By Simataa Silume
WINDHOEK – This article is meant to present my analysis of the prickly debate as regards the destiny of the Zambezi Region of Namibia, formerly known as the Caprivi.
I have been bothered by the irrational discussions currently underway on Facebook. Residents of the Zambezi have once again fallen into their usual tribal cliques and employ different tribal tactics as they argue their cases. It is really difficult to discern what really motivates these fellow Namibians into engaging in such a debate in such a horrific and divisive manner. I strongly condemn the whole exercise and the mind behind it all should be nipped right in its bud. I reduce the unfortunate scenario to lack of experience in terms of what tribal hatred means and to what it could amount to. I know we are a group of people that has time and again, fallen behind times and engaged in the barbaric mentality of tribal animosity. We have failed to rise above tribal boundaries and are now on each other’s necks over an issue with which all of us were well contended with at the dawn of independence. Ladies and gentlemen, progress on issues of this nature is always hampered by feelings of resentment between the mutually hostile warring factions. We may have different sentiments on this issue, but we can still afford to respect each other as civilized beings. Our ‘wars’ have so far been verbal and psychological, but these could [metamorphose] into a concoction of sectarian killings and other related forms of violence. All of us engaged in this tirade were not so young when tribal hatred saw Rwandans rise up against each other in the summer of 1994. The consequences of it all represent a very dark spot in the history of that nation. It all begins with the failure to appreciate each other as a people that need each other for prosperity. I am not a specialist in regional history, but I am sure we all believe that freedom fighters from all different groups in this country consolidated themselves on the basis of national unity. Each tribal group did not fight for the independence of its own tribal territory, but for all that the State of Namibia is today. I should mention here that freedom fighters from the Zambezi identified with those from the other regions and together they fermented into a force to be reckoned with. All groups internalized the image of their oppressor and aspired for freedom from the same adversary. They together understood that freedom from such a vicious oppressor required them to sacrifice their lives by engaging in an armed struggle. I should also emphasize that they all understood that freedom required them to flush out their enemy from all territories that define this country today. This implied flushing the enemy from the thick thickets of the Zambezi Region, the woodlands of the Okavango and those of former Ovamboland. They had to evict the enemy from the grazing plains of Ovaherero land and freeing the Namib desert was indeed on the agenda. The freedom fighters needed to replace oppression with autonomy and responsibility. They realized freedom could only be acquired by conquest, and not as a gift. Together they perceived the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there was no exit, but as a limiting situation which they could transform. Ladies and gentlemen, this was what constituted the motivation for our liberation. It has to be stated now that any feelings of secession today amount to a blatant betrayal of the spirit that brought us freedom. I know many schools of thought try to employ different ‘histories’ as they gallantly try to advance the claim that the Zambezi Region should not be part of Namibia. My stance in the case at hand is that any history that goes beyond the struggle for freedom should be laid to rest. Wars against the enemy were fought in the ‘Caprivi’ by the freedom fighters of the Namibian nation. The thick thickets of the region provided good cover for our guerrilla fighters. Many who lost their lives out there came from the different groups that joined forces to free Namibia. They sacrificed their blood to liberate their country from oppression. That country, at that very moment, included the now renamed Zambezi. It was not easy for any group to liberate its territory on its own and therefore, the war had to be fought together. They dug trenches alongside each other and shared bullets and encouraged each other to soldier on against a common foe. How can we now then betray the contribution made by the other groups in the fight against oppression for the rest of Namibia, which included the fight for the Zambezi? I should humbly advise all to accept that the history we formulated together during the struggle for freedom is enough to spur us forward as a single nation. We need to rise above the morass of national disunity. The name change could not have come at a very relevant time. It embraces all of us and there could not have been any other suitable name. Look, when the Mighty Zambezi swells up, it inundates the flood plains of the Basubia’s low-lying areas. The [cat] fish becomes easy picking and all times are rendered party-time for my tribesmen out there. As the water traverses the plains, it flushes out the springhares from their plain lairs and pushes them to the higher grounds of the Basubia territory. There they prove to be a delicacy for many from that part of the region. Basic biology teaches us that the Mighty Zambezi waters the plants, the plants lose water through a process called transpiration. The water that directly evaporates from our mighty river, combined with the water the vegetation loses through transpiration, condenses into some form of precipitation and falls to earth as rain and this sees terrestrial life regenerate. It equally sees amphibians like the ‘bull frogs’ rise from their dormant state. ‘Bull Frogs’ indeed, have proven to be a delicacy among the Bafwe tribal groups in the west of the Zambezi Region. In actual sense, the Zambezi River provides us with food for all seasons. We surely have nothing to boast about, but the Mighty Zambezi. What a name! Our history books tell us that the war was fought under the movement referred to as South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO). Ladies and gentlemen, it is imperative to mention here that if there is any government that should lay its claim on the territory of the Zambezi it is the Swapo led government. It rallied everyone to fight for the nation and the blood of the fallen heroes and heroines waters this nation, which includes the Zambezi Region of Namibia. We should all salute the movement that saw the tribal groups of this nation fall into a force that eventually brought us the independence we celebrate today. I am tempted to think had it not been for that alliance, our nation could still be treading the ‘Long Walk to Freedom’. I should brave all sorts of ‘voodoo spells’ by observing that perhaps we should disregard the history that ignores logic and relevance. I believe professors arguing Zambezi should not be part of Namibia, because they were in school when others faced the bullets during the struggle to free this nation from oppression. The human rights groups failed to address the human rights of those in the country during the colonial dispensation that lasted many long years. These groups were hastened in slumber and only woke now when the nation has managed to free itself. The founders of these groups called our freedom fighters a ‘pack of illiterate terrorists’. They should now accept that what they called terrorists were our freedom fighters. I believe when different groups joined forces against a common enemy, the history that defined their regions was rendered powerless. They fought the same enemy and together they emerged victorious. This is an issue we should discuss without resorting to tribal violence. We diminish its significance by expressing ourselves on Facebook. Surely we need to mature!
• Simataa Silume is a secondary school teacher based in the Khomas Region.