Silence in context: Truth and/or reconciliation in Namibia

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 23, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 371-382

  Dobell, Lauren ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0005497994     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057079708708544     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. See Brian Wood (ed), Namibia 1884-1994: Readings on Namibia's History and Society (London, 1988), pp. 43, 37, and 747, respectively.
2. The South West Africa People's Organisation was known by its acronym, SWAPO, until independence, after which it adopted the proper name 'Swapo'. Uppercase letters are used only when referring to the pre-independence period.
3. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
4. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
5. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
6. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
7. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
8. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
9. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
10. This is not to suggest that false information was deliberately promulgated by authors or organizations sympathetic to the liberation movement. For those outside Namibia, the exigencies of solidarity were compounded, in many cases, by lack of access to Namibia and the paucity of reliable data. Attempts to follow the movement in exile from inside Namibia were similarly hampered in their access to information. Much of what was written during the struggle was of necessity the product of generations of cumulative borrowing from the few original sources at hand, for example Ruth First's excellent but unfootnoted South West Africa (Harmondsworth, 1963). A standard assumption, if traced to its unattributed roots, would often prove to have originated in a single work. With respect to the construction of a resistance historiography, SWAPO's own publications, notably To be Bom a Nation (London, 1980), speeches, autobiographies and legion publicity materials, produced with the assistance of sympathetic organizations in various countries, were central. Few pre-independence studies, whether motivated primarily by scholarly or solidarity impulses, questioned the central contentions of the emergent nationalist history. See, for example, R. H. Green et al., Namibia: The Last Colony (Essex, 1981); Gerhard Totemeyer, Namibia Old and New (New York, 1978), esp. Part V; J. H. P. Serfontein, Namibia? (London, 1977); John Evenson and Denis Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us (London, 1989); Randolph Vigne, 'SWAPO of Namibia: A Movement in Exile', Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987). Some notable exceptions are cited below. For an elaboration of some of these points see 'Notes on Sources', in Lauren Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old? The Evolution of Swapo's Philosophy of Development 1960-1991', MA thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, 1992.
11. D. Beetham, 'Conditions for Democratic Consolidation', Review of African Political Economy, 21, 60 (1994), pp. 160-161.
12. Omar was introducing the 'Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Bill' in Parliament, Hansard (June 1994).
13. See, for example, Alex Boraine et al. (eds), Dealing with the Past: Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa (Capetown, 1994) for the published proceedings of an international conference held in South Africa in December 1993 at which delegates from Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe discussed approaches to dealing with human rights abuses by deposed authoritarian regimes.
14. See Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old?', chaps 3 and 4, for a more detailed discussion of the origins and understanding of national reconciliation in Namibia.
15. P. Peltola, The Lost May Day (Jyväskylä, 1995), p. 154.
16. Namibia, Debates of the National Assembly, 18 October 1994, pp. 304-308. The motion was introduced on 26 July 1994.
17. Broadcast by the NBC on 6 March 1996.
18. 'Media statement by Swapo party on the so-called detainee issue', delivered by Moses Garoeb on 12 March 1996.
19. The brief description of these crises in Evenson and Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us, p. 168, yields a glimpse of the awful choice confronting solidarity activists. See also David Lush, Last Steps to Uhuru (Windhoek, 1993), pp. 198-206, for a description of the impact at home of the 1989 release of former detainees, and the debate in The Namibian over whether or not to publish witness accounts and photographs of torture-scarred bodies. Some journalists feared that the paper would lose its credibility among a readership overwhelmingly loyal to Swapo.
20. The brief description of these crises in Evenson and Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us, p. 168, yields a glimpse of the awful choice confronting solidarity activists. See also David Lush, Last Steps to Uhuru (Windhoek, 1993), pp. 198-206, for a description of the impact at home of the 1989 release of former detainees, and the debate in The Namibian over whether or not to publish witness accounts and photographs of torture-scarred bodies. Some journalists feared that the paper would lose its credibility among a readership overwhelmingly loyal to Swapo.
21. Weiland, Review of Namibia - The Wall of Silence, p. 503.
22. Detainees tell of being captured on suspicion of carrying transistor radios in their teeth or embedded in scar tissue, women tell of being accused of harbouring poisoned razor blades in their vaginas with which to assassinate amorous Swapo leaders; digital watches bought abroad were sometimes displayed as spying devices (see, for some examples, Groth, pp. 100-129). Prior to Groth's book, most detailed published accounts of the identification, arrests, torture and detention of alleged spies were compiled by rightist international organizations such as Jeanne Kirkpatrick's International Society for Human Rights and others overtly hostile to Swapo who provided the only hearings the detainees were able to obtain prior to independence. Of these, Nico Basson and Ben Motinga, Call Them Spies (Windhoek and Johannesburg, 1989) is the most useful, when read with due attention to the sources employed. Extensive and credible corroboration of such accounts is available from individual former detainees, Namibia's Legal Assistance Centre, The Namibian, and the National Society for Human Rights. A Project for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation opened an office in Namibia in late 1996, in order to collect sworn testimonials concerning human rights violations committed by both sides in the Namibian struggle, among other things.
23. See Colin Leys and John Saul (eds), Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The Two-Edged Sword (London, 1995), pp. 43-45, and Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old?', pp. 31-35.
24. See Colin Leys and John Saul (eds), Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The Two-Edged Sword (London, 1995), pp. 43-45, and Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old?', pp. 31-35.
25. Security chief Solomon Hawala, Moses Garoeb (p. 107) and Hidipo Hamutenya (p. 115) are named as directly complicit in the interrogation of detainees.
26. Security Service head Solomon 'Jesus' Hawala, widely known as the Butcher of Lubango, was 'responsible to no one except Swapo President Sam Nujoma' (p. 100). A visit by Nujoma to one of the prisons is described on p. 125. Groth does observe, possibly in mitigation, that Hawala 'was feared by everyone, including the leadership', and that by the late 1980s not even those nearest to the President - including his wife and brother-in-law - were immune from questioning and arrest.
27. Peltola, The Lost May Day, especially pp. 34, 154-162.
28. The Namibian, 15 March 1996. As Colin Leys notes, drawing attention to themselves by asking questions is 'precisely what any actual spies would not have done'. Personal communication, 17 December 1996.
29. See P. Steenkamp, 'The Churches', in Leys and Saul (eds), Namibia's Liberation Struggle, pp. 94-114.
30. C. Leys and J. Saul, 'Liberation without Democracy? The Swapo Crisis of 1976', Journal of Southern African Studies, 20, 1 (1994).
31. Lush, Last Steps to Uhuru, and L. Cliffe et al.. The Transition to Independence in Namibia (Boulder, 1994).
32. Lush, Last Steps to Uhuru, and L. Cliffe et al.. The Transition to Independence in Namibia (Boulder, 1994).
33. In Searchlight South Africa, 2, 1; 2, 2 and 2, 3 (1990)
34. J. Diescho, 'The Role of Fear in Politics', The Namibian, 25 October 1996; T. Dauth, review of The Wall of Silence, posted to Namnet, an electronic bulletin board, 23 April 1996; B. Harlech-Jones, 'Namibia 1989-1991: Transformation to a Civil Society?', paper presented to a workshop on Decolonization and Transition to a New Namibia, 8-10 May 1992, near Windhoek, Namibia.
35. J. Diescho, 'The Role of Fear in Politics', The Namibian, 25 October 1996; T. Dauth, review of The Wall of Silence, posted to Namnet, an electronic bulletin board, 23 April 1996; B. Harlech-Jones, 'Namibia 1989-1991: Transformation to a Civil Society?', paper presented to a workshop on Decolonization and Transition to a New Namibia, 8-10 May 1992, near Windhoek, Namibia.
36. J. Diescho, 'The Role of Fear in Politics', The Namibian, 25 October 1996; T. Dauth, review of The Wall of Silence, posted to Namnet, an electronic bulletin board, 23 April 1996; B. Harlech-Jones, 'Namibia 1989-1991: Transformation to a Civil Society?', paper presented to a workshop on Decolonization and Transition to a New Namibia, 8-10 May 1992, near Windhoek, Namibia.
37. See Lauren Dobell, 'The Swapo Sweep', Southern Africa Report, 10, 4 (1995).
38. Public discussion of, and published calls for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) or its equivalent became increasingly common as the detainees issue heated up, with explicit references found in press releases by the Breaking the Wall of Silence Committee (21 February and 20 March 1996), the National Society for Human Rights (14 March 1996), Swapo 'ex-detainees' (20 March 1996), and the Parents Committee (Die Republikein, 14 March 1996). Almost every collection of letters to the editor in the daily papers contained letters arguing passionately for and against a Namibian TRC.
39. Letter addressed to Reverend Ngeno Nakamhela, General Secretary of the CCN and signed by 42 former detainees, 28 November 1995.
40. See Chris Coetzee, 'Groth's Book Shakes CCN', The Windhoek Advertiser, 15 February 1996.
41. CCN press statement, 'CCN to Sponsor Conference on Ex-detainees', 19 February 1996. The conference, originally scheduled for May 1996, was subsequently postponed to the end of 1996, and then again to 1997. See below.
42. BWS media release, 'Breaking the Wall of Silence Committee', 21 February 1996.
43. President Nujoma's televised statement of 6 March 1996 referred to Lombard as an 'apostle of apartheid' whose present position at the University of Namibia was beholden to the policy of national reconciliation.
44. Ndeikwila was one of seven Swapo members based in Kongwa, Tanzania, whose dissatisfaction with the Swapo leadership's perceived tribalism, corruption and lack of strategy, expressed in a 'Statement of Resignation' dated 13 November 1968 (document in the author's possession), resulted in their being incarcerated by the Tanzanian authorities for over two years, before their escape to Kenya. Interviews with the author, 25 August 1991, 12 and 16 January 1995, 20 February and 8 March 1996. See also Leys and Saul, Namibia's Liberation Struggle, pp. 43-45, and Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old?', pp. 31-35.
45. Ndeikwila was one of seven Swapo members based in Kongwa, Tanzania, whose dissatisfaction with the Swapo leadership's perceived tribalism, corruption and lack of strategy, expressed in a 'Statement of Resignation' dated 13 November 1968 (document in the author's possession), resulted in their being incarcerated by the Tanzanian authorities for over two years, before their escape to Kenya. Interviews with the author, 25 August 1991, 12 and 16 January 1995, 20 February and 8 March 1996. See also Leys and Saul, Namibia's Liberation Struggle, pp. 43-45, and Dobell, 'New Lamps for Old?', pp. 31-35.
46. Meeting of 24 February and 9 March 1996 attended by the author.
47. Personal inquiries; The Namibian, 13 March 1996.
48. See, for example, The Namibian, 'Facing the truth', 3 March 1996; the 'Political perspective' columns of acting editor Jean Sutherland, 15 and 29 March 1996; and 'Walls of Silence', Parts 1 to 4 in The Windhoek Advertiser, 11-14 March 1996. The BWS movement later compiled pertinent press statements and clippings for its own use: the period from February to April 1996 alone fills 88 pages.
49. See, for example, The Namibian, 'Facing the truth', 3 March 1996; the 'Political perspective' columns of acting editor Jean Sutherland, 15 and 29 March 1996; and 'Walls of Silence', Parts 1 to 4 in The Windhoek Advertiser, 11-14 March 1996. The BWS movement later compiled pertinent press statements and clippings for its own use: the period from February to April 1996 alone fills 88 pages.
50. Press releases, 11 and 12 March 1996 respectively, the former published in full in The Observer, 16 March 1996. Both were incorporated into a news article in The Namibian, 12 March 1996.
51. Press releases, 11 and 12 March 1996 respectively, the former published in full in The Observer, 16 March 1996. Both were incorporated into a news article in The Namibian, 12 March 1996.
52. For some the two were synonymous: see, for example, W. Njdjambula Kambokoto, 'Truth commission not the right solution', The Namibian, 15 March 1996; Theodora Tshilunga, 'Truth meeting now in question', New Era, 28 March to 3 April 1996.
53. For some the two were synonymous: see, for example, W. Njdjambula Kambokoto, 'Truth commission not the right solution', The Namibian, 15 March 1996; Theodora Tshilunga, 'Truth meeting now in question', New Era, 28 March to 3 April 1996.
54. David Smuts of the Legal Assistance Centre, quoted in Lucienne Fild, 'President's broadcast under fire', The Namibian, 8 March 1996.
55. Author interviews were held during this period with numerous ambassadors and diplomatic staff posted to Namibia. All acknowledged monitoring the situation closely but preferred not to comment except off-record on what most preferred officially to deem 'an internal matter'.
56. Press conference, 13 March 1996.
57. The author was present during an exchange on 17 March 1996 in which the opposition was given to understand that they had more to lose than to gain from delving into the detainees issue. When, moments later, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ben Amathila rose to say, ostensibly in relation to the Ministry of Defence's budget vote, that 'war destroyed nations' and was 'far too destructive to be contemplated by Namibians', some interpreted it as a double-entendre for the benefit of certain colleagues. See also The Namibian, 18 March 1996. Hishongwa has historically been given to extreme statements in Parliament, not always faithfully recorded in the Debates of the National Assembly. In introducing his 'missing persons' motion (see above), Eric Biwa observed that it had moved Hishongwa to propose the execution of certain opposition members, Debates of the National Assembly, 41, 18 October 1994, p. 307.
58. The author was present during an exchange on 17 March 1996 in which the opposition was given to understand that they had more to lose than to gain from delving into the detainees issue. When, moments later, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ben Amathila rose to say, ostensibly in relation to the Ministry of Defence's budget vote, that 'war destroyed nations' and was 'far too destructive to be contemplated by Namibians', some interpreted it as a double-entendre for the benefit of certain colleagues. See also The Namibian, 18 March 1996. Hishongwa has historically been given to extreme statements in Parliament, not always faithfully recorded in the Debates of the National Assembly. In introducing his 'missing persons' motion (see above), Eric Biwa observed that it had moved Hishongwa to propose the execution of certain opposition members, Debates of the National Assembly, 41, 18 October 1994, p. 307.
59. Other Swapo members were less restrained. Fiery octogenarian MP Nathaniel Maxuilili apparently provoked participants at a large Oshakati rally celebrating Namibian independence day to call for the banning and burning of The Wall of Silence, The Namibian, 26 March 1996.
60. New Era, 14-20 March 1996.
61. The contortions of the CCN over the timing, content and appropriate participants of its proposed conference on ex-detainees - and indeed whether or not to hold it at all - were agonising to behold, and resulted in its being postponed from May to November 1996, and subsequently (in the face of Swapo's call to party members to boycott the conference) to some indefinite time in the new year. The southern-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) and the northern-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) were, respectively, the most and least enthusiastic of the major churches, underlining regional and other divisions that continue to undermine the CCN's capacity for independent, united action as a focus for reconciliation and nation-building efforts.
62. Lucienne Fild, 'Netumbo in line to be Swapo chief', The Namibian, 17 April 1996.
63. Absalom Shigwedha, ' "Don't mess with Swapo" warns Moses', The Namibian, 22 April 1996.
64. In what was interpreted in some quarters as a further attempt by the Swapo leadership to put the matter behind them, and certainly as evidence of political interference in the management of the NBC, the station refused to release footage of Nujoma's and Garoeb's statements on the detainees issue to the German broadcaster ZDF. Media Institute of Southern Africa, 'Action alert', 2 April 1996; Tanya Nel, 'NBC refuses to release Sam's TV speech for use', The Windhoek Advertiser, 5 April 1996.
65. This was the tenor of some, though interestingly not all, of the state-sponsored New Era's editorials on the subject, a distinct minority of letters to the editors of Namibia's dailies, and the remarks of some parliamentarians on both sides of the National Assembly during the first two weeks of October 1996, when the issue was debated. It was also the view of a few, mostly expatriate, residents - all of whom, not surprisingly, belong to the chattering classes in question.
66. It was estimated that some 200-300 people attended the launch, with the Kalahari Hotel hall unable to accommodate another 200-300 people waiting outside. The occasion was also used to allow a number of former detainees to relate their personal experiences. Some participants reported experiencing intimidation prior to the event, but no demonstrators were present at the launch. Interviews with Christo Lombard and Samson Ndeikwila, 2 April 1996. See also Lucienne Fild, 'Detainee book sparks strong public interest', The Namibian, 1 April 1996; Yolande Nel, 'Wounds reopened', Tempo, 31 March 1996; Chris Coetzee, 'Walls movement wants to practise civil action', The Windhoek Advertiser, 1 April 1996 (Coetzee puts the numbers at 350 and 350); Media release, 'BWS satisfied with book launch', 11 April 1996.
67. It was estimated that some 200-300 people attended the launch, with the Kalahari Hotel hall unable to accommodate another 200-300 people waiting outside. The occasion was also used to allow a number of former detainees to relate their personal experiences. Some participants reported experiencing intimidation prior to the event, but no demonstrators were present at the launch. Interviews with Christo Lombard and Samson Ndeikwila, 2 April 1996. See also Lucienne Fild, 'Detainee book sparks strong public interest', The Namibian, 1 April 1996; Yolande Nel, 'Wounds reopened', Tempo, 31 March 1996; Chris Coetzee, 'Walls movement wants to practise civil action', The Windhoek Advertiser, 1 April 1996 (Coetzee puts the numbers at 350 and 350); Media release, 'BWS satisfied with book launch', 11 April 1996.
68. It was estimated that some 200-300 people attended the launch, with the Kalahari Hotel hall unable to accommodate another 200-300 people waiting outside. The occasion was also used to allow a number of former detainees to relate their personal experiences. Some participants reported experiencing intimidation prior to the event, but no demonstrators were present at the launch. Interviews with Christo Lombard and Samson Ndeikwila, 2 April 1996. See also Lucienne Fild, 'Detainee book sparks strong public interest', The Namibian, 1 April 1996; Yolande Nel, 'Wounds reopened', Tempo, 31 March 1996; Chris Coetzee, 'Walls movement wants to practise civil action', The Windhoek Advertiser, 1 April 1996 (Coetzee puts the numbers at 350 and 350); Media release, 'BWS satisfied with book launch', 11 April 1996.
69. Jean Sutherland, 'Detainee question raised', The Namibian, 19 June 1996.
70. Swapo Party, Their Blood Waters our Freedom (Windhoek, 1996). A first printing comprised only some 500 copies, distributed to Swapo regional offices.
71. Jade McClune, 'Heroes book causes a stir', ' "Book of dead" is misleading', 'Axab's death still mystery', The Windhoek Advertiser, 29 August, 5 and 20 September 1996.
72. Hatuiikulipi is now said to have succumbed to bronchitis. Depty to Swapo Secretary of Defence Peter Nanyemba, he was previously accused of being a 'master spy', and to have committed suicide after capture in early 1984 by swallowing a cyanide pill he always carried in his mouth. The story, related by Swapo leaders at the '100 spies conference' held in London in 1986, is found in many accounts of the detainees crisis, including Groth (p. 103) and Evenson and Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us, p. 27, 168. The latter claim he was one of 16 shot in January 1984. Much suspicion remains among former subordinates and close associates about the death of Nanyemba himself, whom Swapo has always maintained died in a car accident in 1983. Highly popular among PLAN fighters, and singled out as a hero in Their Blood Waters our Freedom, Nanyemba is said to have been increasingly at odds with Politburo colleagues in the months before his death.
73. Hatuiikulipi is now said to have succumbed to bronchitis. Depty to Swapo Secretary of Defence Peter Nanyemba, he was previously accused of being a 'master spy', and to have committed suicide after capture in early 1984 by swallowing a cyanide pill he always carried in his mouth. The story, related by Swapo leaders at the '100 spies conference' held in London in 1986, is found in many accounts of the detainees crisis, including Groth (p. 103) and Evenson and Herbstein, The Devils are Among Us, p. 27, 168. The latter claim he was one of 16 shot in January 1984. Much suspicion remains among former subordinates and close associates about the death of Nanyemba himself, whom Swapo has always maintained died in a car accident in 1983. Highly popular among PLAN fighters, and singled out as a hero in Their Blood Waters our Freedom, Nanyemba is said to have been increasingly at odds with Politburo colleagues in the months before his death.
74. Eric Biwa mentioned the disappearance of detainees around January 1989 in his Parliamentary 'motion on missing persons' (see above). In his address to the Groth book launch on 30 March 1996, Samson Ndeikwila listed as an objective of the BWS, 'that the fate and or the whereabouts of the detainees who were left behind in the dungeons of Lubango during April-May 1989 are disclosed to the Namibian people and to the world'. Although the objectives were reproduced in Fild, 'Detainee book sparks strong public interest', the potential explosiveness of this particular charge seems so far to have escaped the notice of the media.