Namibia: SWAPO Women
The following is reproduced from a paper prepared by the SWAPO (South African People's Organisation) Women's Campaign, dated September 1980. Called A Common Enemy : Namibian Women call for International Solidarity, it gives some historical background to the struggle in Nambia which is against both South Africa currently illegally occupying the territory and outside forces of the Western powers. This and a recently produced paper Nambian Women's Struggle and Solidarity in Britain are available from SWAPO Women's Campaign, c/o Namibia Support Committe, 188 N. Gower Stree, London NW1 2NB. UK.
British imperialism and Namibia
British imperialism and Namibia British governments. Labour and Tory alike, have consistently supported decades of illegal South African colonial rule in Namibia. The South African army of occupation perpetrates its acts of rape, torture and murder with the help of arms from its acts of rape, torture and murder with the help of arms from NATO countries; Western governments offer diplomatic protection to Pretoria by blocking demands for sanctions against South Africa at the U.N. - Britain is the forefront of Western attempts to manipulate the U.N. machinery in favour of the regime and its trading partners - ; and British companies reap massive profits from Namibian minerals and karakulpelts. The links between the oppression of Namibia and British imperialism are perhaps more obvious in the British Government-British Nuclear Fuels contracts for Namibia nuranium. This country receives 47 o/o of its uranium from Namibia through a contract between UKEA/RTZ (Rio TintoZinc) and the illegal South African administration, in defiance of international law. The rate of exploitation at Namibia's Rossing mine is high enough to encourage the companies to risk possible demands for compensation through the United Nations Council for Namibia. Workers at the mine have appealed to British sympathisers to put an end to the contract.appealed to British sympathisers to put an end to the contract.
Western companies operating illegally in Namibia, do so on South Africa's terms, enforcing apartheid and the migrant labour system.
Namibian home fight Namibian home fight Although colonialism is a major factor in the oppression of Namibian women, there are, as in the case the world over,patriarchal traditions and attitudes dating back to precolonial society which persist even today, and have been intensified and manipulated by colonialism. Among them are traditional notions about "men's work" and women's work".Mathilda Amoomo, a Secretary in the Defence office of SWAPO, described the situation as follows:
"After spending up to seven hours of backbreaking labour in"After spending up to seven hours of backbreaking labour inthe fields women in the rural areas do not return to rest for the day. They must fetch water, grind grain into flour and prepare meals, not to mention washing the babies and their diapers. I do not mean to suggest that our men do nothing to help : they cut and clear trees off the fields for cultivation,and dig wells to obtain drinking water for both people and animals. They look after the herds. But on the whole,these are far less energy taking duties when compared to those performed by women.
Thus apart from the negative effect of contract labour which Thus apart from the negative effect of contract labour which disrupts normal family life and puts extra work pressure on women, there are also remnants of semi-feudal mentality among our men. These attitudes are being struggled against in the process of national liberation, which is the fundamental issue before the Namibian people now."
Another woman in SWAPO said : 'Traditionally, women used to eat after men and certain foods were reserved for men.The reason was supposed to be that men's work was hard and they needed to be stronger. It was not considerated necessary for women to be educated. Talking about period pains in front of men was not allowed. These laws still exist, mostly among the older generation, and especially in the rural areas."
Colonialism has dispossessed Namibians of land they cultivated Colonialism has dispossessed Namibians of land they cultivated for centuries, forced all able-bodied men to seek employment in the settler-controlled industries, selling their labour powerto the foreigners who are plandering their national resources. Many of the men, like the workers at Rossing,are migrants. As Netumbo Nandi, a woman in SWAPO and member of the Central Committee says,
"Since colonialism, the participation of men in cultivation has"Since colonialism, the participation of men in cultivation has decreased substantially. The African men were rapidly creamed off the rural areas to work as cheap labourers in the colonialists' mining, fishing and ranching industries. Therefore,under colonialism, the Namibian rural women have even harder times than before... Husbands are not allowed to take their families along to the places of employment. Thus,women must always remain working in the fields, as well as looking after their children at home and the overall household,while husbands and older boys are gone for very long spells —12 to 18 months - on contract in the so-called "white areas".The men's wages are so meager that the drudgery of women's work is hardly ever alleviated by such incomes...working for more subsistence wages...working for more subsistence wages...Whereas it was possible for the men who worked in the mining,construction and fishing areas for many years to become at least semi-skilled workers, it has been virtually impossible.
for women working in domestic service to acquire any productive for women working in domestic service to acquire any productive skills. The situation has not fundamentally changed since the days of German colonialism...Mathilda Amoomo noted :"When the men are away for a year or more on contract the wives and daughters have to assume so many family responsibilities without the cheering help of their mature sons, husbands and cousins. For example, there is a severe shortage of clinics and hospitals in the rural areas. Malaria is always endemic in these areas, especially during the wet, rainy seasons. Although the rainy season is when people should spend much time cultivating their fields, more often that not you find women flocking with their children on their backs to far distant clinics in search of scarce medical services."
Namibians have resisted colonial domination for nearly a Namibians have resisted colonial domination for nearly a century now. In 1960, SWAPO, the national liberation movement,was formed. Netumbo Nandi comments on women's participation in the organisation :
"In the early stages of SWAPO, the participation of women was very small, due to the lingerings of semi-feudal mentality and structure in the country...
I must point out, however, that hundreds of Namibian women I must point out, however, that hundreds of Namibian women did participate in the historic Windhoek uprising of December 1959, involving mass boycotts of public works, transport,cinemas and beer halls against the colonial regime's arbitrary removal of Windhoek's old African township to a new site which was located much further away from town...The Windhoek uprising represents an important point of departure for our national liberation struggle. It marked the departure for our national liberation struggle. It marked the shift from the policies of petitioning the U.N. to that of mass agitation. In short, I can say that women were slower that men to get involved in the early years, but they were not very much behind as they too felt the oppression as much as the men.
Looking back to the early sixties it was impossible for SWAPO Looking back to the early sixties it was impossible for SWAPO to become a truly people's organisation without the active and conscious patricipation of the masses of Namibian women.Accordingly, the Tanga Congress of December 1969, to January 1970, addressed itself to this question of mobilising women through SWAPO Women's Council...
In the 1970s, women began to take a very active part in organising In the 1970s, women began to take a very active part in organising meetings and rallies. We began to see that when SWAPO Youth activists held meetings and demonstrations against colonialism, women were sometimes in the majority.Some of the men began to rethink their traditional prejudices against women, as a good number of women began to be vocal at meetings. Colonial jails began to be filled with not only men, but also women. When the South African Government ordered mass public floggings in 1973 nearly half the victims were women. Over the last two years, thousands of Namibians decided to enlist in the People's Liberation Army of Namibia; a considerable number are women. Today you will find women at every level of our movement's structure.But whatever has been achieved so far must be seen not only as a victory against the existing social and economic structure which discriminates against women in employment and education, but also as a victory against the prejudices among some of our male comrades."
1980 SWAPO Women's Congress
The first Consultative Congress of the SWAPO Women Council(SWC) took place from the 20th-26th January, 1980 at Roca Rio Goa, Kwan za-Sul Province in the People's Republic of Angola.
The idea was to examine what the SWC was doing, where The idea was to examine what the SWC was doing, where it was going, and whether it was representative of Namibian women. For the first time, SWAPO women elected their own officers. The history of the Council was discussed and its role in the national liberation struggle examined, with general recognition of the fact that the SWC must exist not only to mobilize women in that struggle, but also to deal with the specific problems of women and to uphold their interests within the organisation of SWAPO. As one delegate put it :"Experience has shown that after the liberation struggle,women are left out of participation in the government which they helped to bring about."
Call for support
In the process of SWAPO's struggle, particularly the armed struggle, material conditions challenge tradition roles and beliefs. Child-bearing and child-rearing occur in a new context.These issues are complex : "A woman's right to choose" has another meaning in a country whose colonial history has been characterised by the South African regime's attempts to reduce its population by the use of drugs such as depo-provera,and where mass killings dating back to the extermination policies of the German colonists are still a fact of life. Malnutrition is also a feature of the Namibians' existence, and the regime's health services are oriented to the needs of the white settler elite.
Namibians must pay for what meager medical facilities they are offered and the costs are often too high.
The infant mortality rate among black Namibians is 163 for The infant mortality rate among black Namibians is 163 for every thousand births. In many parts of Africa and Asia,as people have been displaced and dispossessed, and where diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria take thousands of lives, children have become a source of security in old age.The idea of "Family Planning" is often seen, sometimes correctly,as being directed against the interests of people in the third world, whose struggles aim to eradicate poverty rather than the poor. Today, however, life in the refugee centres in Zambia and Angola demands a different approach — water is scarce, sanitation a problem and malnutrition a threat.
Women are eager to join the People's Liberation Army or to Women are eager to join the People's Liberation Army or to study abroad, and there are incentives both to obtain contraceptives and to make child-care more of a collective responsibility in the camps. It is in this context that women in SWAPO have appealed to solidarity groups to raise money for the purchase and shipment of contraceptives in bulk. They have also asked for tampax and sanitary towels, which are difficult to get at or near the front. Recently the SWAPO Secretary for Health and Social Welfare, a woman doctor. LibertineAmathila appealed to the NSC Health Collective in Britain to raise money to buy items for a maternity and childcare clinic. This is essential for SWAPO's expanding health system;high-risk pregnancies, childbirth, infant and post-natal care,contraception and community health education will betackled. Because women in SWAPO are fighting a war, material assistance has implications far beyond humanitarianism, and it is vital to pose demands for material aid in their political context. By assisting the SWC in its own programme, we can contribute to the goal of a strong women's council that was described at this year's congress in Angola, which will help strengthen Namibian women's own struggle within the struggle. The SWC is all too aware of the dangers of tokenism,but it cannot counter it in isolation. Its work includes literacy projects, essential as the adult illiteracy rate in opportunities available to blacks under South African rule. The SWAPO Women's Campaign is collecting money for this and other projects of the SWC.