Against Selective Memory

ALLOW me space in your well read and respected newspaper to mention the following historical truths around the participation of the South in the liberation struggle.

On the 21st of March 2012, marking the 22nd Independence of Namibia, Chief Stephanus Goliath, the first Governor of the Karas Region, highlighted the political struggle for Namibian independence in the south. Many people who attended the celebration in Mariental wanted to hear how broad and in unison the people of the south – from the workers to peasants, intellectuals to students (learners), clergy, woman and youth – resisted the apartheid colonial rule in Namibia.They were eager to hear the mobilisation of the people around the ideals and policy of Swapo and motto ‘One Namibia, One Nation’. As the debate around mass participation of the people inside Namibian continues, the speech should have unequivocally dismissed the notion that only the people who went in exile contributed to the struggle towards independence and freedom. It was not to be!While highlighting the obvious participation of certain sections of the community in the struggle – the entrance in and participation of and arrest of late Reverend Hendrik Witbooi and his comrades, the boycotting of schools and establishment of private schools in Gibeon, Hochanas, Vaalgras and Bersaba in the seventies, the three months long strikes by the Nama teachers in the 1970s, the contribution of Berseba communities among others – the speech remained silent on other people in the South’s involvement and sacrifices.One of the critical negations was the complete silence on the participation and selfless sacrifices made by the late Anton Kahuika who, at times, man-alone contributed money and in kind – goats, sheep, cattle – to the then striking teachers in Gibeon.His ominous silence, deliberate or not, on the mobilisation off the masses in the South by Kahuika to join and participate in the struggle against white colonial rule, is as disappointing as it is tragic, not to mention the fact that Kahuika was already a member of Swapo before the mass movement in the South joined the liberation movement. A great disservice to a liberation hero and veteran.The speech was conspicuously mum on the contribution of the people of Maltahohe and its environs under the leadership of late president Elder PA Schmidt, and Reverend Jakob Keister and their close associates against the right-wing apartheid apologists in the area.Despite vicious harassment and attacks by the oppressors, Maltahöhe gave the first election victory to Swapo in Namibia’s first multi-racial UN-sponsored election in 1989. Why ignore such a memorable event?There were other tangible omissions such as the infiltration of the Plan [People’s Liberation Army of Namibia] guerilla fighters south of the capital with the support of the southerners.Although the speech was timely, the content left much to be desired thanks to those who still maintained that only certain people in the south contributed to the national liberation struggle.PA SchmidtMaltahöhe