WINDHOEK – Despite his massive scholarly achievements, particularly in the legal field, political anthropology and international economics law, let alone his contribution the development of the legal system and institutions in Namibia Professor Hinz has also made a significant contribution to Namibia’s struggle for liberation.
Citing Prof Hinz’s role in the liberation struggle, Nevile Gertze, the Namibian Ambassador to Germany in a document read on the occasion of Pro Hinz’s honorary award in 2011, noted that radical whites who supported the liberation movement in Namibia were castigated as communists and at times they risked losing their jobs. This however did not deter Prof Hinz from supporting Swapo, which by then, was viewed as a ‘communist’ and ‘terrorist’ organization. Prof Hinz was born in November 1936 in Germany. Details regarding his childhood years and early education are rather sketchy in the existing biographical collections. However he is known to have studied law and philosophy at the University of Mainz in Germany where he graduated in the 1960s. He then went on to do his legal practitioner examination in 1964 and during the same year, he also obtained a doctorate degree in law from the University of Mainz. He continued with his studies specializing in anthropology, sociology and African and Oriental languages at the same university.
He first got employed as an assistant lecturer teaching anthropology and public law at Mainz University. However, in 1971, the year when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that South Africa’s continued administration of Namibia was illegal, he was appointed as a full-time professor at the University of Bremen. It was during his tenure as full-time professor at Bremen that he begun to involve himself in Namibia’s struggle for liberation.
Perhaps to complement the efforts of Swapo and the United Nations in providing education to Namibians in exile, the University of Bremen, with the assistance of the likes of Prof Hinz initiated the Namibia-Bremen project. This was a joint project between the United Nations Institute for Namibia (UNIN) in Lusaka, Zambia, the Swapo department of education and culture and the University of Bremen. It mainly focused on the provision of educational materials for Namibians in exile, as well as the establishment of Namibian libraries in Lusaka and Bremen. Acknowledging the importance of this project to the Namibian people Gertze noted: “The Bremen-Namibia project with its emphasis on education was a much needed project, which helped Swapo to take care of its youth in exile, but above all it helped to prepare our young people for a future in an independent Namibia.”
With the implementation of the United Nations Resolution 435, which called for a ceasefire between the South African Defence Force and the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and the ultimate holding of democratic elections in Namibia, Prof Hinz continued to provide a hand of support to the Namibian people in preparation for independence. He came to Namibia in 1989 as an election observer and also assisted in the drafting of the constitution of the Republic of Namibia. According to Gertze, it was due to the influence of the likes of Prof Hinz that the constitution of Namibia has been praised by the international community as a “shining example, serving democracy and a far-sighted document.” In fact, issues such as climate change and the protection of the environment were already taken into account by the Namibian constitution when it was first drafted according to Gertze. “I cannot help but think that Professor Hinz coming from Germany with its dominant Green politics emerging during the 80s must have had a hand in this particular aspect of the constitution as well. After all he had already provided valuable legal advice years before on how to implement the UN Council Resolution for Namibia, Decree No. 1 for the protection of Namibian Natural Resources.”
By Timoteus Mashuna