Swapo women's campaign

Putuse Appolus, Organiser of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) Women's League:

"Within African society women were long considered commodities and brought up as slaves for the men — told how to cook, bring up the children, be loyal and friendly to the husband - not to speak badly to him but to bring him a nice plate of food... It was just another form of repression. My generation were among the first women to be educated; there's still discrimination in some subjects... You can't be an engineer, that's a man's job. For most women it's nursing or teaching".

"On the front all the work is shared without question. Everyone takes their turn in the hunting, skinning and cooking of the animals. They all wear the same uniform and it's interesting to see that the girls don't treat themselves as 'girls'... It's a matter of 'comrade', a communal sort of life (without the sexist division). In fact the women are so good at shooting that they often beat the men. The men tend to fear them for they are trained in judo and self-defense of course. The men later won't want to marry them. They will think, 'If I beat her she can just take a gun and shoot me.'"

Call for Solidarity

Putuse Appolus visited Britain in 1975, as a member of the SWAPO Women's Tour, organised by the Namibia Support Committee. She was asked by women in the Women's Liberation Movement about the involvement of Namibian sisters in the Liberation struggle. Her immediate response was an urgent appeal for the underwear and sanitary towels non-existent in military supplies and urgently needed by the women militants. This campaign is already under way: women members of AUEW-TASS, for example, have already contributed £ 150. Now, in conjunction with the broader campaign for medical kits, and as the situation in Southern Africa grows daily more acute, we need to boost and strengthen the effort for concrete solidarity with our Namibian sisters.

Namibian Sisters

Women in Namibia face a double oppression - as Namibians under the illegal occupation of the South African regime, and as women under traditional forms of oppression. Now, in the process of the war of liberation which is being fought by SWAPO, both these forms of oppression are being confronted together. Large numbers of women have undergone military training and are fighting side by side with the men. Of course there are problems to be overcome. Kakauru Nganjone, a political commissar in SWAPO: "We now have two female commanders. In the beginning, some men were trying to disobey or get around their orders. In these cases, we had stern discussions with the militants involved and told them that these women were given such responsibilities and powers by the Party because of their intelligence and capacity. Through open criticism and self-criticism, we are able to deal with these problems on an ongoing basis.

But women are engaged at all levels of the struggle, not only the military. They have proved very effective in penetrating the enemy intelligence, and supplying SWAPO with military information. In the camps, and at the SWAPO Health and Education in Zambia, there are large numbers of women and children. Child-care, health and education are all collectively organised.

Inside Namibia, the Women's League gives food, shelter and medical aid to hunted SWAPO combatants. Women not only hide weapons and ammunition but have disguised guns with baby clothes and carried them, in full view of the occupying forces, to their destination. They have also formed groups, often under the guise of sewing or church groups, to plan future resistance to the regime.

Revolutionary Struggle

The active participation of women in struggle has a long and proud history in Namibia. One of the landmarks of resistance was the demonstration and boycott of 1959, which culminated in the Windhoek massacre, only months before the Sharpeville massacre took place in South Africa. The regime was determined to move the black residents of Windhoek from the "Old Location" where many had freehold rights and had lived for several generations, to an arid township called Katatura, five miles from the city. The 30,000 blacks were steadfast in their refusal to move, and, at the end of the year, the women demonstrated in front of the administrator's residence and organised a boycott of location services (beer halls, buses etc.) On December 19th, alarmed by the success of the boycott, the administration sent armed police into the location. Unprovoked, they fired into the crowd. Women and youths resisted the attack - their only weapons were rocks and bottles. One woman was shot dead as she tried to set fire to a police van. Thirteen in all were killed that day and over sixty wounded.

The illegal regime in Namibia recognises the threat which women pose to it. Between August 1973 and February 1974 over 3,000 people were forcibly expelled from the area around Windhoek, the capital, to the northern region of the country. Two thirds of this number were women and young people. They were all accused of furthering SWAPO aims and objectives in the urban areas.

But as the armed struggle and the resistance in Namibia intensify, so too does the struggle for sexual equality. During 1976, several meetings occurred around the country which dealt specifically with the problems facing Namibian women: problems centering on how to mount political education campaigns which would draw women more centrally into the struggle for liberation and which would also educate the men about the problems unique to women. At the many SWAPO public meetings which are held almost weekly throughout the country, Women's League representatives are often among the speakers. In some of the secondary schools, women's study groups are developing, aiming to examine the problems women face in the struggle for personal emancipation and national liberation.

What You Can Do

Women in the west can give very real support to the women of Namibia on three levels:

1. Provision of material aid for the women on the front.

2. Active participation in all forms of solidarity with the armed struggle, the only solution to the vicious oppression of the South African regime, and the means  by which SWAPO women are rapidly, and of necessity, beginning to liquidate centuries of sexual inequality. 

3. Long-term support for the continuation of the fight for women's rights.

* Organise to raise money and aid in your women's group/trade union/work place.

* Send contributions - either of tampons and underwear, or of the money to buy these in bulk - to: Namibia Support Committee, 21-25 Tabernacle St. London EC2 Tel: 01 588 4342

* A 'kit' to last 6 women for about a year will cost about  £30. Campaign locally to raise as many kits as possible.

* We hope to keep our campaign flexible enough to be able to augment and diversify what we send according to the needs and responses of the women: it is an ongoing campaign. Some groups have also collected and sent literature on women's struggles and movements in other countries.

For more information, speakers, films etc. contact

Namibia Support Committee, 

21-25 Tabernacle St. London EC2

Tel: 01 588 4342

SUPPORT NAMIBIAN WOMEN