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Making Politics, Making History: Chiefship and the Post-Apartheid State in Namibia

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 31; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070500035620

1465-3893

John T. Friedman,

German Colonialism and Identity Studies

Abstract Since the early part of the twentieth century, a long-standing factional dispute in Kaokoland, Namibia has conditioned not only local internal political processes, but also the relationship between Kaokolanders and the national ruling regime of the day. Under the South African regime, the dispute manifested and perpetuated itself through colonial practices of indirect rule; it generated a dynamic set of politico-ethnic formations; and it helped manufacture competing chiefships in the region. Since independence in 1990, the conflict has been implicated in national party politics, international development initiatives, and the government's recognition of traditional authorities. Despite the political overtones, local leaders and ordinary people vehemently deny any overlap between these 'traditional' institutions and the practice of politics. The Kaokoland case is a complex one, but by peeling through the layers we can consider a number of important issues relating to colonial and postcolonial rule in Africa: the legacy and continuity of colonial divide and rule practices; the politics of 'history' and 'tradition'; political conceptions of ethnicity; and autochthonous discourses of belonging. Most significantly, however, the article offers an ethnographic perspective on Mahmood Mamdani's notion of the bifurcated state. In practice, Namibian state bifurcation appears less distinct than his model suggests. Kaokoland's micro-politics takes root in the state, and, conversely, the Namibian state finds root in local political processes. Here, we see a symbiosis between local and national politics, between chiefs and political party politicians, and between the traditional authorities and central government. The Kaokoland case reveals how local and national power constellations infuse one another, and the extent to which traditional authorities and the state are mutually constitutive. Notes 1 I use the term Kaokoland in reference to the approximately 50,000 km2 area of northern Kunene Region constituted by the Epupa and Opuwo constituencies (Figure 1). Kaokoland maintains a population of approximately 35,000 people, most of whom live a pastoralist lifestyle. 2 Not all Kaokolanders are Otjiherero-speaking. Additionally, not all Kaokolanders consider themselves members of one or the other faction/traditional grouping. 3 F. Nyamnjoh, 'Chieftaincy and the Negotiation of Might and Right in Botswana', Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 21, 2 (2003), pp. 233–250; R. Rathbone, Nkrumah and the Chiefs: The Politics of Chieftaincy in Ghana 1951–60 (Oxford, James Currey, 2000); E. A. B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal and R. van Dijk (eds), African Chieftaincy in a New Socio-Political Landscape (Hamburg, Lit Verlag, 1999); I. van Kessel and B. Oomen, '"One Chief, One Vote": The Revival of Traditional Authorities in Post-Apartheid South Africa', African Affairs, 96 (1997), pp. 561–585. 4 T. Sanders, 'Reconsidering Witchcraft: Postcolonial Africa and Analytic (Un)Certainties', American Anthropologist, 105, 2 (2003), pp. 326–340; E. Gable, 'The Culture Development Club: Youth, Neo-Tradition, and the Construction of Society in Guinea-Bissau', Anthropological Quarterly, 73, 4 (2000), pp. 195–203; C. Kratz, '"We've always done it like this… except for a few Details": "Tradition" and "Innovation" in Okiek Ceremonies', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 35, 1 (1993), pp. 30–65. 5 N. Kodesh, 'Renovating Tradition: The Discourse of Succession in Colonial Buganda', The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 34, 3 (2001), pp. 511–541; O. B. Rekdal, 'When Hypothesis becomes Myth: The Iraqi Origin of the Iraqw', Ethnology, 37, 1 (1998), pp. 17–38; J. Guyer, 'Traditions of Invention in Equatorial Africa', African Studies Review, 39, 3 (1996), pp. 1–28; E. Gable, 'The Decolonization of Consciousness: Local Skeptics and the "Will to be Modern" in a West African Village', American Ethnologist, 22, 2 (1995), pp. 242–257; T. Ranger, 'The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa', in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 211–262. 6 B. Oomen, '"We Must Now Go Back to Our History": Retraditionalisation in a Northern Province Chieftaincy', African Studies, 59, 1 (2000), pp. 71–96; J. Myers, 'The Spontaneous Ideology of Tradition in Post-Apartheid South Africa', Politikon, 26, 1 (1999), pp. 33–54; L. Harding, 'Einleitung: Tradition, traditionelle Institutionen und traditionelle Autoritäten in Afrika', Afrika Spectrum, 33, 1 (1998), pp. 5–17; R. Kössler, 'Tradition als politische Strategie: Vom Witbooi-Fest zum Heroes Day in Gibeon, Namibia', in A. Eckert and J. Müller (eds), Transformationen der europäischen Expansion vom 16. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (Rehburg-Loccum, Evangelische Akademie Loccum, 1997), pp. 62–74. 7 J. Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (London and New York, Longman, 1993); A. Cohen, Custom and Politics in Urban Africa: A Study of Hausa Migrants in Yoruba Towns (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969). 8 D. Cohen and E. S. Odhiambo, Burying SM: The Politics of Knowledge and the Sociology of Power in Africa (London, James Currey/Heinemann, 1992). 9 P. Geschiere and F. Nyamnjoh, 'Capitalism and Autochthony: The Seesaw of Mobility and Belonging', Public Culture, 12, 2 (2000), pp. 423–452. 10 J. Bayart, S. Ellis and B. Hibou, The Criminalization of the State in Africa (Oxford, The International African Institute in association with James Currey, 1999); P. Chabal and J. Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1999); C. Boone, 'State Building in the African Countryside: Structure and Politics at the Grassroots', The Journal of Development Studies, 34, 4 (1998), pp. 1–31; T. Lodge, 'The Southern African Post-Colonial State', Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 36, 1 (1998), pp. 20–47; Bayart, The State in Africa; J. Lonsdale, 'States and Social Processes in Africa: A Historiographical Survey', African Studies Review, 24, 2/3 (1981), pp. 139–225. 11 M. Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996). 12 Throughout the German colonial period, the colonial administration had little to do with Kaokoland and its inhabitants. German troops and administrative personnel were stationed no farther north than Sesfontein (situated on Kaokoland's southern border), although the entire Kaokoland was considered a possible site for the future settlement of White farmers. See National Archives of Namibia (hereafter NAN) BOU 001 B10Q. 13 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld by Major C. N. Manning', 1917, p. 2. The South African Administration used the term Kaokoveld to refer to what was then a legislatively delimited geographical area. 14 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld by Major C. N. Manning', 1917, pp. 70–71. 15 NAN NAO 018 11/1 (Volume 1), 'Annual Report 1927', Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ovamboland, 27 January 1928, p. 17. Though both Himba and Tjimba people lived as semi-nomadic pastoralists, Himba people were supposedly wealthier. According to Major Manning, 'Tjimba' was considered a derogatory term and was applied to those people who were 'obtaining [a] precarious living in mountains without stock or any fixed abodes' (NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld', p. 54). A government ethnologist later explained the difference between Himba and Tjimba as 'largely that between a well-dressed, well-fed, well-to-do farmer and his poorer, dirtier, neglected and underfed bywoner-type cousin' (N. J. van Warmelo, Notes on the Kaokoveld [South West Africa] and its People [Pretoria, Department of Bantu Administration, Republic of South Africa, Government Printer, 1951], p. 11). However, these terms have been applied in numerous ways throughout the twentieth century, depending on the historical time and political circumstances. Today, most of those who were once classified 'Tjimba' identify themselves as either 'Himba' or 'Herero'. 16 M. Bollig, 'When War Came the Cattle Slept…': Himba Oral Traditions (Köln, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 1997), p. 22. 17 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld', p. 61. 18 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld', p. 53. 19 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld', p. 54. 20 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld', p. 62. 21 NAN ADM 156 W32, 'Report on Kaokoveld', p. 61. 22 M. Bollig, 'Framing Kaokoland', in W. Hartmann, J. Silvester and P. Hayes (eds), The Colonising Camera: Photography in the Making of Namibian History (Cape Town, University of Cape Town Press, 1998), p. 167; Bollig, 'When War Came the Cattle Slept…', p. 28. 23 NAN NAO 026 21/1, untitled memorandum, Native Commissioner, Ovamboland, 22 January 1936. 24 NAN NAO 029 24/4, 'Kaokoveld: Annual Report, 1943', Officer in Charge, Ohopoho, 29 December 1943, p. 1. 25 NAN NAO 020 11/1 (Volume 11), 'Annual Report, 1938', Native Commissioner, Ovamboland, 16 January 1939, pp. 33–34. 26 Union of South Africa, Report Presented By the Government of the Union of South Africa to the Council of the League of Nations Concerning the Administration of South West Africa for the Year 1938 (Pretoria, The Government Printer, 1939), pp. 55–56. 27 NAN NAO 020 11/1 (Volume 11), 'Annual Report, 1938', pp. 33–35. 28 During the same year, the Tshimhaka police post – first established in 1926 on the banks of the Kunene River – was closed (see NAN NAO 031 24/19). 29 NAN SWAA 2513 A552, 'Instructions to Mr. A. M. Barnard on assuming duty as officer in charge of Native Affairs at Ohopuho in the Kaokoveld' [final draft], c. March/April 1939, p. 3. 30 NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Kaokoveld Annual Report: 1948', Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 20 December 1948, pp. 1–2; also see NAN A450 011 3/9, 'Southwest Africa. Native Affairs. Annual Report for the Year 1945'. 31 See NAN SWAA 2513 A552/1 (Volume 2), 'Kaokoveld Tribal Affairs: Appointment of Members of Council of Headmen' memorandum, Native Commissioner, Ovamboland, 5 December 1949; NAN NAO 051 3/8, 'Kaokoveld Tribal Affairs: Appointment of Members of the Council of Headmen', memorandum, Chief Native Commissioner, Windhoek, 23 February 1950. 32 NAN SWAA 2085 A460/24, untitled memorandum addressed to Chief Native Commissioner, 26 October 1939; also see related documents in NAN SWAA 2085 A460/24. 33 NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Annual Report on Native Affairs, 1951: Kaokoveld District', Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 31 December 1951, p. 2. 34 NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Annual Report on Native Affairs, 1952', Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 31 December 1952, p. 3. 35 See, for example, meeting minutes in NAN NAO 061 12/3 and NAN SWAA 2513 A552/1 (Volume 2). 36 NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Minutes of Meeting Held at Ohopoho from 7th to 16th April, 1952', Officer-in-Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 16 April 1952, pp. 2–3. 37 NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Minutes of Meeting Held at Ohopoho from 7th to 16th April, 1952', Officer-in-Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 16 April 1952, p. 3. 38 NAN SWAA 2513 A552/1 (Volume 2), 'Report of the Officer-in-Charge, Native Affairs, Kaokoveld for the Quarter Ending 30th June, 1952', Officer-in-Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 30 June 1952, p. 2. 39 Tape-recorded interview/discussion: INT087/2001, Windhoek, 17 and 22 August 2001. 40 NAN SWAA 2085 A460/24, 'Tribal Affairs: Kaokoveld', memorandum, Native Commissioner, Ovamboland, 30 April 1952. 41 NAN SWAA 2085 A460/24, 'Complaint against the Hereros by the Ovatjimbas', memorandum, Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 20 April 1952. 42 NAN NAO 051 3/8, 'Complaint against the Hereros by the Ovatjimbas', memorandum, Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ohopoho, 2 October 1952. 43 Van Warmelo, Notes on the Kaokoveld, p. 25; C. Wärnlöf, An Ovahimba Political Landscape: Patterns of Authority in Northwestern Namibia (unpublished PhD dissertation, Göteborg University, 1998), p. 57. 44 NAN SWAA 2085 A460/24, 'Tribal Affairs: Kaokoveld', 30 April 1952. 45 NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Inspection Report: Kaokoveld', Native Commissioner, Ovamboland, 3 August 1953. 46 The term 'Tjimba' was apparently derived from ondjimba-ndjimba, an Otjiherero word meaning 'aardvark', i.e. an animal that must dig for its food (H. Vedder, South West Africa in Early Times: Being the Story of South West Africa Up to the Date of Maharero's Death in 1890 [London, Oxford University Press, 1938]). 47 Bollig, 'When War Came the Cattle Slept…', pp. 21 and 27. 48 NAN NAO 023 15/2, 'Vital Statistics' memorandum, Officer in Charge, Native Affairs, Ovamboland, 25 August 1927. 49 NAN SWAA 2085 A460/24, 'Tribal Affairs: Kaokoveld', 30 April 1952. 50 Archives of the Opuwo Town Council (OTC) N1/1/5/5 (1), Untitled letter No. 1 to Bantu Affairs Commissioner, Willem Hartley, Oruvandjae, 10 December 1960. 51 OTC N1/1/5/5 (2), Untitled letter No. 2 to Bantu Affairs Commissioner, Willem Hartley, Oruvandjae, 10 December 1960. 52 NAN BOP 007 N1/15/6 (Volume 1), 'Jaarverslag vir 1964. Bantoe Administrasie en Ontwikkeling. Kaokoveld Bantoe Reservaat en Zessfontein Inboorling Reservaat', Bantu Affairs Commissioner, Ohopoho, n.d. 53 The new labels were being used by at least 1970 (see OTC N1/1/2, 'Bevolkingsensus: Kaokoland' memorandum and attached 'Vergadering met Kaokoland Hoofmanne op 4 September 1970' notes, Bantu Commissioner, Ohopoho, 9 September 1970). The term 'Tjimba' might have once again fallen out of favour with members of the Big Group because of its derogatory connotations (NAN BOP 007 N1/15/6 [Volume 2], 'Memorandum. Feite Posisie van die Kaokoland', n.p., n.d., c.1974). 54 NAN BOP 007 N1/15/5/3, 'Notule van Vergadering Gehou te Ohopoho met Hoofmanne en Ongeveer 200 Invonwer op 10 November 1964', n.d. 55 OTC N1/1/2, 'Bevolkingsensus: Kaokoland' memorandum and attached 'Vergadering met Kaokoland Hoofmanne op 4 September 1970', 9 September 1970. 56 At the time of my fieldwork, nearly all government archival records were inaccessible for the years 1971–2001, as the National Archives of Namibia maintains a 30-year closed period on all of its material. As a result, my account of more recent events in Kaokoland relies mostly on oral history and personal testimonies. 57 As the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), PLAN waged the armed independence struggle in Namibia. 58 The party has remained in power since Namibia's independence in 1990. 59 SWAPO, however, refused to participate and correctly dismissed the conference as an attempt by South Africa to retain control of Namibia. For a political overview of Namibia's 'South Africa period' (1969–1989), especially with respect to the transitional politics of the late 1970s and 1980s, see J. Forrest, Namibia's Post-Apartheid Regional Institutions: The Founding Year (Rochester, University of Rochester Press, 1998), pp. 32–49. 60 In fact, Herero Paramount Chief Clemens Kapuuo became the party's first president. 61 For a more detailed treatment of the second tier authorities, see D. Simon, 'Decolonisation and Local Government in Namibia: The Neo-Apartheid Plan, 1977–83', The Journal of Modern African Studies, 23, 3 (1985), pp. 507–526; A. Abdalleh, W. Tordoff, R. Gordon and S. Nyang, Report on the Second and Third Tier Authorities (Windhoek, United Nations Development Programme, 9 September 1989); and Forrest, Namibia's Post-Apartheid Regional Institutions. 62 INT083/2001 Windhoek, 9, 16, 22 and 30 August 2001. 63 Unrecorded interview, Windhoek, 2 August 2001. 64 Nyamnjoh, 'Chieftaincy and the Negotiation of Might and Right in Botswana Democracy'; van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal and van Dijk (eds), African Chieftaincy. 65 J. Forrest, 'Ethnic-State Political Relations in Post-Apartheid Namibia', Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 32, 3 (1994), pp. 300–323; J. L. Fosse, Negotiating the Nation in Local Terms: Ethnicity and Nationalism in Eastern Caprivi, Namibia (unpublished Magister Artium dissertation, University of Oslo, 1996); C. Keulder, 'Traditional Leaders', in C. Keulder (ed.), State, Society and Democracy: A Reader in Namibian Politics (Windhoek, Gamsberg Macmillan, 2000), pp. 150–170; Kössler, 'Tradition als politische Strategie'; R. Kössler, 'Traditional Communities and the State in Southern Africa', Afrika Spectrum, 33, 1 (1998), pp. 19–37; R. Kössler, 'On the Vindicatory Politics of the Witbooi in Southern Namibia, 1915–1995', in F. M. d'Engelbronner-Kolff, M. O. Hinz and J. L. Sindano (eds), Traditional Authority and Democracy in Southern Africa (Windhoek, New Namibia Books, 1998), pp. 31–61. 66 The debate was originally sparked-off by the publication of the 'Kozonguizi Report' in 1991. See Republic of Namibia, Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to Chiefs, Headmen and Other Traditional or Tribal Leaders (Windhoek, Government of the Republic of Namibia, 1991). 67 Though ironic, Afrikaners in Namibia have also recently submitted an application for the government to recognise its chiefship under an Afrikaner Traditional Authority ('Kaapanda Says Still To Consider Afrikaner Chieftainship Request', The Namibian, 16 December 2002). 68 Unrecorded interview, Windhoek, 2 August 2001. 69 INT042/2001, Opuwo, 27 March 2001. 70 Oral historian Muniombara, quoted in Bollig, 'When War Came the Cattle Slept…', p. 69. 71 For an interesting comparative account, based on the disinterment and re-burial of a former Nama-speaking Kaptein in southern Namibia, see R. Kössler, 'A Chief's Homecoming: Public Memory and Its Communal Organisation – A Case Study from Berseba, Southern Namibia' (unpublished paper presented at a conference on Public History: Forgotten History, 22–25 August 2000, University of Namibia, Windhoek, 2000). 72 INT027/2001, Opuwo, 24 January 2001. 73 Unrecorded interview, Windhoek, 22 August 2001. 74 Already in the late 1940s, van Warmelo reported that many Himba people 'derive a reflected greatness by claiming a relationship with him [Mureti]' (van Warmelo, Notes on the Kaokoveld, p. 13). 75 On the life of Mureti, see Otjikaoko group oral historians in Bollig, 'When War Came the Cattle Slept…', pp. 33–78 and 241–271. For another account of Mureti, as told by a Herero oral historian from central Namibia, see A. Kaputu, 'Mureti of Kaupangua', in A. Heywood, B. Lau and R. Ohly (eds), Warriors, Leaders, Sages and Outcasts in the Namibian Past: Narratives Collected from Herero Sources for the Michael Scott Oral Records Project (MSORP) 1985–6 (Windhoek, MSORP, 1992), pp. 62–71. 76 I. Ohta, 'Drought and Mureti's Grave: The "We/Us" Boundaries between Kaokolanders and the People of Okakarara Area in the Early 1980s', in M. Bollig and J. Gewald (eds), People, Cattle and Land: Transformations of a Pastoral Society in Southwestern Africa (Köln, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 2000), p. 310. 77 M. Bollig, 'Zur Konstruktion ethnischer Grenzen im Nordwesten Namibias (zwischen 1880–1940). Ethnohistorische Dekonstruktion im Spannungsfeld zwischen indigenen Ethnographien und kolonialen Texten', in H. Behrend and T. Geider (eds), Afrikaner schreiben zurück: Texte und Bilder afrikanischer Ethnographen (Köln, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 1998), p. 263. 78 Ohta, 'Drought and Mureti's Grave', p. 310. 79 M. Bollig, 'Contested Places: Graves and Graveyards in Himba Culture', Anthropos, 92, 1–3 (1997), pp. 35–50; Bollig, 'Zur Konstruktion ethnischer Grenzen'; M. Bollig, Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment: A Comparative Study of Two Pastoral Communities (Pokot NW Kenya and Himba NW Namibia) (unpublished Habilitation, Universität Köln, 1999); S. van Wolputte, Of Bones and Flesh and Milk: Moving Bodies and Self among the OvaHimba (unpublished PhD dissertation, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, 1998); Wärnlöf, An Ovahimba Political Landscape; C. Wärnlöf, 'The Politics of Death: Demarcating Land through Ritual Performance', in Bollig and Gewald (eds), People, Cattle and Land, pp. 449–469. 80 G. Krüger and D. Henrichsen, "We have been Captives Long Enough. We Want to be Free": Land, Uniforms and Politics in the History of the Herero in the Interwar Period', in P. Hayes, J. Silvester, M. Wallace and W. Hartmann (eds), Namibia under South African Rule: Mobility and Containment, 1915–46 (Oxford, James Currey, 1998), pp. 149–174; W. Hartmann, 'Funerary Photographs: The Funeral of a Chief', in Hartmann, Silvester and Hayes (eds), The Colonising Camera, pp. 125–131; J. Gewald, 'Mirror Images? Photographs of Herero Commemorations in the 1920s and 1930s', in Hartmann, Silvester and Hayes (eds), The Colonising Camera, pp. 118–124; J. Gewald, Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia 1890–1923 (Oxford, James Currey, 1999). 81 Wärnlöf, An Ovahimba Political Landscape; Wärnlöf, 'The Politics of Death'. 82 See Bollig, 'Contested Places'. 83 Bollig, Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment, p. 512. 84 Tape-recorded public event: CAS002/2000, Opuwo, 5 November 2000. 85 INT004/2000, Opuwo, 5 November 2000. 86 INT045/2001, Opuwo, 19 April 2001. 87 Other anthropologists have had a similar experience (see Rekdal, 'When Hypothesis becomes Myth'). 88 Interestingly, the Otjiherero term omambo also means 'it is true'. 89 J. T. Friedman, 'Mapping the Epupa Debate: Discourse and Representation in a Namibian Development Project', in G. Miescher and D. Henrichsen (eds), New Notes on Kaoko: The Northern Kunene Region (Namibia) in Texts and Photographs (Basel, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2000), pp. 220–235. 90 My analysis of the Epupa debate differs substantially from the work of Michael Bollig who has used the debate as a way to draw parallels with the former colonial regime's construction of the region's political elites (M. Bollig, 'Söldnerführer, Chiefs und Indigenous Rights Aktivisten – Intermediäre der Macht im Nordwesten Namibias', Peripherie, 67 [1997], pp. 67–84). He emphasises how outside interests – whether the former colonial administration or a contemporary Epupa debate interest group – have tried to gain influence in Kaokoland via its local leaders. Through his analysis we see how both sets of outside forces have acted similarly in moulding power in the region. These parallel patterns most certainly exist. However, Bollig's work on Kaokoland differs from my own in that he tends to overlook the importance of the factional dynamic in having mediated the relationship between local leaders and outside interests (for example, the state and foreign interest groups), both in the past and in the present. In emphasising the relationship between local leaders and external interests, Bollig side-steps the significant influence of Kaokoland's internal dynamics. 91 INT083/2001. 92 INT087/2001. 93 INT042/2001. 94 INT047/2001, Opuwo, 20 and 23 April 2001. 95 See Traditional Authorities Act No. 25 of 2000. 96 'Himba Community Mulls Nyamu's Gift', The Namibian, 2 June 1998. 97 'Himba Seize Initiative', The Namibian, 4 June 1998; 'Himba Steer Own Development Plans', The Namibian, 10 January 2000. 98 Permanent Joint Technical Commission of Angola and Namibia on the Cunene River Basin, 'Lower Cunene Hydropower Scheme Feasibility Study: Draft Feasibility Report, Part A3, Environmental Assessment – Main Report, Epupa Project (English Version)', (Windhoek, NamAng, 1997), pp. A16-9–A16-10. 99 See T. Sveijer, 'Namibia: The Himba People's Fight Against the Planned Construction of a Dam', Indigenous Affairs, July–December 1997, 3/4 (1997), pp. 12–17. 100 Although not my primary focus here, it should also be mentioned that recognised traditional leaders are well positioned to access opportunities in the private sector, especially with respect to outside tourism interests. Wärnlöf details such a case with respect to an international documentary film project. See C. Wärnlöf, 'The "Discovery" of the Himba: The Politics of Ethnographic Film Making', Africa, 70, 2 (2000), pp. 175–191. 101 I should qualify my use of the phrase 'Kaokolanders often represented'. More accurately, it was generally men, middle-aged and old men, knowledgeable men, wealthy men, male leaders, and the power elite (a few of whom were women) that generated discourses on the two opposing groups and the dispute, and not 'Kaokolanders' per se. Kaokoland's political order is a patriarchal political order, and the Kaoko factional dispute does indeed reflect this gender stratification. Most Kaokoland women neither actively engage in, nor even possess knowledge about, the conflict. 102 For example, during a discussion of the dispute at a 1952 meeting at Opuwo, one Herero headman said that 'when a person died they come together for the burial. The Hereros and ovaTjimbas are one tribe. Should a Herero die we feel that the ovaTjimbas should also contribute grain, tobacco or stock for consumption at the funeral. The same should apply to the Hereros should an ovaTjimba die.' (NAN NAO 061 12/3, 'Minutes of Meeting', 16 April 1952). Also, see oral historian Muharukua, quoted in Bollig, "When War Came the Cattle Slept…", p. 138; Bollig, 'Zur Konstruktion ethnischer Grenzen', p. 266. 103 V. Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969). 104 INT087/2001. 105 See E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1940). 106 Archives of the Otjikaoko Traditional Authority (OTA), Letter to the Honourable Minister 'Re. Appointment of an Inspector in Opuwo Circuit', Kunene North Traditional Authority, Opuwo, 28 May 2001. 107 INT031/2001, Opuwo, 12 March 2001. 108 INT081/2001, Windhoek, 7 August 2001. 109 INT015/2000, Opuwo, 12 December 2000. 110 For a broader national perspective on memory and the political culture of violence in postcolonial Namibia, see H. Melber, '"Namibia, Land of the Brave": Selective Memories on War and Violence within Nation Building', in J. Abbink, M. de Bruijn and K. van Walraven (eds), Rethinking Resistance: Revolt and Violence in African History (Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2003), pp. 305–327. Also, Achille Mbembe has recently proposed the concepts of 'necropower' and 'necropolitics', wherein he presents 'a reading of politics as the work of death'. See A. Mbembe, 'Necropolitics', Public Culture, 15, 1 (2003), pp. 11–40. 111 INT063/2001, Opuwo, 12 May 2001. 112 Unrecorded interview, Opuwo, 22 May 2001. 113 J. Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development,' Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990). 114 See Traditional Authorities Act No. 25 of 2000. 115 See Bayart, The State in Africa, pp. 150–179. 116 INT079/2001, Opuwo, 7 June 2001. 117 Cohen, Custom and Politics. 118 Bayart, The State in Africa, p. 48. 119 See J. L. Comaroff, 'Of Totemism and Ethnicity: Consciousness, Practice and the Signs of Inequality', Ethnos, 52, 3/4 (1987), pp. 301–323. 120 Geschiere and Nyamnjoh, 'Capitalism and Authochthony'. 121 Geschiere and Nyamnjoh, p. 423. 122 In late 2003 another important opposition party split took place at the national level, a development that will certainly have political ramifications for Kaokoland and the factional dispute. At that time, Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako withdrew his Herero National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) from the DTA opposition party ('Riruako Quits the DTA', The Namibian, 19 September 2003). In December of the same year, Namibia's Electoral Commission approved the registration of NUDO as a political party in its own right ('Nudo "battle is over", says chief', The Namibian, 8 December 2003). Although it is too early to tell, as of March 2004 it seems likely that the leaders and followers of the Otjikaoko Traditional Authority will join Riruako in fleeing the DTA, and thus find a new political home in the new NUDO party. If such a prediction does come to pass, then these actions will open the way for the Vita Royal House to return to the political folds of the DTA, if they so desire. 123 'Ovaherero Seek Return of Chief's Remains', The Namibian, 27 January 2004. 124 'Goresab Royal House Halts Meetings at Damara King's Grave', The Namibian, 10 November 2003. 125 Such remembrance work also involves the suppression of national memory. With respect to the forgetting of history, see S. Groth, Namibia the Wall of Silence: The Dark Days of the Liberation Struggle (Wuppertal, Peter Hammer Verlag, 1995); J. Saul and C. Leys, 'Lubango and After: "Forgotten History" as Politics in Contemporary Namibia', Journal of Southern African Studies, 29, 2 (2003), pp. 333–354. 126 Melber, '"Namibia, Land of the Brave"'. See also H. Melber, 'Befreiung von der Zukunft: Nachkoloniale Heldenverehrung in Namibia', Der Überblick, 38, 4 (2002), pp. 91–93; and H. Melber, 'Heroism and Memory Culture', Namibia Review, 11, 2 (2002), 36–40. In fact, the special issue of Namibia Review, 11, 2, (August 2002), is devoted in its entirety to 'Namibian Heroes and Heroines'. For a West African comparison, see R. de Jorio, 'Narratives of the Nation and Democracy in Mali: A View from Modibo Keita's Memorial', Cahiers d'Études Africaines, 43, 4 (2003), pp. 827–855. 127 Melber, '"Namibia, Land of the Brave"', p. 321. 128 Mamdani, Citizen and Subject, p. 61. Additional informationNotes on contributorsJohn T. Friedman*This article is based on fifteen months of anthropological fieldwork. The research was conducted during 2000/2001. I would like to express my gratitude to Mike Kavekotora and Jekura Kuvari who helped guide me through these complex issues, as well as the numerous other Kaokolanders who generously shared their time and knowledge with me. This article was originally presented as a paper at the Chieftaincy in Africa: Culture, Governance and Development conference held in Accra, Ghana in January 2003. I very much appreciate having had the opportunity to present it, and, in this respect, I would like to thank the conference organisers, Irene Odotei and Ato Quayson. Additionally, a number of individuals read earlier drafts of this article and/or offered constructive feedback and helpful suggestions. In particular, I would like to thank Sue Benson, Michael Bollig, Mariane Ferme, Joshua Forrest, Peter Geschiere, Fatima Müller-Friedman, Todd Sanders, David Simon, Jacqueline Solway and two anonymous reviewers. Finally, my research in Namibia would not have been possible without the financial assistance of the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Smuts Memorial Fund, the Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust, the Cambridge Overseas Trust, the Cambridge African Studies Centre and Darwin College, as well as the University of Cambridge, its Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, and its Department of Social Anthropology.