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SWAPO election campaign vehicle
The South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) is a
political party and former liberation movement in Namibia.
It has been the governing party in Namibia since independence in 1990.
The party won 75.1% of popular votes and 55 out of 78 seats in the parliamentary election
held on November 15, 2004.[1]
Though the organization always strongly rejected the term "South West Africa" and insisted on
replacing it with "Namibia", the organization's own name — derived from
the territory's old name — was already too deeply rooted to be changed.
However, the original full name is no longer used and only the acronym
remains; the party's official name today is Swapo
Party of Namibia.[update]
History
After World War I the League of Nations gave South-West Africa, formerly a German colony, to the United Kingdom as a mandate under the title of South
Africa. The South African government turned this special mandate
arrangement into a military occupation, and tried to extend apartheid rule to Namibia.
SWAPO was founded on 19 April 1960 by Andimba Toivo ya Toivo as the
successor of the Ovamboland People's Congress, an organisation
established in 1957 and renamed into Ovamboland People's Organisation in 1959. The reason for
the renaming was that although the organisation had its base among the Ovambo
people of northern Namibia it wanted to be representative of all
Namibians.[2]
During 1962 SWAPO had emerged as the dominant nationalist
organization for the Namibian people, co-opting other groups such as the
South West
Africa National Union (SWANU), and in 1976 the Namibia
African People's Democratic Organisation.[3]
SWAPO used guerrilla tactics to
fight the South African military. On 26 August 1966 the first major
clash of the conflict took place, when a unit of the South African
Police, supported by South African Air Force, exchanged fire with SWAPO
forces. This date is generally regarded as the start of what became
known in South Africa as the Border War. In 1972 the United Nations General Assembly
recognised SWAPO as the 'sole legitimate representative' of Namibia's
people[4].
The Norwegian
government began giving aid directly to SWAPO in 1974.[5]
Angola
gained its independence on November 11, 1975 following its war for
independence. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
(MPLA), a MarxistSoviet
Union, quickly came to power. The MPLA offered SWAPO bases in
Angola to launch attacks against the South African military in March
1976. organization supported by the
Controversy
within the movement
Various groups have claimed that SWAPO committed serious human rights
abuses against suspected spies during the Independence struggle. One of
which includes the Breaking the Wall of Silence
(BWS), which was founded by those detainees to press the
SWAPO-government on the issue.[6][7]
SWAPO denies serious infractions and claims anything that did happen
was in the name of liberation. The stories of the detainees begins with a
series of successful South African raids that made the SWAPO leadership
believe spies existed in the movement. Hundreds of SWAPO cadres were
imprisoned, tortured and interrogated.[8]
Independence
When Namibia gained its independence in 1990 SWAPO became the
dominant political party, with its head, Sam
Nujoma, elected as Namibia's first President. Nujoma had the
constitution changed so he could run for a third term in 1999, but in
2004 he was replaced as the SWAPO presidential candidate by Hifikepunye Pohamba, who was described
as Nujoma's hand-picked successor.[9][10]
Former Prime Minister Hage
Geingob was elected to succeed Pohamba as Vice-President at the
same congress,[11]
and Minister of Justice Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana was elected
as Secretary-General, becoming the first woman to hold that position. At
the congress, Pohamba was renominated as SWAPO's presidential candidate
for the 2009 election.[12]
SWAPO is a full member of the Socialist International.[13]
and was a member of the Non-Aligned Movement before the
independence of Namibia.
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