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User:Pgallert/Independence of Namibia

Namibia gained its independence on 21 March 1990.

Timeline of events

  • December 17, 1920: South Africa assumes administration of South-West Africa under the terms of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations and a Class C Mandate agreement by the League Council. The Class C mandate, supposed to be used for the least developed territories, gave South Africa full power of administration and legislation over the territory{{cite web

|url=http://www.vantaa.fi/fi/kulttuuri/museot/vantaan_kaupunginmuseo/vantaa_city_museum/the_south_africa_mandate_1915_1989

|title=The South Africa Mandate 1915-1989

|last=Eerikäinen

|first=Marjo

|date=14 July 2008

|publisher=Vantaa City Museum

|accessdate=13 September 2011}} without the obligation to guide the population into independence.{{cite web

|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/402283/Namibia

|title=Namibia

|editor=Reginald Herbold Green

|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica

|accessdate=15 February 2012}} It did require, however, that South Africa promote the material and moral well-being and social progress of the people.

  • 1945: The end of World War II effects a raise in base metal prices and increased demand for cattle, karakul, fish, and diamonds—all commodities that are abundant in South-West Africa. The territory becomes economically profitable for South Africa, its economy begins growing at a fast pace.
  • May/June 1946: The South African administration runs a referendum on joining South Africa among the indigenous population which results in 85% favouring the merger. This poll has been criticised as not being a proper referendum (headmen were polled on behalf of their populace),[http://www.sudd.ch/event.php?lang=en&id=na011946 Südwestafrika (Namibia), Mai/Juni 1946: Anschluss an die Republik Südafrika [South West Africa, May/June 1946: Merger with the Republic of South Africa]] Direct Democracy {{in lang|de}} and as being worded in a way that does not satisfactorily explain the choices at hand. In fact, the Administration cheated by suggesting the possibility that another country might rule South-West Africa henceforth.{{fact|date=September 2012}}
  • 1946: The newly founded United Nations turn down the subsequent South African request to annex South-West Africa. Furthermore the UN requests that the mandated territory be transformed into a trusteeship under its supervision. South Africa questions the legitimacy of the mandate restrictions to be passed from the League of Nations to the UN and claims full jurisdiction over the territory. The UN approaches the International Court of Justice in this matter.{{cite web

|url=http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/namoverview6.htm

|title=Namibia: Apartheid, resistance and repression (1945-1966)

|date=August 2009

|publisher=Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa

|accessdate=15 April 2011}}

  • 28 May 1948: The National Party wins the 1948 election in South Africa and subsequently introduces apartheid legislation.{{cite web

|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/apartheid-%C3%A3%C2%A2%C3%A2%C2%82%C2%AC%C3%AB%C2%9Cofficially%C3%A3%C2%A2%C3%A2%C2%82%C2%AC%C3%A2%C2%84%C2%A2-institutionalised-when-herenigde-nasionale-party-win

|title=Apartheid is 'officially' institutionalised when the Herenigde Nasionale Party wins the general elections

|publisher=South Africa History Online

|accessdate=13 September 2011}} These laws also extend into South-West Africa which was the de facto fifth province of South Africa.

  • 1950: The International Court of Justice rules that the territory remains a mandate and that there is no requirement to create a trusteeship as requested by the UN.
  • 1958: Foundation of the Ovamboland People's Organisation, the predecessor of SWAPO{{cite news

| author = Petronella Sibeene

| publisher = New Era

| title = Swapo Party Turns 49

| url = http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=26156

| date = 13 September 2011}} This event marks the beginning of a quick shift of leadership from traditional leaders to political parties.

  • 20 August 1959: Foundation of SWANU{{cite web

|title = History of Namibia, 1959

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|url = http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/101.htm

|accessdate = 10 February 2012}}

  • 10 December 1959: Residents of the Old Location protest against rising bus fares and forced removal to a new township, Katutura. The resulting uprising sees 11 people dead and 44 injured. It also forces leading figures of the Ovamboland People's Organisation into exile, indirectly leading to the foundation of SWAPO. The events around the Old Location Uprising are probably one of the main reasons for SWAPO to put less effort into petitioning and resistance, and to turn the independence struggle into an armed conflict.
  • 1960: Foundation of SWAPO{{cite news

|title= The founder of Swapo

|first= Kae

|last= Matundu-Tjiparuro

|format= Swapo 50th anniversary supplement to New Era

|newspaper= New Era

|date= 19 April 2010}}

|title=Warfare in Independent Africa

|last=Reno

|first=William

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|date=2011

|series=New Approaches to African History

|volume=5

|page=101

|isbn=9781139498654

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSDTK95_-7UC&dq=SWAPO+PLAN+1962+-wiki&pg=PA101}}

|title=Who Killed Clemens Kapuuo?

|last=Gewald

|first=Jan-Bart

|journal=Journal of Southern African Studies

|volume=30

|issue=3

|date=September 2004

|pages=559–576

|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/4851/asc-1293873-058.pdf?sequence=1

|issn=0305-7070

|doi= 10.1080/0305707042000254100|hdl=1887/4851

|s2cid=146448312

}}

  • 1974: SWAPO transfers its headquarters to Angola which recently became independent. 6000 Namibians go into exile to join the liberation movement.{{cite web

|url=http://www.vantaa.fi/fi/kulttuuri/museot/vantaan_kaupunginmuseo/vantaa_city_museum/the_long_road_to_independence

|title=The South Africa Mandate 1915-1989

|publisher=Vantaa City Museum

|accessdate=14 September 2011}}

|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Geschichte/117.htm

|title=Chronologie der Geschichte Namibias, 1975

|trans-title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1975

|language=German

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|accessdate=8 September 2011}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Geschichte/118.htm

|title=Chronologie der Geschichte Namibias, 1976

|trans-title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1976

|language=German

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|accessdate=8 September 2011}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Geschichte/119.htm

|title=Chronologie der Geschichte Namibias, 1977

|trans-title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1977

|language=German

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|accessdate=8 September 2011}}

  • 30 January 1976: United Nations Security Council Resolution 385 adopted by the United Nations, instructing South Africa to hold free elections in Namibia within 6 months. This resolution marks the entry of the USA and their allies into the negotiations on the future of Namibia.
  • 18 May 1977: The draft constitution as suggested by the Turnhalle Conference (called the Turnhalle Plan) is tested in a Whites-only referendum. 95% approve.[http://www.sudd.ch/event.php?lang=en&id=na011977 Südwestafrika (Namibia), 18. Mai 1977: Turnhalle-Plan für die Unabhängigkeit [South West Africa, 18 May 1977: Turnhalle plan for independence] Direct Democracy {{in lang|de}}
  • 1977: Martti Ahtisaari becomes United Nations Commissioner for Namibia.
  • 5 November 1977: the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) is founded, mainly from the ethnic groups that attended the Turnhalle Conference, but also smaller, ethnically based parties.. The DTA servers as a counterbalance to SWAPO, representing the part of the population that resists the liberation movement's violence.{{cite web

| url = http://rehobothbasters.com/newsdetails.php?id=136

| title = DTA 'Down but Not Out'

| first = Kuvee

| last = Kangueehi

| publisher = New Era (via rehobothbasters.com)

| date = 22 October 2004

| accessdate = 23 September 2014}}

  • 1977-1987: "Namibia turned from an economic asset to a millstone" to South Africa, caused by drought, overfishing, changing import-export price ratios, mismanagement, and the cost of the war which by then equaled the Gross Domestic Product of South-West Africa.
  • 27 March 1978: Clemens Kapuuo is assassinated in Windhoek. SWAPO is blamed for the killing, but the South African military could have been the perpetrator, too.
  • 4 May 1978: South Africa attacks the SWAPO camp at Cassinga with aircraft and kills several hundred people. SWAPO insists that Cassinga was a refugee camp, and the attack therefore a massacre, while the South Africans speak of a military base at Cassinga, and call the attack the Battle of Cassinga. Indications are that the camp served both roles.{{cite document | title=The Cassinga Raid

| first=Edward

| last=McGill Alexander

| publisher=UNISA

| format = PDF

| date=July 2003

| url=http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1475/00dissertation.pdf?sequence=4

| accessdate=5 September 2007}}

|title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1978

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|accessdate=18 September 2014

|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/120.htm}} but their call for boycott is ineffective, likely because of intimidation{{Cite journal

|title=The S.W.A. / Namibia Election

|last=Weinberg

|first=Paul

|journal=Reality

|volume=11

|issue=2

|publisher=University of KwaZulu-Natal

|pages=6–7

|date=March 1979

|url=http://www.disa.ukzn.ac.za/webpages/DC/remar79.4/remar79.4.pdf}} and the presence of South African troops in the North. The level of support for SWAPO at the grassroots is, however, unclear at this time.{{Cite journal

|title=Counterrevolution in Namibia

|last=Owen

|first=Robert C

|journal=Airpower Journal

|date=Winter 1987–88

|url=http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj87/win87/owen.html}} DTA gains 41 of the 50 seats, the UNSC rejects the election and the subsequent government.{{Cite web

|title=Democratic Elections in Namibia. An International Experiment in Nation Building

|publisher=National Democratic Institute for International Affairs

|date=June 1989

|page=12

|url=https://www.ndi.org/files/158_na_election_060189.pdf}}

  • 12 September 1979: A request by Sam Nujoma to have selected pre-school children educated abroad is granted by the government of the German Democratic Republic. Subsequently, more than 400 children are flown to the GDR to attend school. This group is known as the GDR Children of Namibia, it only returns in August 1990.{{cite news

|title=Was wurde aus den DDR-Kindern?

|trans-title=What became of the GDR Children?

|last1=Paul

|first1=Jasmin

|last2=Rattay

|first2=Carla

|date=11 January 2013

|work=Allgemeine Zeitung

|language=German

}}

  • 18 January 1983: South Africa dissolves the government that was formed in the 1978 elections and again assumes full administrative authority.{{Cite web

|title=Democratic Elections in Namibia. An International Experiment in Nation Building

|publisher=National Democratic Institute for International Affairs

|year=1989

|date=June 1989

|page=12

|url=https://www.ndi.org/files/158_na_election_060189.pdf}}

  • 17 June 1985: Without conducting elections, the Transitional Government of National Unity is installed by the South African Administrator-General. Its legislative and executive actions are subject to South African approval.{{Cite web

|title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1985

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|accessdate=18 September 2014

|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/127.htm}} DTA gets 22 seats, and five minor parties, Labour Party (LP), the National Party of South-West Africa (NP), the Rehoboth Free Democratic Party, the South West Africa National Union (SWANU), and the SWAPO Democrats (SWAPO-D) get 8 seats each.

  • 17 February 1988: The Oshakati bomb blast at Barclays Bank (today First National Bank Namibia) kills 23 people and wounds 70.{{cite news

|url=http://www.newera.com.na/articles/50539/Oshakati-remembers-bomb-victims

|title=Oshakati remembers bomb victims

|last=Shaanika

|first=Helvy

|date=20 February 2013

|newspaper=New Era}} SWAPO and SWATF blame each other for the attack, although indications are that the South Africans initiated the blast in order to discredit SWAPO. Leonard Sheehama is arrested in June that year and admits to various bombings, including the one at Walvis Bay. He receives the death sentence from a South African court but is acquitted after his 1991 appeal during which it was established that he was tortured.{{cite web

|title = History of Namibia, 1988

|last=Dierks

|first=Klaus

|authorlink=Klaus Dierks

|publisher=klausdierks.com

|url = http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/130.htm

|accessdate = 21 February 2013}}

See also

References

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