Jan-Bart Gewald

One Zambia, many histories : towards a history of post-colonial Zambia

In contrast to the rich tradition of academic analysis and understanding of the pre-colonial and colonial history of Zambia, the trajectory of post-colonial Zambia has been all but ignored by historians. The assumptions of developmentalism, the cultural hegemony of United National Independence Party orthodoxy and its conflation with national interests, and a narrow focus on Zambias diplomatic role in Southern African affairs, have all contributed to a dearth of studies centring on the diverse lived experiences of Zambians.

NEAR DEATH IN THE STREETS OF KARIBIB: FAMINE, MIGRANT LABOUR AND THE COMING OF OVAMBO TO CENTRAL NAMIBIA

Namibian politics and society are today dominated by people who trace their descent from the settlements and homesteads of Ovamboland in southern Angola and northern Namibia. Yet, prior to 1915, very few Ovambo had settled in areas to the south of the Etosha Pan. In 1915, a Portuguese expeditionary army defeated Kwanyama forces in southern Angola, and unleashed a flood of refugees into northern Namibia. These refugees entered an area that was already overstretched. Since 1912 the rains had failed and, on account of the First World War, trade and migration had come to a standstill. As a result the area was experiencing its most devastating famine ever. Unable to find sanctuary in Ovamboland, thousands of people trekked southwards into central Namibia, an area which had only just come under the control of South Africa. The famine allowed for the easy entrance of South African military administrators and labour recruiters into Ovamboland and heralded the demise of Ovambo independence. By focusing on developments in the central Namibian town of Karibib between 1915 to 1916, the article explores the move of the Ovambo into central and southern Namibia. It traces the impact of war and drought on Ovambo societies, follows Ovambo famine migrants on their route south, and discusses the reception and treatment of Ovambo famine migrants in the Karibib settlement. It argues that the refugee crisis heralded the establishment of Ovambo in modern central and southern Namibia. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]

Who Killed Clemens Kapuuo

On Easter Monday 1978, Clemens Kapuuo, the paramount chief of the Ovaherero and leader of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in Windhoek. Although it never claimed credit for the assassination, the South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) was blamed for the killing. Shortly thereafter, on Ascension Day, the largest military operation undertaken by South Africa since the Second World War, Operation Reindeer, was launched. South African forces attacked targets deep inside Angola and over 1,200 people were killed in a SWAPO camp that had been established at Kassinga. As justification for Operation Reindeer, the South African government referred to a number of incidents, of which the murder of Kapuuo was the most important. Based on a wide variety of archival, oral, and printed sources, the article seeks to situate the killing of Kapuuo. It traces the career of Kapuuo in conjunction with political developments within Namibia between 1971 and 1978. It demonstrates that throughout his political career, Clemens Kapuuo refused to compromise on a number of conditions relating to the political future of Namibia. In conclusion, the article argues that it is possible that Kapuuo was murdered by elements of the South African military intent on strengthening their hold on Namibia and South Africa at the time.

Transforming Innovations in Africa

In Transforming Innovations in Africa the authors explore how external innovations (products, technologies, services, institutions and processes) that were envisaged, developed and designed elsewhere, came to be innovatively and sometimes unexpectedly appropriated and transformed within Africa.

Strength beyond Structure

Drawing on a wide range of historical and anthropological case studies from various parts of Africa, this anthology provides an understanding of the importance of agency in processes of social transformation, especially in the context of crisis and structural constraint.

Missionaries, Hereros, and Motorcars: Mobility and the Impact of Motor Vehicles in Namibia Before 1940

This article explores the social impact of the motorcar on the relationship between the colonial State, the mission, and the Herero in Namibia in the period before 1940. It looks at how perceptions of space and reality changed, how information regarding these factors and society changed, and how both Herero and European missionaries were affected by, and dealt with, the introduction of the motorcar into their midst. The article disusses the introduction of the motorcar in 1904, the car and South African colonial rule, new legislation regarding the occupation of land and Herero mobility, cars and status, the disadvantages of motor vehicles, cars and farms, the disadvantages of waggons and the use of cars by missionaries. It shows that motor vehicles became an indispensable attribute of colonial rule in Namibia. The introduction of the motorcar led to the development of new hierarchies of power and status. It brought greater mobility and, consequently, contact among people, yet at the same time it led to the loss of contact between the missionaries and large sections of the Namibian population. Includes notes and bibliographical references. [ASC Leiden abstract]

I was afraid of Samuel, therefore I came to Sekgoma : Herero refugees and patronage politics in Ngamiland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1890-1914

Writers dealing with the Herero of Botswana have tended mostly to deal with them as a single homogeneous group. Concentrating on Ngamiland during the period 1891-1906, this article outlines and discusses the arrival, at different times and for different reasons, of various groups of Herero into the territory. The article indicates that prior to the Herero-German war, the majority of Herero moved into Ngamiland on account of the activities of German colonizers and the Herero chief, Samuel Maharero. In Ngamiland, Herero immigrants came to form a substantial source of support for the Batawana usurper, Sekgoma Letsholathebe. Herero-speakers in Ngamiland were strongly divided among themselves. Residual resentments from events in Namibia continued to inform their relations. With the outbreak of the Herero-German war in 1904, Herero who had fled Namibia on earlier occasions now opposed the move of Samuel Maharero into Ngamiland and found themselves supported by Sekgoma Letsholathebe. Following the deposition of Sekgoma in a coup in 1906, the position of Herero who had supported Sekgoma became increasingly tenuous and this led to their move out of the area. Notes, ref., sum

African Miners and Shape-Shifting Capital Flight: The Case of Luanshya/Baluba

Since the early 1980s, Zambia—under structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) enforced by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) —has liberalized and privatized its economy so as to make the country attractive to foreign investors. The privatization of Zambia’s national assets brought about enormous profits for well-placed Zambian businessmen, as well as substantial economic opportunities and profits for a number of transnational investors, venture capitalists, and international companies. Central to the national assets of Zambia was its copper industry, the country’s largest industry, employer, and foreign exchange earner. Yet the wholesale liberalization of Zambia’s national assets was disastrous, not only for the tens of thousands employed by the mining industry, but more specifically for the millions of dependents of those employed within the industry. Zambian academic and former World Bank employee Dambisa Moyo has recently argued that development aid has destroyed Africa.3 This is true insofar as development aid foisted upon Africa by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has enforced this devastating market liberalization.

Colonial Warfare: Hehe and World War I, the Wars Besides Maji Maji in South-Western Tanzania

Abstract In the early 1920s the British colonial mandate authorities argued that the Iringa Highlands of south-western Tanzania were being underutilised, and thus recommended that the area be settled by Europeans. This article indicates that there are specific historical reasons why the highlands were underpopulated and appeared to be underutilised when British mandate authorities first surveyed the area. In particular the article draws attention to the impact of a consecutive series of wars that ravaged the area between 1890 and 1918. In so doing, an implicit argument is made for a re-evaluation of the centrality of the Maji Maji war of 1905–07 in Tanzanian historiography, and seeks to draw attention to the importance of a number of regional wars that characterised the years of German colonial rule prior to Maji Maji. Furthermore the article highlights the significance of the First World War in coming to an understanding of events in southwestern Tanzania.

Flags, funerals and fanfares : Herero and missionary contestations of the acceptable, 1900-1940

The article describes the contested relationship that existed between Herero people and German missionaries in Namibia between 1900 and 1940. It is argued that Herero converted to mission Christianity with specific aims and intentions, which were not necessarily the same as those envisaged or intended by German missionaries. The article highlights leisure time, commemorative activities and funerals, and indicates that Herero acquired specific forms of music, dress, comportment, and behaviour from German missionaries. Once these specific forms were acquired they were often transformed and brought to the fore in ways that were considered unacceptable by the missionaries and settler society in general. The article shows that apart from race there was little difference in the intentions and activities of Herero and German settlers, both of whom sought to influence the same colonial administration. In conclusion it is argued that, in the last resort, what was of primary importance in the colonial setting of Namibia between 1900 and 1940 was the issue of race.