NDUMBA J KAMWANYAHNAMIBIA’S history of resistance against colonialism has been told in many different ways, but never with the focus and depth Kavango is featured in the soon to be launched book, edited by Marius Kudumo and Jeremy Silvester, “Resistance on the Banks of the Kavango River “.
Momentarily, I will return to the subject matter of the book. But first, remember how history books about Namibia (and Africa in general) tend to be dominated by Western writers? Well, this book ends that practice.
Like Tip O’Neil’s good old saying that ‘all politics is local’, so is history. Bar one of the editors, all the authors hail from the two Kavango regions. There is where a review of this book should start.
The authors, as historians themselves, bring to the book that personal authenticity and local touch. Therefore, they competently understand Namibia’s colonial resistance politics at national, regional and local level – a task they superbly accomplished with great grandeur.
The book’s topics cover all aspects of colonial resistance in Kavango – ranging from the 1903 Kavango uprising against the Germans; the migrant labour system; student activism and school boycotts; unionism and the contribution of workers and women to the liberation struggle – which are well located within the broader context of Namibia’s national struggle.
I also love that the book brought up the issue of forced relocation at regional level because locations like Mangarangandja, Kaisosi, Nkehemu, Kayirayira, Nkarapamwe, Sauyemwa and Nakazaza all speak to the hardship, struggle and hopes of the residents under colonialism.
Other important topics covered are the role of traditional leaders (the hompa, fumu and masimbi, chiefs or headmen), the guerilla warfare in Kavango, and the evolution and dynamics of the electoral process in Kavango.
The authors also did not disappoint in supplementing their essays with personal quotes/sources, authentic voices of people who lived through the experience. That in itself is, perhaps, a double edged sword because subjectivity is not always a widespread reality. But it is not a big deal! History is contested politics.
Another minor observation is lack of visual materials, which is understandable because during the height of the liberation struggle, it was difficult for journalists to travel and cover the Kavango area, a war zone then.
In ‘Resistance’, the myth in the public that Kavango was a paradise for the colonialists is debunked and nakedly exposed as a mere figment of an active imagination. Instead, we learn that Kavango was ground zero for colonial resistance, both through mass action by students, youth, workers and activists; and guerilla warfare by the People’s Liberation Amy of Namibia (Plan) combatants, admiringly known as “noNtantana domomusitu “.
Therefore, throughout colonial history, the fire of each generation in Kavango manifests itself in many different ways, like the migrant workers who established Muzogumwe (one move/pull together) as a vehicle for mass mobilisation in 1973. This very same tactical move would be employed later in the 1980s by students and youth to disguise their Swapo and Namibia National Students’ Organisation (Nanso) activities.
The traditional leaders of Kavango and those who served in the then Kavango administration are also revealed for their tricky collaboration with the colonial government. In public, they would appear to cooperate with the colonial masters, but in private it was a different story as they were the ones organising and providing material and moral support to the resistance against the colonial regime.
Through the book, one walks away with the sense that Kavango was not just a war zone but that students, workers, women, youth, elders and ordinary folks heroically battled it out with the colonial regime. They mobilised support for Swapo. They made Plan combatants’ operations in Kavango succeed by providing them food, nursing the injured, burying the fallen combatants, providing information and concealing them.
In that way, this book may not be complete, but it succeeds in filling in the gaps and enriching our understanding of Namibia’s history of resistance against colonialism. Namibia’s history is incomplete without the bits and pieces of what happened at regional, local and community level.
