Swanu marks 50 years

THE oldest political party in Namibia, Swanu, will be 50 years old on Sunday and members and supporters will celebrate the golden jubilee over two days this weekend.

The festivities will take place at the Tabitha Centre in Khomasdal. It was 50 years ago, on September 27 1959, in the then Old Location, which today is Hochland Park in Windhoek, that the first national liberation movement was launched by Namibians, irrespective of their cultural, ethnic, religious or political differences.The political activities around the formation of the South West Africa National Union (Swanu) started a month earlier on August 20 1959, under a temporary body, the South West Africa National Organisation, but officially Swanu was launched at a public meeting on September 27 1959 with the backing of the Herero Chiefs’ Council and incorporating the erstwhile SWA Progressive Association (Swapa). The late Advocate Jariretundu Kozonguizi was the first president of Swanu and Uatja Kaukuetu was vice president. Kozonguizi later became Namibia’s first Ombudsman. Other founding members included Clemens Kapuuo, John Muundjua and Zed Ngavirue.’During the events this weekend we will also honour our leaders of the founding days of the party,’ says Dr Tangeni Iijambo, Swanu Secretary General. In 1959 Swanu was joined by the Owamboland People’s Organisation (OPO) and former President Sam Nujoma became a member of the Swanu executive committee. The Swapo Party was established in April 1960. Most prominent political figures in this country were instrumental in the formation of Swanu.The first political action of Swanu as a liberation movement was the highly successful 1959 defiance campaign in protest against the forced removals from Windhoek’s Old Location to the new Katutura township. The protest reached its climax on December 10 1959, when a dozen Namibians were killed when police officers of the South African apartheid regime opened fire on the group of demonstrators.