By Nahas Angula
Democratic Transition
On November 30 this year, the Swapo Party witnessed a momentous event – a democratic transition was completed. The President of Swapo Party, Comrade Sam Nujoma, retired from active politics and the leadership mantle of the Swapo Party was passed on to Comrade Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Comrade Pohamba is the current Head of State and Government of the Republic of Namibia. Hitherto, he was the Vice President of Swapo Party.
The democratic political transition in Swapo Party started in 2004.
During the Presidential elections in 2004, President Sam Nujoma, the then Head of State and Government, decided not to stand for re-election as per the requirements of the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia. The Swapo Party decided to hold an extra-ordinary congress to elect the Swapo Party candidate for Presidential elections.
Three comrades availed themselves for elections, namely, Comrade Pohamba, Comrade Hidipo Hamutenya and Comrade Nahas Angula. The extra-ordinary congress elected Comrade Pohamba as Swapo Presidential candidate.
Comrade Pohamba won the Presidential elections overwhelmingly. He was sworn in as the second President of the Republic of Namibia on March 21, 2005. He appointed Comrade Angula as his Prime Minister. Former President Nujoma remained the President of the Swapo Party until the holding of the Fourth Swapo Party Congress, which ended on November 30.
The democratic political transition in Swapo Party was a historical event. It was a culmination of the illustrious history of the Swapo Party, which was shaped by the very violent and tumultuous history of colonial Namibia.
Colonial Violence
The Swapo Party was born out of the ashes of colonial violence, plunder, oppression and exploitation. Firstly, the Swapo Party drew its inspirations from the anti-colonial resistance by our forebears against German colonisation. Secondly, the Swapo Party started as an expression of workers’ grievances against the exploitative contract labour system.
Thirdly, the Swapo Party was inspired by the worldwide democratic movement for freedom expressed in the Atlantic Charter and other international instruments against oppression and colonialism. Fourthly, the Swapo party was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle in India and Kwame Nkrumah’s anti-colonial struggle in Ghana.
Resistance and rejection met the imposition of apartheid variant colonialism and its attendant violence. The resistance took different forms at different phases.
Initially resistance took the form of labour and workers’ struggle.
The notorious contract labour system formed the central part of early resistance.
Workers’ rights and better condition of service for migrant labourers was the core message of resistance. Ovamboland People’s Congress (OPC) of Andimba Herman Toivo ya Toivo expressed the anger of migrant contract labourers. Namibian workers founded OPC in Cape Town in 1958.
In Namibia, the OPC was transformed into Ovamboland People’s Organisation (OPO). OPO formed the second face of anti-colonial resistance. OPO was the true expression of African nationalism. OPO’s political strategy was based upon the struggle against the abuse by apartheid South Africa of the League of Nations mandate terms.
OPO started therefore to petition the United Nations to demand the revocation of the Mandate of South Africa to administer Namibia, then South West Africa. OPO’s demands were minimal: place South West Africa into the United Nations Trusteeship System because South Africa has abused the trust of civilisation by imposing Apartheid on Namibia.
In 1960, OPO was transformed into the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo). Swapo continued to articulate not only the demands of contract workers but also the demands of all the workers in Namibia. Swapo further intensified international campaign at the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity.
In 1966, the anti-colonial resistance transformed itself into the Struggle for National Liberation. The Struggle for National Liberation was based on three strategic platforms: political mobilisation at home: international diplomatic campaign abroad and armed resistance by the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN). The combination of these strategies led to the achievement of Namibia’s independence on March 21, 1990.
Post-Colonial Namibia
The Swapo Liberation Movement formed the post-colonial Government in Namibia.
The post-colonial State was faced with a myriad of challenges. These included:
. Peace and stability
. Construction of a new State
. Economic and social reconstruction:
. Social justice.
Freedom and independence in Namibia was achieved at a high price. More than 30 years of armed liberation struggle created mistrust, conflict and hatred among the Namibian people. The biggest challenge, which faced the post-colonial State in Namibia, was that of creating conducive conditions to promote peace and stability. Hence the Swapo Party adopted a Policy of National Reconciliation.
The Policy of National Reconciliation asked all Namibians regardless of their political affiliations to “turn a new page,” a clean page from where they would chalk a new beginning. The new beginning demanded of all the Namibians to forgive each other of their historical trespasses and embrace each other and promote mutual understanding and forge a common destiny.
The post-colonial State was therefore built on the foundation of the Policy of National Reconciliation. National reconciliation has enabled the new State to focus its attention on State reconstruction” economic and social development: and the creation of a fair and just society.
Namibia was constituted as a sovereign, secular, democratic and unitary State at the adoption of its Constitution. The constitutional ethos required that the old structures of Apartheid order, such as the Bantustans, must be done away with.
State reconstruction meant finding equilibrium between a unitary State and the needs of local communities. State reconstruction meant finding a balance between the centre and the periphery. The critical issue was whether to devolve power or decentralise Government functions. Namibia opted for decentralisation.
The process of decentralisation is on going. This process is, however, proving to be tenuous. The decentralization process is also fraught with dangers of top-town approach to state reconstruction. Time will tell about the impact of the decentralization process to socio-economic development.
Government National Development Programmes drove socio-economic development in post-colonial Namibia. Thus far, two National Development Programmes have been implemented. Though the Gini-coefficient in Namibia has slightly improved and more indigenous Namibians are participating in the economy, the socio-economic development process has largely been of trickle down nature.
Redress and redistribution has not as yet happened.
Redress and Redistribution
A further challenge facing the post-colonial state in Namibia is that of redress and redistribution. Redress is about undoing of social and economic structures created by apartheid colonialism. Apartheid colonialism created a pauper class in Namibia. Such a pauper class lacks ownership of productive assets: is ill educated, poor and destitute.
The pauper class is racial, gendered and rural. The process of redress is to “de-racialise”, “de-genderise” and “de-ruralise” poverty and want. Redistribution on the other hand is the process of creating conditions of fairness and inclusiveness in resource distribution within the Namibian society. This requires a policy framework for empowerment of previously disadvantaged citizens.
Namibia has attempted a number of empowerment frameworks in sectors such as fisheries, education and land redistribution. Success of such frameworks has been modest. Perhaps 17 years of independence is too short a time in the life of a nation. Or perhaps there is a missing link!
The Missing Link
The post-colonial State in Africa was built on the foundations of African nationalism and the experiences of the liberation struggle. The question we have to ask ourselves is: Are African nationalism and armed liberation struggle experiences sufficient conditions for African socio-economic transformation? It is obvious that such experiences are necessary but not sufficient conditions for development.
Post-colonial Africa needed to develop a new ideology of social and economic transformation. Such an ideology should be rooted in the imperative needs of the majority of the African people.
The majority of the African people live in the rural areas. Socio-economic transformation should start in the countryside. The next social layer of African disposed people is the women, the workers and the youth. Socio-economic transformation should target these social layers. Transformation means the creation of a socially just and economically fair society.
In order to achieve these goals, the nationalists-cum-liberation movement should transform itself into a social movement for mobilisation, advocacy and action.
I believe this is the missing link in African socio-economic development. African social liberation should be a mass based project. The experience in post-colonial Africa is that liberation movements turned themselves into Government bureaucracies with top-down approach to development.
Unless political parties in post-colonial African recognised this pitfall, African socio-economic transformation will be postponed for some time. Namibia is no exception to this experience. Namibia’s liberation struggle will remain an unfinished business as long as true redress and redistribution through socio-economic transformation have not taken place. This will be the Swapo Party challenge under the leadership of Comrade Pohamba.