAAPSWA). They tried to persuade the SAAPSWA leader Philip Musirika to launch a new party , the Namaland People’s Congress, but nothing came of it.

Ya Toivo, although a member of the Anglican Church, stays in constant, close contact with Leonard Auala from ELOK. Because of the organisation's deep roots in the Ovambo-speaking population, ELOK subsequently gives its support to this national liberation movement. Members and supporters of SWAPO are also members of the congregation. The people, church and national liberation movement coincide.

In this year, too, the OPC was renamed the Ovamboland Peoples' Organisation (OPO) and Ben Amathila became a member.

Later that same year, Hosea Kutako and the leader of the Witbooi Nama, Hendrik Samuel Witbooi and his nephew (son of Markus Witbooi) Hendrik Witbooi again petition the United Nations. Consequently the Trusteeship Committee of the UN rejects a plan by the UN Good Offices Committee to divide SWA and to incorporate the southern portion of the territory into SA.

The UN General Assembly also extended the mandate of the United Nations Permanent Committee on SWA for a further year.

!959 is the year when the formation of real opposition to the occupation of Namibia received more impetus. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma joined the OPO after entering active politics as a leading member of the Mandume Movement (around 1954) and after regular contacts with Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo, although he only meets Toivo much later (1984). He established support for OPO in centres such as Walvis Bay and Otjiwarongo. With Jacob Kuhangua he lead the first Windhoek branch of OPO in the "Old Location" and becomes OPO President later that year.

Louis Nelengani is appointed OPO Vice-President and Jacob Kuhangua Secretary-General of the Party.

Simon "Mzee" Kaukungua becomes OPO organiser in Ohalushu. Later he becomes one of the first SWA petitioners to the UN. These petitions, translated into English by Theophilus Hamutumbangela, are sent to the UN via Michael Scott or Toivo Ya Toivo. At the same time,the Herero Chiefs’ Council send Hans Beukes and Jariretundu Kozonguizi to the UN as representatives of a future independent Namibia.

Immanuel Gottlieb Nathaniel "Maxuilili" joins the OPO, while Gertrud "Rikumbi" Rikumbirua Kandanga becomes Women’s League Secretary of the OPO Walvis Bay branch.

John Ya Otto enters the political arena after being asked by Sam Nujoma to act as an interpreter for meetings with Baster leaders in Rehoboth.

To ensure that the news about events inside and outside Namibia is disseminated and discussed, members of SWAPA (and other political organisations) create*The South West News, a newspaper in English, Afrikaans, Otjiherero and Oshivambo (one article even appeared in German) which promoted "black" nationalism in Namibia (first edition appeared on 05.03.1960). The publisher is the "black" African Publishing Company and the first editors were Emil Appolus and Zedekia Ngavirue, who later played a prominent role in the South West African National Union (SWANU).

The paper was supported by liberal "whites" like Karl Friedrich Lempp from the*Allgemeine Zeitung (AZ), Daan Minnaar from the*The Windhoek Advertiser*and Dan Tregoning from Otjiwarongo. Only nine editions (last edition: 03.09.1960) were printed. The only "black" publishing house in Namibia, the African Publishing Company (founded on 28.10.1959) closed down in 1961 because it could not be sustained financially and , by that time, most of its editors were already in exile.

In August 1959, Sam Nujoma opened an OPO Branch Office at Tsumeb and SWANU is unofficially founded. The first elections for the executive office of the party led to a power struggle for positions. Clemence Kapuuo and Levy Nganjone represent the "traditionalist" wing. SWANU is unofficially founded. The first elections for the executive office of the party lead to a power struggle for positions. Clemence Kapuuo and Levy Nganjone represent the "traditionalist" wing. Katuutire Kaura joined SWANU shortly afterwards.

OPO joins SWANU (but continues to operate as an independent party). An alliance of the OPO, SWANU and the traditional headmen and chieftains of the Ovaherero, Nama and Damara organised a mass campaign against a resettlement programme that envisages destroying the "Old Location" (30 000 inhabitants) west of Windhoek’s town centre, and building the townships of Katutura (Otjiherero: "the place where people do not live") and Khomasdal, well away from the so-called “white” suburbs of the city.

Some external leaders, such as Kozonguizi and Kerina wrote letters to local political leaders - Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo, Sam Nujoma, John Muundjua, Barney Mbuha and Clemence Kapuuo - in which they provided political advice and expressed hope for self-determination under the auspices of the UN.

In September, SWANU is officially launched at a public meeting in Windhoek with the backing of the Herero Chiefs’ Council under Hosea Kutako. The*Council*and Sam Nujoma support Jariretundu Kozonguizi as president of SWANU (Kozonguizi remains president until 1966). Vice President is Uatja Kaukuetu. Further members of the executive office are: Sam Nujoma, Louis Nelengani and Emil Appolus (OPO), Uaseta Mbuha and John Muundjua (SWAPA), Isascar Kambatuku and Aaron Kapere (Herero Chiefs’ Council) and Augus Gariseb (Damara representative).

During a meeting convened by the Advisory Board and attended by the Superintendent of the "Old Location", De Wet, the residents reject their removal to Katutura. A follow-up meeting has the same result. Meanwhile, through the efforts of OPO President Sam Nujoma and SWANU Vice President Uatja Kaukuetu, 200 "black" women demonstrate in front of the SWA Administrator’s residence.

Protests came to a head in December 1959. Following an effective boycott of municipal services by the Location residents, the police opened fire on the protesters, killing 11 and injuring 44 others. 3000-4000 residents also fled the area and refused to return, fearing police reprisals.

Amongst the dead is the "coloured" leader, Willem Cloete, representative on the Native Advisory Board. The only woman killed is Anna Mungunda. Some of the wounded are brought into the "Non-White" Hospital in Windhoek and Sister Meekulu Putuse Appolus assists the wounded.

The*Old Location Massacre, as it came to be known, became a rallying cry for Namibian independence.

Prominent community leaders such as Sam Nujoma, Moses Makue ||Garoëb, Uatja Kaukuetu, Nathan Mbaeva, Clemence Kapuuo, David Meroro, John Ya Otto and Emil Appolus witness the events and all are forced into exile.

Uatja Kaukuetu and Charles Kauraisa flee to Sweden; Tunguru Huaraka escapes to Ghana; Vita Kaukuetu flees to East Africa and Ambrose Kandjii to North Africa. Other SWANU members who are forced into exile are: Zedekia Ngavirue, Daniel Munamava, Moses Katjiuongua and Clement Veii. Others are sent by Hosea Kutako to Botswana, this being organised jointly by SWANU and the Herero Chiefs’ Council. Kutako sends them to be trained as freedom fighters.

Inspired by the 1959 Windhoek uprising, student unrest erupts at the Augustineum Teachers’ Training College at Okahandja. Hidipo Hamutenya takes part. Having to flee the country, he goes to Dar-Es-Salaam.

Sam Nujoma travels from Tanganyika to Khartoum in Sudan and from there to Accra in Ghana, where he meets Jariretundu Kozonguizi and Michael Scott. In Accra he also meets African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumbago, Josef Kasavubu and Frantz Fanon, representing the Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL). From there Nujoma travels to Liberia, which is presenting the SWA case to the ICJ. With Kwame Nkrumah's assistance he travels with Kozonguizi via Ghana to the USA.*

After breaking away from SWANU, the OPO reconstitutes itself as the South West Africa People’s Organisation ( SWAPO) in New York on April 19, 1960 with Nujoma as President.

SWAPO becomes a national liberation movement. Hosea Kutako and the Herero Chiefs’ Council welcome this development (The link between SWAPO and the Chiefs’ Council remains until 1963.

The break between the two organisations can be related to SWAPO’s discovery of far more powerful allies abroad). The major difference between SWAPO and SWANU is that SWAPO relies chiefly on petitioning the UN, while SWANU argues that the people of the territory should organise themselves to realise their socio-political aspirations (with support of the People's Republic of China). The difference between SWAPO and SWANU is related more to political style than to policy.

The OPO’s reconstitution as SWAPO is triggered by national leaders such as Sam Nujoma, Mburumba Kerina, Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo, Jacob Kuhangua, Solomon Mifima, Paul Helmuth, Andreas Shipanga, Erasmus Erastus Mbumba, Emil Appolus, Maxton Joseph Mutongulume and Carlos Hamatui.

SA immediately labels SWAPO a "communist" organisation, but in terms of its policy objectives and conduct, SWAPO can in truth only be labelled a "nationalist movement".

These were the first steps that Namibians took to try and secure their independence from the South Africa oppressors. In fact, one can say that 95% of the arduous journey to that achievement still lay ahead.

Own, Wikipedia, Blackwellreference, NID, History of Namibia, SWAPO party website.

A shorter version of this article appeared in New Era