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An Independent Caprivi: A Madness of the Few, a Partial Collective Yearning or a Realistic Possibility? Citizen Perspectives on Caprivian Secession

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 39; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070.2013.797713

1465-3893

Ester Massó Guijarro,

ICT Impact and Policies

Abstract The case of Caprivi in Namibia represents an example of independence movements operating within the (multi-)national states in the contemporary Southern Africa. An armed secessionist uprising in August 1999, although quickly stifled by the Namibian government, revealed the singular historical roots of this movement, as well as a presently widespread popular feeling of discontent and aspiration for separate Caprivian citizenship. This article explores some key visions of the local population's experience of their membership of the Namibian state and seeks to explore the possibility – real or not – of an independent Caprivi equipped with a shared ethnic identity. The aim is to address (at least partially) the gap found in research scholarship about Caprivian secession in terms of the views and preferences of the Caprivian population itself. On the basis of ethnographic field research, it has been possible to explore popular perceptions of the events of 1999, the idea of independence, and the general feeling of neglect by the Namibian government. Notes 1 The anonymity of interviewees has been respected in all cases except where their identity is directly relevant and we have the permission of the person quoted. Records of all interviews are held by the author. *The seeds of this work were presented at the IV European Conference of African Studies which took place in Uppsala (Sweden) in June 2011. See also a previous version in E. Massó Guijarro, ‘Caprivi independiente: ¿locura de unos pocos, parcial deseo colectivo o una posibilidad razonable? Reflexiones sobre la “franja” olvidada de Namibia’, in J. Tomàs (ed.), Secesionismo en África (Barcelona, Bellaterra, 2010), pp. 213–245. The fieldwork was conducted under the auspices of a predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish government. Further analysis research was conducted under the auspices of CSIC (the Spanish Council for Scientific Research), to whom I am indebted. My thanks go to the Caprivian people for their invaluable, generous collaboration for this article. Special thanks to Dr Morris Szeftel for the gentle, professional help during the publishing process: his editorial work has clearly improved my original article. Thanks also to JSAS for taking such care with the translation from Spanish, which was undertaken by Samantha White. Finally, my thanks go to my beloved father, who came to Namibia with me without taking the plane. 2 J. Suzman, ‘Minorities in Independent Namibia’ (United Kingdom, Minorities Rights Group, 2002), p. 26. 3 J. Suzman, ‘Minorities in Independent Namibia’ (United Kingdom, Minorities Rights Group, 2002), p. 26 Amnesty International, ‘The Caprivi Treason Trial: Justice Delayed is Justice Denied’, Amnesty International, available at www.amnestyinternational.org, retrieved on 8 August 2006. 4 Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, or DTA coalition, of which Muyongo was vice-president when he stood as a presidential candidate in Namibia's first general elections in 1989. 5 Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, or DTA coalition, of which Muyongo was vice-president when he stood as a presidential candidate in Namibia's first general elections in 1989 6 CoD: The Congress of Democrats (with Benjamin Ulenga as president) was formed in 1999, mainly by disaffected former SWAPO voters (as some interviewees commented), and was born as a new alternative to the de facto single party system (interview in Katima Mulilo with the party's representative for the Caprivi region, and Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, 26 September 2006). 7 T.O. Chirawu, ‘Political Parties and Democracy in Independent Namibia’, in M.M.A. Salih & A.G.M. Ahmed (eds), African Political Parties: Evolution, Institutionalisation and Governance (USA, Pluto Press, 2003). 8 Translator's note: in the original Spanish, this was referred to as ‘Kaokolander’. 9 Sometimes one hears mention also of a ‘Lozi people’ but this label is misleading, since Silozi is no more than the lingua franca of the various ethnic groups it encompasses and, in general, is not even their mother tongue (the group accurately referred to as Lozi is located across the border in Zambia). 10 On 29 September 1978, the UN Security Council approved, via Resolution 435, a plan for the decolonisation of Namibia, which established the withdrawal of the South African administration and the calling of free elections prior to independence. 11 On 29 September 1978, the UN Security Council approved, via Resolution 435, a plan for the decolonisation of Namibia, which established the withdrawal of the South African administration and the calling of free elections prior to independence 12 Chirawu, ‘Political Parties and Democracy in Independent Namibia’, p. 158. 13 A. Bosch, ‘Bosquimanos, las gentes primeras de África’, in A. Gili (ed.), Más allá del estado: pueblos al margen del poder (Barcelona, Bellaterra, 2002), pp. 155–173. 14 National Planning Commission, Caprivi regional poverty profile based on village-level participatory poverty assessments in the Caprivi region, Namibia in October/November (Windhoek, 2004). 15 Index Mundi 2008. These were the most up to date figures available at the time this study was carried out. (See also footnote 21.) 16 In an interview in Katima Mulilo on 24 July 2007 with Crispin Matongo, leader of the attempt to revitalise the UDP in 2006, Matongo claimed bluntly that, in terms of education and health care, ‘we were better off before independence’ (detailed interview, recorded and transcribed). 17 H. Babing & F. Babing, Namibia: Land of the Brave and Sunshine (Namibia, Namprint Pty Ltd, 2004). 18 Index Mundi 2008. 19 The Namibian (11 September 2006). 20 M. Fisch, The Secessionist Movement in the Caprivi: A Historical Perspective (Windhoek, Namibia Scientific Society, 1999), p. 9. 21 P. Nugent & A.I. Asiwaju, Fronteras africanas. Barreras, canales y oportunidades (Barcelona, Berraterra, 1998). 22 Fisch, The Secessionist Movement in the Caprivi: A Historical Perspective, p. 11. 23 Fisch, The Secessionist Movement in the Caprivi: A Historical Perspective, p. 14. 24 C. Maritz, ‘The Subia and Fwe of Caprivi: Any Historical Grounds for a Status or Primus Inter Pares?’, Africa Insight, 26, 2 (1996), p. 177. 25 However, this article focuses on the majority Mafwe and Masubia groups as the most engaged in the secessionist issue: in the popular imagination, the Mafwe are associated with secession, whereas the Masubia are associated with collusion with the government. 26 Fisch, The Secessionist Movement in the Caprivi: A Historical Perspective. M. Fisch, The Caprivi Strip During the German Colonial Period: From 1980 to 1914 (with a chapter on the boundary dispute up to the present) (Windhoek, Out of Africa Publishers, 1999). L.J. Fosse, The Social Construction of Ethnicity and Nationalism in East Caprivi in Independent Namibia: Research Proposal for Field Research (Oslo University, October 1991). L.J. Fosse, The Social Construction of Ethnicity and Nationalism In Independent Namibia (Windhoek, Namibia Institute for Social and Economic Research, 1992). L.J. Fosse, ‘Still in the Making: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Nation-Building in Independent Namibia’, in M. Mette Masst (ed.), State and Locality: Proceedings of the NFU Annual Conference 1993 (Oslo, NFU, 1994). L.J. Fosse, (1996): ‘Negotiating the Nation in Local Terms: Ethnicity and Nationalism in Eastern Caprivi, Namibia’ (PhD thesis, University of Oslo, 1996). 28 Muyongo, in Documents on the Namibia International Preparatory Conference, held in Brussels 14–15 February 1972, 1972), p. 9. 27 Documents on the Namibia International Preparatory Conference, held in Brussels 14–15 February 1972. 29 Manyarara sentenced each of the ten alleged perpetrators of the uprising to 30 years in prison. (www.caprivifreedom.com). 30 R.D.K. Bruchmann, Caprivi: An African Flashpoint: An Illustrated History of Namibia's Tropical Region Where Four Countries Meet (South Africa, Authors Edition, 2002). 31 For a lucid analysis of this situation, see G. Listen, ‘Political Perspective’, The Namibian (8 September 2006). 32 www.caprivifreedom.com. 33 www.caprivifreedom.com 34 For differing perspectives on the issue, see: H. Melber, ‘One Namibia, One Nation? The Caprivi as Contested Territory’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 27, 4 (2009), pp. 463–481; W. Zeller, ‘Interests and Socio-Economic Development in the Caprivi Region from a Historical Perspective’, Windhoek, NEPRU Occasional Paper no. 19, 2000; W. Zeller, ‘Neither “Arbitrary” nor “Blurred”: Crossing and Living with the Namibia/Zambia Border’, Workshop “The Namibian–Angolan border: new issues and theoretical insights” (Basel, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2005); W. Zeller, ‘Chiefs, Policing and Vigilantes: “Cleaning Up” the Caprivi Borderland of Namibia’, in L. Buur & H.M. Kyed (eds), State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: A New Dawn for Traditional Authorities? (New York, Palgrave, 2007), pp. 79–104; W. Zeller, ‘“Now We are a Town”: Chiefs, Investors, and the State in Zambia's Western Province’, in L. Buur & H.M. Kyed (eds), State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: A New Dawn for Traditional Authorities? (New York, Palgrave, 2007), pp. 209–231; W. Zeller & B. Kangumu Kangumu, ‘From Apartheid Bantustan to Namibia's Socio-Economic Tail-Light: Caprivi under Old and New Indirect Rule, in H. Melber (ed.): Cross-Examining Transition in Namibia: Socio-Economic and Ideological Transformation since Independence (Uppsala, Nordic Africa Institute, 2007); W. Zeller & B. Kangumu Kangumu, ‘Caprivi Under Old and New Indirect Rule: Falling off the Map or a 19th Century Dream Come True?’, in H. Melber (ed.): Transitions in Namibia: Which Changes for Whom? (Uppsala, Nordic Afrika Institute, 2007), pp. 190–208. 35 My fieldwork consisted of participant observation over the course of the seven months I spent in the area (three months in 2006 and four months in 2007); 27 detailed semi-structured interviews with an intentionally diverse sample in terms of ethnicity, (not so much for the ethnological differences between the Mafwe and Masubia in terms of their shared differential meanings, but that being Mafwe is symbolically and popularly associated with secession); age (two age groups); gender; and membership of political associations and parties. Fieldwork also involved the analysis of journalistic texts, and the use of secondary literature as well as ethnographic photography and videos. See E. Massó Guijarro, La franja de Caprivi en el Estado de Namibia: ¿Etnicidad, regionalismo o proyecto nacionalizante? (Berlin, Editorial Académica Española, 2011); E. Massó Guijarro, La franja de Caprivi en el Estado de Namibia: ¿Etnicidad, regionalismo o proyecto nacionalizante? Anexos (Berlin, Editorial Académica Española, 2011). 36 See M. Cahen, ‘El potencial revolucionario de una categoría desechada: la etnia y las ciencias sociales aplicadas en África’. VI Congrés d'Estudis Africans al Món Ibèric, “Àfrica camina” (Barcelona, January 2004); F. Iniesta Vernet, El planeta negro. Aproximación histórica a las culturas africanas (Madrid, Los Libros de la Catarata, 1992). 37 My personal experience bears this out. For example, the respective fathers of two of my young Mafwe interviewees, a boy and a girl, were in prison still awaiting trial on charges of treason in 2006. 38 Although my sample cannot be taken as definitive. 39 Muyahi Nalisa's testimony, in T. Masawi & R. Konjore, ‘Caprivi Rises Again’, The Villager (12 April 2012), available at http://www.thevillager.com.na/news_article.php?id = 1439&title = Caprivi%20rises%20%20again, retrieved on 25 April 2012. 40 Muyahi Nalisa's testimony, in T. Masawi & R. Konjore, ‘Caprivi rises again’, The Villager (12 April 2012), available at http://www.thevillager.com.na/news_article.php?id = 1439&title = Caprivi%20rises%20%20again, retrieved on 25 April 2012 41 C. Keulder, State, Society and Democracy: A Reader in Namibia (Windhoek, Gambsbert MacMillan Publishers, 2000), pp. 77–107. 42 “Aumento de casos de corrupción en Namibia”. Afrol News (3 April 2008). 43 E. Massó Guijarro, ‘¿Salud democrática, reconciliación o censura? Una polémica en Namibia y un parlamento a través del móvil’, Nova Àfrica, 25 (2009), pp. 27–36. 44 Masawi & Konjore, ‘Caprivi Rises Again’.