Exploring Economic Reintegration in Namibia:

Tichaona Mazarire

Description

This study draws from life histories to present constraints and possibilities that have shaped former SWAPO exiles� economic reintegration in post-colonial Namibia from 1989 through 2018. The book advances three arguments, each of which pushes beyond existing scholarship on Namibia and/or economic reintegration broadly. Collectively, these arguments challenge dominant narratives that have generalized former SWAPO exiles� economic reintegration experiences, highlighting that there is no single narrative that can describe their unique life stories of reintegration in the post-colony.

Sujets

• African Studies
• Histoire
• West
• History
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
• Date de parution: 23 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9783906927343
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Exploring Economic Reintegration in Namibia
T ICHAONA M AZARIRE
Exploring Economic Reintegration in Namibia Individual Trajectories of PLAN Ex-Fighters and SWAPO Exiles, 1989–2018
Basel Namibia Studies Series 24
Basler Afrika Bibliographien 2023
©2023 The author ©2023 Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
Klosterberg 23
PO Box
4010 Basel
Switzerland
www.baslerafrika.ch

Cover image by Daisy Silva.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-3-906927-33-6 ISSN 2234-9561
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Foreword by Henning Melber
1 Introduction
Background
Patriotic History, Ex-Combatants and Reintegration in Namibia
Contextualising and Problematising DDR in and Beyond Namibia
Methodology
Structure of the Book
2 Deciphering How ‘Patriotic’ History Shaped Reintegration Discourse, Policy/Programmes and Processes in Namibia: Winners and Losers
Brief Background: Contextualising Patriotic History in Reintegration Policy/Programmes
Exploring Post-Liberation War Identities of SWAPO Exiles and Their Interaction With Reintegration Policies
3 Re-examining UNTAG’s Humanitarian Role in Namibia’s Transition: Life Stories of Former SWAPO Exiles During and After Repatriation
What was UNTAG?
Individual Experiences of Repatriation and its Aftermath of SWAPO Exiles
Namibians Repatriated in 1989: Confronting Past Injustice or Strategic Lobbying?
4 SWAPO’s Human Capital Investment in Exile: How Class Distinctions in Postcolonial Namibia Were Unwittingly Carved Out in Exile
Human Capital and Social Capital
Trajectories of SWAPO Exiles: From Exile to Independence
5 Exploring Limitations of DDR Through ‘Self-Reintegration’– Life Histories of PLAN Ex-Fighters and SWAPO Exiles Who Defied the Odds
Conceptualising and Contextualising Self-Reintegration of SWAPO Exiles
An Analysis of Self-Reintegration Stories of SWAPO Exiles
6 Conclusion
New Dimensions of Postcolonial Marginalisation
The Vacuum Left by UNTAG
Limits to DDR as an Analytical Framework
Bibliography
Index
Basel Namibia Studies Series
In 1997, P. Schlettwein Publishing (PSP) launched the Basel Namibia Studies Series . Its primary aim was to lend support to a new generation of research, scholars and readers emerging with the independence of Namibia in 1990.
Initially, the book series published crucially important doctoral theses on Namibian history. It soon expanded to include more recent political, anthropological, media and cultural history studies by Namibian scholars.
P. Schlettwein Publishing, as an independent publishing house, maintained the series in collaboration with the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB), Namibia Resource Centre and Southern Africa Library in Switzerland. All share a commitment to encourage research on Africa in general and southern Africa in particular. Through the incorporation of PSP into the Carl Schlettwein Stiftung, the series, by then a consolidated platform for Namibian Studies and beyond, was integrated into the publishing activities of the BAB.
Academic publishing, whether from or about Namibia, remains limited. The Basel Namibia Studies Series continues to provide a forum for exciting scholarly work in the human and social sciences.
The editors welcome contributions. For further information, or submission of manuscripts, please contact the Basler Afrika Bibliographien at www.baslerafrika.ch .
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my profound gratitude to my former PhD supervisor, Dr. Christian Williams for his unwavering and consistent support throughout my thesis and book project. From the PhD thesis phase to the completion of this book project (a revised version of my doctoral thesis), his guidance and wisdom has been invaluable. I would like to add my thanks to my former co-supervisor, Prof. Henning Melber, for his input and perspectives, which helped to further finetune my work. The University of Namibia, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences staff: I am grateful that you hosted me and provided me with office space during the writing phase. My personal thanks go to Ueshitile ‘Banana’ Shekupe, for granting me access to the organisation, Namibian Refugees Repatriated in 1989. His support was invaluable. The staff at the University of the Free State’s Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) were so supportive, especially Ankia Bradfield and Dr Stephanie Cawood. Thank you to North-West University’s Faculty of Humanities for the financial support for the book project, particularly Simone Roos and Prof Kedibone Phago.
My wife Luiza has shown unwavering support and encouragement through the tough times, as I pushed to complete this book project. Also, my parents and siblings were supportive throughout the whole process. Finally, and most important of all, I would like to give thanks to God. My faith kept me from giving up or succumbing to pressure when things got tough. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path (Psalm 119:105).
Abbreviations and Acronyms
CCN
Council of Churches in Namibia
DBC
Development Brigade Corporation
DD
Disarmament and Demobilisation
DDR
Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
FAPLA
People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola
FRELIMO
Frente de Libertação de Moçambique
GDR
German Democratic Republic
IDDRS
Integrated Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
IFIs
International Financial Institutions
IVP
Individual Veterans’ Project
LWF
Lutheran World Federation
MLRR
Ministry of Lands, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
MPLA
Movement for the Liberation of Angola
NAMPOL
Namibian Police
NBC
Namibian Broadcasting Corporation
NCS
Namibian Correctional Services
NDF
Namibian Defence Force
NGO
Non-Governmental Organisation
NNLVA
Namibia National Liberation Veterans’ Association
NRRI
1989 Namibian Refugees Repatriated in 1989
PLAN
People’s Liberation Army of Namibia
RRR
Repatriation Resettlement and Reconstruction Committee
SWABC
South West Africa Broadcasting Corporation
SADC
Southern Africa Development Community
SADF
South African Defence Force
SWANU
South West African National Union
SWAPO
South West Africa People’s Organisation
SWATF
South West Africa Territorial Force
UN
United Nations
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNDPKO
United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
UNHCR
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s (Emergency) Fund
UNIN
United Nations Institute for Namibia
UNITA
National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola
UNSC
United Nations Security Council
UNTAG
United Nations Transitional Assistance Group
USSR
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VON
Voice of Namibia
WFP
World Food Programme
WHO
World Health Organization
ZANLA
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
ZANU-PF
Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
ZAPU
Zimbabwe African People’s Union
ZIPRA
Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
ZNA
Zimbabwe National Army
Foreword by Henning Melber
Despite all differences in their specific histories and trajectories, former liberation movements in Southern Africa share as governments in political power some common features. These include the cultivation of a patriotic history and in particular a design of heroic narratives. These serve to enhance legitimacy and consolidate support once occupying the commanding heights of the sovereign state.
Such refurbishing is of course not very different from patriotic histories elsewhere, when nation building and the formation of national identities in a top-down approach generously overlooks the less pleasant sides in the history of those now in control over societies in the making. In doing so, parts of the less bright sides of the struggle history in Southern African countries often remain in the dark and at times considered a taboo. These include in all the cases – from Angola to Zimbabwe – the internal power struggles and factional fights, the violation of human rights within the ranks of the anticolonial organisations, but also other forms of less emancipatory politics. Among these is the limited recognition and integration of those involved in the armed struggle into the daily life since returning from exile and resuming power.
Thanks to scholarly endeavours and their published results, not least by the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Namibians and all others interested in Namibian affairs benefit from the access to efforts providing insights into such less heroic sides of the struggle realities. 1 This revised PhD thesis by Tichaona Trust Mazarire, published in the same context and tradition, is another significant contribution. It adds to the earlier pioneering work by Lalli Metsola. 2 With Christian Williams as his supervisor, the author could not have been in better hands. After all, the academic mentor was himself at the forefront of disclosing the less pleasant sides to the heroic narrative when drawing attention to the tensions and human rights violations committed by SWAPO in the exile camps. 3
Namibia needs these painful engagements, in search of what happened as modest efforts to contribute to a process of healing wounds by coming to terms with a past that continues to be alive in the present. 4 With a focus on the socio-economic trajectories of ex-combatants and other exiles, this study demystifies the heroism with which the struggle history all too often remains painted. It deconstructs generally attributed associations and offers a narrative of individual people, who (as the conclusion points out) “experience reallife challenges and are simply trying to make ends meet”. The author thereby manages to humanise “the person behind the labels ex-fighter, freedom fighter, revolutionary, POW or Cassinga survivor, exposing their thoughts, frustrations, challenges and triumphs”. By doing so, it highlights that (re)integratio