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‘Reintegration’ of Ex-combatants and Former Fighters: a lens into state formation and citizenship in Namibia

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01436590600842407

1360-2241

Lalli Metsola,

ICT Impact and Policies

Abstract This article explores Namibian state formation and citizenship through the case of ex-combatant 'reintegration', particularly its focus on government employment provision since the mid-1990s. It examines the discourses that have motivated the targeting of ex-combatants, the practical measures taken towards 'reintegration', and ex-combatants' own initiatives and responses. Analytically it focuses on the implications of 'reintegration' for relations between the state and its population or citizens, particularly the drawing of lines of inclusion and exclusion, and the tension that appears between personalised and bureaucratic tendencies of rule. Notes I wish to thank all Namibians who have shared their views and knowledge. I also thank Gideon Matti and Likius Ndjuluwa for indispensable research assistance, and Sara Rich Dorman, Jeremy Gould and Henning Melber for constructive comments on different versions of this work. Academy of Finland and the Kone Foundation have provided funding, while the Department of Sociology of the University of Namibia helped both in academic and practical terms during fieldwork periods. 1 Before independence the official name of the movement was 'South West Africa People's Organisation' (swapo) and, later, 'swapo of Namibia'. After independence it was changed to 'swapo Party'. In this article 'swapo' will be used throughout. 2 In Namibia the term 'ex-combatant' is sometimes used in a broad sense to cover all those who fought in the war or have been targeted by 'reintegration'. However, it is also common to reserve it for those who were on swapo's side and refer to those who fought on the South African side as 'former fighters'. For the sake of clarity, this article will follow this distinction. 3 See, among others, R Preston et al, The Integration of Returned Exiles, Former Combatants and Other War-affected Namibians, Windhoek: University of Namibia, Namibian Institute for Social and Economic Research, 1993; NJ Colletta et al, Case Studies in War-to-Peace Transition: The Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants in Ethiopia, Namibia, and Uganda, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1996; R Preston, 'Integrating fighters after war: reflections on the Namibian experience, 1989 – 1993', Journal of Southern African Studies, 23 (3), 1997, pp 453 – 472; and D LeBeau, An Investigation into the Lives of Namibian Ex-fighters Fifteen Years After Independence, Windhoek: PEACE Centre, 2005. 4 T Blom Hansen & F Stepputat (eds), Sovereign Bodies: Citizens, Migrants and States in the Postcolonial World, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005; Blom Hansen & Stepputat (eds), States of Imagination: Ethnographic Explorations of the Postcolonial State, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001; S Corbridge, G Williams, M Srivastava & R Véron, Seeing the State: Governance and Governmentality in Rural India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; and V Das & D Poole (eds), Anthropology in the Margins of the State, Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, 2004. 5 M-R Trouillot, 'The anthropology of the state in the age of globalization', Current Anthropology, 42 (1), 2001, pp 125 – 138. See also T Mitchell, 'Society, economy, and the state effect', in George Steinmetz (ed), State/Culture: State-Formation after the Cultural Turn, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999. 6 G Steinmetz, 'Introduction: culture and the state', in Steinmetz, State/Culture, p 9. 7 On biopolitics and governmentality, see M Foucault, 'The subject and power', in H Dreyfus & P Rabinow (eds), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp 220 – 221; M Foucault, 'Governmentality', in Graham Burchell, C Gordon & P Miller (eds), The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991; M Dean, Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society, London: Sage, 1999; N Rose, Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999; B Cruikshank, The Will to Empower: Democratic Citizens and Other Subjects, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999; and W Walters, Unemployment and Government: Genealogies of the Social, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 8 Data was collected in north-central Namibia and Windhoek in 2002 – 03. They consist of life stories and thematic interviews with about 90 ex-combatants and former fighters, notes of personal observations and informal discussions, and interviews with some 40 government and swapo officials, as well as with 'civil society' representatives, complemented by programme documents, official correspondence, parliamentary debates, and media items. 9 Preston, 'Integrating fighters after war', p 454; and J Saul & C Leys, 'swapo: the politics of exile', in C Leys & J Saul (eds), Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The Two-Edged Sword, London: James Currey, 1995, pp 63 – 64. South African administration had exact records of swatf and Koevoet fighters. The number of ex-plan combatants and other former exiles is more difficult to establish. swapo either did not have a register of its combatants or has not disclosed it. plan forces were demobilised before repatriation and returned as civilians. Some remained in Angola until late 1989 as a reserve. For these reasons it is not known how many of the returnees had been combatants. Sources give figures ranging from around 9000 to around 30 000, at least partly depending on how 'ex- plan-combatant' is defined. Colletta et al, Case Studies in War-to-Peace Transition, pp 131 – 132; Preston, 'Integrating fighters after war', p 455; and C Gleichmann, 'Returned exiles in Namibia: the dynamics of reintegration and political change', unpublished MA thesis, University of Hamburg, 1994, p 136. 10 This has been explained by changes in global and regional political dynamics, the attainment of Namibia's independence through international negotiations, the drafting of the constitution on the basis of principles accepted by the UN Security Council in 1982, and the fact that swapo did not gain the two-thirds majority required to draft the constitution on its own. L Dobell, swapo 's Struggle for Namibia 1960 – 1991: War by Other Means, Basel: P Schlettwein, 1998, pp 69 – 76, 82 – 105; L Cliffe et al, The Transition to Independence in Namibia, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1994; and G Erasmus, 'The constitution: its impact on Namibian statehood and politics', in C Keulder (ed), State, Society and Democracy: A Reader in Namibian Politics, Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan, 2000, pp 79 – 83. 11 H Melber, 'Limits to liberation: an introduction to Namibia's postcolonial political culture', in Melber (ed), Re-examining Liberation in Namibia: Political Culture Since Independence, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2003; Melber, 'From controlled change to changed control: the case of Namibia', Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 21 (2), 2003, pp 267 – 284; C Tapscott, 'Class formation and civil society in Namibia', in I Diener & O Graefe (eds), Contemporary Namibia: The First Landmarks of a Post-apartheid Society, Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan, 2001, pp 319 – 321; Leys & Saul, Namibia's Liberation Struggle; and Dobell, swapo 's Struggle for Namibia. 12 H Melber, 'Namibia's post-colonial socio-economic (non-)transformation: business as usual?', Nord Süd Aktuell, 19(3 – 4), 2005, pp 306 – 321; J Mbai & R Sherbourne, Have Priorities Changed? Budget Trends Since Independence, ippr Briefing Paper 32, Windhoek: Institute for Public Policy Research, 2004; A Dubresson & O Graefe, 'The state, accumulation and regulation: for a political economy of Namibia', in Diener & Graefe, Contemporary Namibia; and Tapscott, 'Class formation and civil society in Namibia'. 13 Apart from a small minority sent for studies, the exiles lived in camps or were deployed in plan units. swapo sought to reform them into loyal cadres through military training, as well as political and other education. For a more detailed account, see L Metsola, 'The liberation narrative and the post-return life stories of Namibian former exiles', unpublished MA thesis, University of Helsinki, 2001, pp 129 – 173. 14 Preston, 'Integrating fighters after war', pp 455, 459, 463 – 467; and Republic of Namibia, National Resettlement Policy, Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, 1997. 15 This was also in line with the recommendations of the World Bank (Colletta et al, Case Studies in War-to-Peace Transition) and a study by International Labour Organisation (ilo) consultants that was funded by the EU. Republic of Namibia, Programme for the Socio-economic Integration of Ex-combatants, Windhoek: Office of the President, National Planning Commission, 1996. On the demonstrations, see articles in The Namibian, 10 and 21 April 1995; 9 and 17 May 1995. 16 Republic of Namibia, Programme for the Socio-economic Integration of Ex-combatants; Republic of Namibia, Namibia, A Decade of Peace, Democracy and Prosperity, Windhoek: Office of the Prime Minister, 2000; articles in The Namibian, 23 and 29 May 1995; 25 July 1995; 3, 10 and 22 August 1995; 8 December 1995; 15 August 1996; 29 and 30 October 1997; and Namibia Economist, 20 September 1996. 17 See articles in The Namibian, 7 May 1997; 26 June 1997; 29 September 1997; 24, 28 and 31 October 1997; 4, 6, 10, and 13 November 1997; 21, 22 and 27 July 1998; 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 17 August 1998; 3 September 1998; 23 December 1998; and Electronic Mail and Guardian, 7 and 8 July 1997. 18 Republic of Namibia, Namibia, A Decade of Peace, Democracy and Prosperity; Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, Technical Committee on Ex-Combatants, 1998, pp 3 – 5. 19 Figures obtained from sipe by the author, 29 October 2002. 20 'Increasing the stakes: war disabled want N$75 000 each', The Namibian, 28 October 1997. 21 '"Abandoned" fighters take demo to Outapi', The Namibian, 4 August 1998. 22 'Angry ex-fighters launch new protest', The Namibian, 21 July 1998. 23 'Angry women petition President', The Namibian, 14 August 1998. 24 Many of these same informants also suggested that the decision of the former plan combatant, political prisoner, trade unionist and high-ranking swapo official Ben Ulenga to resign from swapo in August 1998 and form a new party, the Congress of Democrats, was decisive in speeding up ex-combatant 'reintegration'. Ulenga's move came shortly after ex-combatant demonstrations and a year before parliamentary and presidential elections. 25 Debates of the National Assembly, 30/1998 and 32/1999. 26 Many opposition mps questioned the view of plan ex-combatants as the heroes of the nation, arguing that many contributed to 'the struggle' and suffering of the war inside the country. The mutually opposing views were also played out in everyday discussions between 'returnees' and 'remainees'. 27 For example, a spokesman for disabled ex-combatants who were demanding monetary compensation said, countering the argument that they should not be paid because participation in the struggle had been voluntary: 'I know most of the Ministers went abroad voluntarily … but what about those people who were forced to join the struggle? … Some of us were forcefully taken from our father's house. We were not volunteers.''Vet "volunteers" vexed', The Namibian, 14 July 2000. The theme of memory politics is important but falls beyond the scope of this paper. Not much work has yet been done on it in the Namibian context. See J Saul & C Leys, 'Lubango and after: "forgotten history" as politics in contemporary Namibia', Journal of Southern African Studies, 29 (2), 2003, pp 333 – 353; R Kössler, 'Public memory, reconciliation and the aftermath of war: a preliminary framework with special reference to Namibia', in Melber, Re-examining Liberation in Namibia; C Saunders, 'Liberation and democracy: a critical reading of Sam Nujoma's "autobiography"', in Melber, Re-examining Liberation in Namibia; and Metsola, 'The liberation narrative'. Discussion concerning Zimbabwe—often seen as a reference point for Namibia—has been somewhat livelier. See, among others, J Alexander, J McGregor & T Ranger, Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the 'Dark Forests' of Matabeleland, Oxford: James Currey, 2000; R Werbner, 'Smoke from the barrel of a gun: postwars of the dead, memory and reinscription in Zimbabwe', in Werbner (ed), Memory and the Postcolony: African Anthropology and the Critique of Power, London: Zed, 1998; and N Kriger, Guerrilla Veterans in Post-war Zimbabwe: Symbolic and Violent Politics, 1980 – 1987, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 28 'sff"the price we have to pay for peace"', The Namibian, 24 October 2002. 29 Nangolo Mbumba, in Debates, 32/1999, 7 April 1999. 30 Hage Geingob, in Debates 33/1999, 27 April 1999. 31 Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, pp 3, 14. 32 sapa news agency, Johannesburg, 10 October 1995, reprinted in Facts and Reports, 25 (U), 27 October 1995, p 8; 'Namibian minister flees enraged ex-guerrillas', Electronic Mail and Guardian, 11 May 1998; 'Hamutenya hassled, faces wrath of ex-fighters', The Namibian, 8 May 1998; and 'Hostage drama rocks Oshakati', The Namibian, 9 July 1997. 33 Isaac Kaulinge, interviewed by the author, Windhoek, 14 July 2003. 34 MP Cowen & RW Shenton, Doctrines of Development, London: Routledge, 1996. 35 G Procacci, 'Social economy and the government of poverty', in Burchell et al, The Foucault Effect, pp 153 – 162, 164 – 165. 36 Statistics and the quantification of society have been an indispensable part of modern biopolitics since early efforts to manage the urban poor, the unemployed, or any other 'needy' population segment. TM Porter, 'Quantification in the history of the social sciences', in NJ Smelser & PB Baltes (eds), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001; Ian Hacking, 'How should we do the history of statistics?', in Burchell et al, The Foucault Effect. 37 Moreover, in situations where demonstrating ex-combatants demanded immediate measures, registration was a concrete measure that gave credibility to the promises made and thereby helped to end the demonstrations. 38 People who were 'trained and deployed in combat formations'. Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, p 6. 39 Those who performed other duties under swapo's umbrella in exile. Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, p 6. 40 Former plan combatants over 55 years of age or disabled. Republic of Namibia, 'War veterans subvention act' (Act 16 of 1999), Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia, 2211, 20 October 1999. 41 Children of deceased exiles. Ibid. 42 This practice was experienced as insufficient and discriminatory to those in the outskirts. It reflects the ad hoc character and hastiness of the first round of registrations, which was started in order to stop the huge demonstrations in Windhoek and Ondangwa. Attempts were made to broaden the reach in subsequent rounds. 43 Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, p 7; N Taapopi, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary, Chairperson of the Technical Committee on Ex-combatants, interviewed by the author, 18 November 2002; and M Kafidi, Development Planner, National Planning Commission, interviewed by the author, 14 November 2002 and 4 August 2003. 44 The registration form for former exiles covered personal particulars, history in swapo, (military) training history, (military) service history, repatriation details, and employment history since repatriation. The form for former swatf and Koevoet personnel only charted personal particulars and employment history since demobilisation, as there was already a reliable database on them. 45 Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of ex-PLAN Combatants, p 7. 46 'Fund for ex-fighters gets off the ground', The Namibian, 10 August 1995. 47 Republic of Namibia, Final Report of the Technical Committee on Ex Combatants to the Cabinet Committee on Defence and Security ( ccds ), Technical Committee on Ex-Combatants, nd (2001), p 13. 48 Cf I Chipkin, '"Functional" and "dysfunctional" communities: the making of national citizens', Journal of Southern African Studies, 29 (1), 2003, pp 63 – 82; Cruikshank, The Will to Empower; Walters, Unemployment and Government; P Chatterjee, The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World, New York: Columbia University Press, 2004; and Chatterjee, 'On civil and political society in post-colonial democracies', in S Kaviraj & S Khilnani (eds), Civil Society: History and Possibilities, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 49 This view is widespread in the argumentation of Namibian political opposition but also in popular perceptions. 50 See, among others, Amnesty International, Policing to Protect Human Rights: A Survey of Police Practice in Countries of the Southern African Development Community, 1997 – 2002, London: Amnesty International, 2002, pp 18 – 19, 22 – 23. 51 Small informal bars. 52 Debates, 34/1999. 53 Here I refer to a particular notion of sovereignty that focuses on biopolitical operations over 'bare life'. G Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998. See also Hansen & Stepputat, Sovereign Bodies; Das & Poole, Anthropology in the Margins of the State; B Kapferer, 'Introduction: old permutations, new formations? War, state and global transgression', in Kapferer (ed), State, Sovereignty, War: Civil Violence in Emerging Global Realities, New York: Berghahn, 2004, pp 6 – 8; A Mbembe, 'Necropolitics', Public Culture, 15 (1), 2003, pp 11 – 40; M Dean, 'Powers of life and death beyond governmentality', Cultural Values, 6 (1 – 2), 2002, pp 119 – 138; and, for an interesting case study on Zimbabwe, E Worby, 'The end of modernity in Zimbabwe? Passages from development to sovereignty', in A Hammar, B Raftopoulos & S Jensen (eds), Zimbabwe's Unfinished Business: Rethinking Land, State and Nation in the Context of Crisis, Harare: Weaver Press, 2003. 54 Das & Poole, Anthropology in the Margins of the State, p 14. 55 'Fighters in yet another war of words … ', The Namibian, 24 October 1997; and 'Students amongst ex-plan protesters', The Namibian, 11 November 1997. 56 Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, p 6. 57 In the first Technical Committee registration, carried out in 1998, and the third registration, carried out in 2000, 4317 men and 2752 women were registered in category A (those trained and deployed in combat formations). 1027 men and 2840 women were registered in category B, covering other former exiles. Figures for the second registration were unavailable. By November 1999 2848 category A and 1141 category B ex-combatants had been absorbed into the ndf and Nampol. 1761 category A and 2227 category B ex-combatants had been absorbed into other ministries. Republic of Namibia, Report on the Registration, Verification of, and Investigations into the Condition of Ex- plan Combatants, pp 8, 9; and Republic of Namibia, Final Report of the Technical Committee on Ex Combatants to the Cabinet Committee on Defence and Security (ccds), pp 3, 9. Together these figures suggest a gender division between uniformed and non-uniformed services, and this impression is reinforced by the correspondence between the Technical Committee and various ministries (copies in author's possession), containing lists of ex-combatants to be employed, as well as by the author's personal observations. 58 By November 2000 13 992 former exiles had been registered, compared with 2420 former swatf and Koevoet fighters. In November 1999 7881 (65.9%) of the then registered 11 956 able-bodied former exiles had been employed, compared with 679 (34.3%) of the then registered 1980 former swatf and Koevoet members. Republic of Namibia, Final Report of the Technical Committee on Ex Combatants to the Cabinet Committee on Defence and Security ( ccds ), pp 3, 9. 59 See articles in The Namibian, 10 and 15 October 2001; 13 December 2001; 12, 16, 19 and 20 August 2002; 9, 10 and 16 September 2002; 6 November 2002; and 8 April 2003.