Two Nations, One Goal

The pastmonth has been a time of mourning for millions in South Africa and across the world. The death of the nation’s first Black President means the loss of an inspirational figure of peace, freedom and justice. Much will be written about the effect Mandela had on his native South Africa, but it is important to remember how his struggle was mirrored across the Orange River.

Wrestled from the Kaiser’s clutches in 1915 by a force of invading South Africans, Namibia became a de facto province where the tiny White minority had hegemony. Apartheid came in 1948, and despite opposition from the UN, Namibia remained a South African possession for the next 40 years. Pretoria held steadfast as normal against international pressure, and the early 60’s saw the beginnings of violent, armed struggle from the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO.) SWAPO and the  ANC were natural allies  and were fighting the same enemy, fighting political and racial discrimination. As well as sharing values, they shared information, tactics and techniques as leaders mingled freely in Zambia. A fitting display of African unity.

In 1971, as Mandela sat incarcerated Robben Island, he was joined by members of his ‘ally’ SWAPO. The Namibians were on hunger strike, and Mandela and his fellow ANC prisoners leapt at the chance to take part too. These displays of united, pan-African disobedience must have got under the skins of the authorities who may sensed their days were numbered.

But the memory of Mandela and his struggle is doomed to be tarnished by the weaknesses of the men who have succeeded him. The frailties of Mbeki and Zuma as both politicians and men have been laid out before the world in the past week as the media dissect South Africa’s history post-democracy. In 1992, with apartheid in its death throes and Namibia crippled by drought and poverty, Nujoma risked losing foreign aid by purchasing sleek new jets and helicopters with government money. As the Second Congo War erupted in an already weak and beleaguered DRC, Nujoma committed Namibian troops ostensibly to support his neighbours, but more likely to protect his family’s mining interests in the mineral-rich nation.

The loss of this unique pillar of African freedom will be felt not just in the bustling streets of Cape Town or the rolling hills his ancestral home of Qunu, but also across the African continent. In Windhoek, Swakopmund and Okahandja, Namibians will remember that his struggle was their struggle.