Jesus of Lubango’s death this week has reignited emotive debate about how to deal with arguably one of the darkest chapters in Namibia’s struggle for independence.
It is not clear why Solomon Hawala was called ‘Jesus’ – his combat name as a guerrilla fighter for Swapo’s military wing Plan (People’s Liberation Army of Namibia).
What is undisputed is that ‘Jesus’ Hawala was the executioner of fellow comrades and the chief executor of a campaign by the liberation movement to ostensibly root out ‘spies’.
Victims of Swapo’s arbitrary detentions, torture, death and disappearances called him the ‘Butcher of Lubango’ to underline the brutality Hawala presided over.
He was so feared that many senior Swapo leaders did not openly question his methods despite Hawala being under their command.
His death is a reminder that human rights atrocities will divide our society as long as former freedom fighters do not address the issue head-on instead of forcing acceptance of an ambiguous policy of ‘National Reconciliation’ declared by founding president Sam Nujoma.
The deaths of leaders and executors of the ‘spy’ witch-hunt will not bury the issue.
The German genocide against mainly the Herero and Nama communities is a cautionary tale: Crimes against humanity do not fade with time nor do they go to the grave with those involved in them.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is prolonging division when falsely praising ‘Jesus’ as having spent his life “in pursuit of freedom, peace, unity… for all Namibians”.
If anything, Hawala was among the most divisive figures. But by failing to even acknowledge wrongdoing in the ‘spy saga’, Swapo is postponing the inevitable need to address difficult issues head on.
President Nandi-Ndaitwah would be well advised to extend her pledge that it will not be business as usual under her administration. ‘No business as usual’ should include introspection of how Swapo committed heinous acts against its own members and in the face of its stated principles of democracy, justice, solidarity and peace.
It’s easy to single out the most obvious and brutal perpetrators like Hawala, who drove the torture and disappearances.
But the complicity of the broader Swapo leadership is exposed by their unwillingness not to publicly acknowledge failure and providing the victims with an explanation and an apology.
National reconciliation will only come about by having dialogues between different sides of any divide on difficult issues such as the ‘spy’ saga as well as the perpetrators of apartheid atrocities in pre-independence Namibia.
Opening up discussions on difficult chapters will pave the way to focus on developmental issues without the masses resorting to tribal and racial undertones.
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