Honourable McHenry Venaani, of the former DTA, is the leastqualified person to question and lecture Swapo and its president, comrade Hage G Geingob, on leadership of the country and the “Lubango dungeons”.
Therefore, his diatribe in the press following President Geingob’s statement at the 63rd Swapo Party anniversary qualifies as nothing more than a feeble attempt to deflect from the truth, which is the recorded treacherous and blood-soaked record of his PDM/DTA, which is greatly deformed by its anti-revolutionary legacy and collaboration with the South African apartheid colonial regime. Even when the DTA changed its name to PDM, the party retained its insignia, colours and thinking, true to the saying “a leopard never changes its spots”.
The DTA/PDM is today in the turmoil of power struggles, and no makeover or rebranding can ever spare the PDM from its shameful record as a thoroughbred collaborator and obstacle to our independence.
When President Geingob addressed the 63rd Swapo Party anniversary in Grootfontein on 22 April 2023, as befitting the occasion, he spoke about the history of Swapo to set the stage for present-day progress achieved under the Swapo-led government. The occasion provided a chance to reflect on the past, and how it has shaped Namibia to the present. Comrade Geingob was simply reminding party members and the youth about where we are coming from, where we are now, and where we are going. The objective was to enlighten us about the dangers of being uninformed about our past.
The past is not a trap, but a means of understanding who we were then, and who we are today. For as the legendary Pan-Africanist Marcus Mosiah Garvey said, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture are like a tree without roots.” Therefore, when celebrating 63 years of Swapo in spearheading liberation and nation-building, it is logical that the past would be revisited due to its relevance to our present. This does not mean that Swapo is living in the past, as claimed by Venaani and some misguided analysts, editors and academics.
In fact, the President went on to highlight the aims and objectives of the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) II, the 4th industrial revolution, green hydrogen, as well as the latest oil and gas discoveries, including the positive impact these will have on the lives of many Namibian citizens. These are progressive developments, which the President cited.
The tree which the PDM/DTA planted, is rooted in a shameful past. Whilst many Namibians endured oppression, Venaani is arguably a beneficiary of apartheid, and was living in the cocoon of DTA privilege under apartheid. Therefore, it is no surprise that he is not keen on revisiting the past. Venaani’s accusation that the President is dwelling on the past is clearly a figment of his imagination, just like the imaginary heroic deeds of the DTA, which he has conjured to peddle to those who are not wellacquainted with the reactionary history of the PDM/DTA. In narrating the glorious liberation history of Swapo, the truth was expected to come to light about Venaani’s party, the DTA/PDM, and its role as a handmaiden of the apartheid South African regime. The DTA/PDM and its leaders preferred Namibia to remain a fifth province of apartheid South Africa, in which Namibians were to continue as second and third-class citizens in the country of their birth. It is safe to say that the DTA/PDM continues to suffer from a severe case of Stockholm syndrome. It is no surprise when we hear people of his ilk peddling the ridiculous notion that Namibians were better off under Apartheid. Like comrade President said, “Shame on them!”
The apartheid system was rooted in the principles of oppression and segregation. The system’s gains were derived from cheap labour and slave-like working conditions of black Namibians for the benefit of a few people of one race. Its consequences were almost irreparable, and distorted the identities of the black majority. At independence, Swapo had to pick up the pieces of an oppressed and impoverished people.
This historical truth of the DTA/PDM being joined at the hip in affiliation with the apartheid South African regime may explain Venaani’s tirade against the President.
However, the fact which cannot be deleted from the annals of Namibian history is that the DTA, formed on 5 November 1977 in Windhoek, was an organisation set up with slush funds of the apartheid South African security apparatus, with the exclusive objective to oppose Swapo.
These are truths known by many. Academic books and articles have been written about this discomforting role of the DTA. Many Namibians know it as the true history they lived, and not hogwash.
Hence, the whitewashing of the DTA’s role by “editors”, “academics” and “professors” who are stating that “political parties talk about the past when they don’t have anything to offer for the present and future,” should be viewed as misleading attacks on Swapo’s liberation struggle credentials and successful record of maintaining a united, peaceful and stable Namibia, 33 years after independence. These assertions should be rejected as false narratives of academically corrupted mindsets.
In a 1978 sham South West African legislative election, where Swapo was banned from participating and one that was characterised by widespread intimidation through the activities of South African troops, the DTA/PDM registered a fraudulent landslide victory.
Subsequently, the DTA/PDM “governed” as a puppet regime under the apartheid South African government’s tutelage until dissolution in 1983.
When that puppet regime was reinstituted on 17 June 1985 as the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU), its so-called “executive and legislative” actions were subjected to apartheid South African government approval, and it had to report to the colonial administrator-general Louis Pienaar, who had the right of veto. Thus, contrary to Venaani’s claim that the DTA/PDM ended draconian apartheid laws, the DTA achieved zero progress in removing the core shackles of apartheid laws and oppression in Namibia.
The only tangible achievements that the DTA and its tribal leaders made during their years as puppet collaborators were for them to be paid handsome salaries and perks such as farms, Mercedes-Benz vehicles and houses in whites-only suburbs, as well as scholarships for their children to study in South Africa. All these were paid for by their South African colonial masters with the proceeds from our plundered economic resources and exploited cheap labour. There is no version of the past that would put PDM/DTA in any positive light in terms of the welfare of the people of this country.
Swapo’s heroic struggle for the independence of Namibia with the help of friendly nations such as the frontline States, the former Soviet Union, Cuba and other progressive forces culminated in the resounding defeat of the DTA-supported South African troops and Unita at Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988. The ramifications of this defeat dealt a death knell to the DTA’s puppet TGNU.
The DTA’s puppet masters, under the threat of total annihilation on the battlefield, agreed to negotiations and the implementation of UN Resolution 435. Despite the massive slush funds from the apartheid South African regime to prop up a DTA win, the ensuing UN-supervised 1989 elections resulted in the DTA’s decisive defeat at the hands of Swapo, which ushered in a new dawn for Namibia and its people.
Truthfully speaking, DTA/PDM leaders, including Venaani, who grew up in that deceitful and tribal-minded party, should feel ashamed for the deaths of thousands of Namibians. Courageous Namibians under the apartheid regime were sent to prison for standing up against oppression. These include the late Johnny ya Otto, Andimba Toivi ya Toivo, Kaxumba Kandola, Jerry Ekandjo, Gerson Veii and others. Comrades such as Immanuel Shifidi, Anton Lubowski as well as those on the battlefield were killed as a result of the DTA connivance with the murderous South African regime.
Many more innocent Namibian men and women, including children, died or were maimed and scarred physically and mentally for the rest of their lives as a result of the DTA/PDM’s leadership’s collaboration with the enemy. The tragedy of the Cassinga massacre is a case in point. When Venaani, who constantly portrays himself to the public as the ethical and moral high ground priest of Namibia, changed the DTA to PDM, he never came out clean in acknowledging the historical guilt of his party. Neither did he apologise to the families of the thousands of Namibians killed and maimed as a result of the blood-soaked hands of the DTA.
Instead, hoping to whitewash DTA’s bloodstained misdeeds, he changed the name to PDM. Hence, premised on this long and bloody history of the DTA puppet collaborators with the killers of the Namibian people, Venaani and his PDM/DTA are not qualified to lecture Swapo today on economic management and the issue of “Lubango dungeons”.
On the issue of dungeons, prior to the UN-supervised elections of 1989, Swapo and the South African apartheid regime, of which the DTA was an integral part, all agreed for the release of all those who were detained on both sides as an important step in building a new Namibian nation. Today, Swapo is cleaning up the DTA/PDM’s historical mess of having been a co-agent in the impoverishment of Namibians. Swapo has since independence in 1990 stepped up to the task of building an inclusive country where all Namibians have a sense of belonging and live in peace, harmony and freedom, striving to realise their God-given talents.
As an inclusive leader and statesman who promotes transparency, accountability and prosperity, President Geingob has been at the forefront of this process. What is it again if any that Venaani and his DTA/PDM have achieved, in present-day Namibia? The PDM/DTA has proven itself to be nothing more than an incorrigible veteran handmaiden of bad politics.
Having no plan or vision for 33 years, except the vision of opposing Swapo, the PDM/DTA has consistently failed at the polls to convince Namibians that they could have a bright future under its leadership.
As comrade President Geingob recognised during the 63rd anniversary of Swapo, it is true that things are not perfect. Poverty, youth unemployment and a stunted economy remain challenges today. However, it is a fact that the damage caused to the people and the economy during more than a century of German colonialism and DTA-supported plunder under the Apartheid South African administration cannot be undone in 33 years. Nevertheless, the Swapo-led government under President Geingob has not sat quietly in a corner, wallowing in self-pity and blaming apartheid.
On the contrary, the President is working hard to systematically address the mess caused by DTA/PDM and the apartheid South African regime. As a result, we are starting to see the light of prosperity at the end of the tunnel through the HPP I and II, the green hydrogen industry, discovery of lithium and other rare earth metals, and the recent oil discoveries.
The challenges of the health system, education system, infrastructure, jobs, agriculture and the economy are being addressed methodically. One thing is for sure: we are no longer in the dark days of the past when the PDM/DTA and its paymasters thrived, and when our people were reduced to hopelessness and the reality of a bleak future in racist and triballyadministered Bantustans. Today, as a result of the Swapo-led government and its development- driven policies, people can hope; people can dream; and people can demand better services. Why? Because as President Geingob always says, they can see light at the end of the tunnel. Indeed, the future can only be bright for the Namibian citizen, and this is the legacy of peace, stability and prosperity. This is the legacy of Swapo and its leaders from Founding President Sam Nujoma to former President Hifikepunye Pohamba and now President Hage G Geingob. A revolutionary legacy second to none.