Mishake Muyongo supporters continue with calls for Zambezi to be separate state

A group that wants the Zambezi region – which they call the Caprivi Strip – as an independent state have called for the return of exiled secessionist leader Mishake Muyongo and the release of all “Caprivi political prisoners”.

The members of the United Democratic Party (UDP) marched from the Katima Mulilo open market to the Zambezi Regional Council office on Thursday, where they handed over their petition to Zambezi governor Dorothy Kabula.

Muyongo, a former member of the National Assembly and official opposition leader, has been a longstanding advocate for the independence of the Zambezi region.

He fled into exile in 1998 after being linked to a separatist rebel group advocating for the secession of the then Caprivi region.

In a petition read by UDP regional party organiser Leonard Malesu, the group said said they are frustrated about the unsolved political issues in the Zambezi region, which include self-determination, saying those issues can be resolved through a referendum because the “Caprivi Strip cannot lawfully be part of Namibia under international laws”.

The group is adamant that at the 1884 Berlin conference, the Caprivi Strip was not part of Namibia when Germany declared Namibia as its “possession”.

The group further stated that it is not a crime or a sin to claim or remind the government of Namibia to look into the matter urgently, specifically the merger agreement between the Caprivi African National Union (Canu) and Swapo signed in exile and witnessed by Zambia’s founding president Kenneth Kaunda and Namibia’s former president Hifikepunye Pohamba.

“It is also good to remind the government of Namibia that the merger agreement of 5 November 1964 was not intended to incorporate the two territories which is the Caprivi Strip and Namibia but to incorporate the two political movements which was Swapo and Canu of Caprivi Strip,” it added, stressing that at independence, the people of Caprivi were never consulted after independence on whether they wanted to be part of the new Namibia.

They argued that Muyongo’s help in drafting the Namibian Constitution and being a member of the Constituent Assembly, which drafted and adopted the Constitution, under international law does not incorporate Caprivi Strip as being part of Namibia.

The group also demanded the unconditional release of what they referred to as Caprivi political prisoners and the return of all Caprivian exiles, among others, as they believe the people of the Zambezi region have suffered a lot under the Namibian government.

The group requested that president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah urgently look into their matter.

Kabula, who received the petition, promised to submit it to the relevant office.

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