What led to the Namibian war of liberation?

·         What led to the Namibian war of liberation?

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·         The failure of South Africa to recognize the United Nations authority over Namibia in 1966 as and it illegally occupied Namibia, which aroused nationalistic feelings among the Namibian people who were determined to win independence.

·         Between January and February 1972, the South Africa Apartheid created a man's land strip of one kilometre between Namibia and Angolan border, which displaced 50,000 villages, destroyed houses, schools and clinics. Together with other forms of land alienation, nationalism was aroused in Namibia.

·         The outright ban on political activities after 1972 with the start of armed struggle or militarized nationalism. The Apartheid South Africa outlawed the South West African National Liberation Army (SWANLA), the main recruiting agency for SW APO guerillas.

·         In 1969, Apartheid South Africa passed an act that made Namibia a fifth province, which aimed at denying self-rule to the Namibian nationalists and protecting over 100,000 white settlers and derail SW APO radical activities.

·         In 1961 the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan delivered a speech to the South African Parliament where he recognized need for self-determination and requested all colonial governments to grant independence to the natives. This famous wind of ‘change speech’ inspired nationalism in Namibia.

·         For years, South Africa continued to exploit Namibia's mineral resources, which included cooper, lead, zinc, diamond, uranium and manganese. This forced the nationalists to resist South African rule.

·         By early 1970's the alliance of the three or triumuvulate comprising of Don Salazar, Dr. Verwoerd and Ian Smith collapsed in April 1974 when General Spinola in Portugal toppled dictators Don Salazar and Ceatano. The fall of this alliance created hope to the Namibian nationalists and as a result 4,000 people joined SWAPO military training in Angola.

·         South Africa's suppression and oppression in Namibia created human misery. It declared a state of emergency in Ovamboland carried out political repression, massive arrests, detention, wide spread torture, intimidation and indiscriminate killing of civilians by security forces, all of which led to the rise of nationalism.

·         The January and February 1972 mass deportation of workers after the strike over poor pay and working conditions provoked peasant and workers rebellion and increased a number of recruits in SW APO guerilla ranks.

·         In June 1971, the International Court of Justice maintained UN control over Namibia and insisted that South Africa must withdraw from the area, which inspired popular resistance led by churches, racial wide strikes by over 20,000 part time workers and peasants.

·         South Africa also attempted ethnicity in Namibia when it tried to evade the ruling by the International Court of Justice 1971. It worked to divide Namibia into ten tribal homelands in order to suffocate and or derail SW APO's progress in the liberation

·         From 1966, South African Apartheid regime introduced a bulk of racist laws as including creation of homelands, banning of political parties, public safety law as were made compulsory, among others.

·         The overall need by the Namibians to get rid of the uncalled for South African overrules. South Africa intended to absorb Namibia into South Africa. Between 1950 -74, many members from Namibia represented the territory (province) in the South African all white Parliament.

·         The Namibian people could not accept the implementation of the Apartheid system, which had a notorious record of injustice and racial discrimination worldwide against the Africans.

·         The workers and peasants refused the contract labor system and strived for its immediate abolition.

·         By 1959, the South African Apartheid regime planned to move Windhoek Township from its old location to anew Apartheid Style Township outside the capital. By 1962 plans were ready to embark on a plan of assigning the various ethnic groups separate homelands or Bantustans.

·         Like the situation in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa, there was a fear that white settlers could become a dominant force in Namibia (or South West Africa). By the outbreak of the liberation war, 100,000 white settlers against one million settlers lived in Namibia.

·         The Namibian liberation war got inspiration from the famous and heroic Nama-Hero rebellion 1904 -09, which against the imposition of colonial rule. The 1904 rebellion was led by Hendrick Witbooi, Samuel Maherero, Sim Cooper, Jacob Murenga, among others.

·         The Apartheid regime had tried so much to crush attempts at nationalism with heavy causalities on the side of Namibians. This left the Namibians with the only option of armed struggle to liberate the country.

·         The African nationalists also rejected reforms and changes introduced by staunch Apartheid leaders who had become new administrator general in Windhoek Township. He intended to show Africans that things were changing for the better but in vain.

·         Support from Zambia, Angola, Cuba and Soviet Union in terms of arms, training and military bases, among others.

·         The impact of the Second World War, which greatly shared Namibian nationalism through Pan Africanism, new super power criticism to colonialism and the return of ex-servicemen.

·         The blacks were denied and forced to occupy the most arid and unproductive land, which was of no use to them.

·         The blacks in Namibia were denied their political rights for instance they could not occupy public posts, had no rights of speech, press, movement and association, among others. They were also not represented in Parliament.

·         The South African government passed laws meant to suppress any opposition, for example Immorality Act, state of emergency, among others.

·         The South African Apartheid government created six Bantustans in order to check the activities of African nationalists. They also encourage a nominal self-government based on ethnic lines, similar to that of South Africa.

·         There was widespread use of violence, arrests and imprisonment in order to enforce the policy of Apartheid.

·         Blacks were given poor quality of education designed to keep them behind forever.

·         Blacks were discriminated in terms of work as racist laws favored whites. Strikes by workers as a result of their dissatisfaction were not allowed.

·         The blacks were concentrated in camps or labour reserves and their freedom of movement was restricted.