Dag Henrichsen

When a small group of young men living in Windhoek’s Old Location registered the African Publishing Company in October 1959, they aimed for “a vigorous instrument to promote the social and educational well-being of all inhabitants … irrespective of race, colour or creed”. 

At the time, no such instrument and definitely no such publishing company existed in apartheid Namibia. The visions of its founders Zedekia Ngavirue, John Garvey Muundja, Clemens Kapuuo, Uatja Willy Kaukuetu, Emil Appolus and David Meroro became a reality shortly afterwards when they established Namibia’s first independent African newspaper, the “South West News” (SWN). Published between March and September 1960 in nine editions, its subtitle said it all: “The only non-racial newspaper in the territory / Mehindi ojo otjaitonga ndji hina mbangu komihoko aijerike”. 

With articles in English, Otjiherero, Afrikaans and also contributions in Oshiwambo and German, the now forgotten newspaper represented what only decades later became a reality in Namibian journalism.

Unique document

“South West News” was an alternative newspaper committed to the concepts of non-racialism and nationalism in a racist and ethnically segregated South African colony. It articulated the myriad colonial ramifications for Africans, and provided a platform for the incipient nationalist movement in Namibia. All the founders of the publishing venture were also active in the South West Africa Progressive Association (Swapa) and/or Swanu or OPO/Swapo established since 1958. Apollus became its first editor, whilst Zedekia Ngavirue was the dedicated general editor and mover throughout the newspaper’s short live. 

SWN was also a community paper for the Old Location residents, launched shortly after the deadly shootings by the South African police in December 1959. It reported on the ongoing forced removal issues following the shootings, and also on the vibrant social activities in all of Windhoek’s “locations” and elsewhere, and as such, also on beauty contests, soccer matches or funerals. And it published poignant readers’ letters on racist and ‘tribalist’ everyday experiences. All this makes the newspaper a unique historical document, and provides a succinct snapshot of and glance at Namibia in 1960. 

Visions

“If you had talked to any man a year or two ago about a newspaper for the indigenous people of South-West Africa,”, said SWN’s first editorial, “he would either have considered you an eccentric dreamer or simply have dismissed you as a fellow-traveller. … The deplorable economic as well as political position of the non-White people of this territory makes a venture of this kind impossible. But today, thanks to the perseverance, planning and sacrifice from a group of men, the idea is a reality at last.” 

Yet, later during the year, the newspaper faltered, not due to outright state censorship, but due to increasing state harassment and deportation orders for some of the men, Zed Ngavirue’s and others’ escapes into exile, the newspaper’s fragile financial basis and, of course, the racist Windhoek print shops and white businesses at the time, unwilling to print it or, with the exception of a few, place ads. As Ngavirue was to reflect years later: “Self-interest and the profit motive simply did not enter the calculations of the founders … that was characteristic of the times. The communal farmers who contributed £1 each and the women who sold ‘vetkoeke’, all in an effort to raise funds for the purpose of sending Jariretundu Kozonguizi to the United Nations, or the migrant labourers who raised funds for OPO to enable Sam Nujoma to go to the United Nations, were not motivated by personal gain. It was the nobility of the human spirit which provided the driving force.” 

In this vein, Louis Nelegani pleaded in the newspaper for support of OPO: “Gentlemen: Let us try to save every cent”.

African students, soccer and Miss Windhoek 

One edition of SWN had to be printed in East London where determined women aligned to the Unity Movement ran the printing machines as their men, the printers, had been detained by the apartheid state. A few Namibian women (and their photo portraits) feature regularly in the newspaper. We learn that a SWAPA reception included speeches by, amongst others, Ottilie Schimming (later Abrahams) and on topics such as “Race in the World of Today” and “The Meaning of Education”. 

The newspaper features two photos of “Miss Windhoek” of 1959, Miss Rosina Gawaxas (later Boois), crowned “amid cheers” in the Old Location. One photo and article refers to “the most auspicious and glamorous evening in Windhoek”, the “Omuhina no Utjina” performances by women and men, also in the Old Location. 

The “skitterende voetbal” and thus profiles and photos of soccer players such as “scoring machine Joe” of the African Stars club or Salmon So-Oabeb of the Pepsicolla club, feature regularly. Last but not least, the turbulent political situation, not only in the colony itself but throughout the rapidly decolonising African continent, are discussed in every edition, often accompanied by photographs of the elderly Hosea Kutako or the young Mburumba Kerina, Sam Nujoma, Zed Ngavirue or Tunguru Huaraka. 

Do you remember?

Decades later, in 1996/7, the history of the newspaper was recaptured by a group of UNAM students and some of the women and men featuring in the 1960 newspaper, on the initiative of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB). Republished as a book “A Glance at Our Africa” with a facsimile reprint of all nine newspaper editions and an introduction by Zed Ngavirue, it was launched by Gwen Lister, and sold out soon. Now, a limited number of copies of the book and newspaper are again available in Namibia’s bookshops, whilst BAB has also put it and the complete newspaper set online on its website as an open source. 

Renewed interest by students and a new generation of scholars in search for alternative histories and visions articulated during Namibia’s early nationalist phase and African social life, fuels these latest endeavours. Who of the women and men featuring in 1960 want to share their memories with us today? Who still keeps editions of the original newspaper? Who were the 1960 photographers, who brought the tape recorder to the glamorous “Omuhina no Utjina” event in the Old Location, and who is listening to the tape or is still archiving it? 

* Dag Henrichsen is a Namibian historian based at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien.