Women
resistance against colonialism in Namibia dates back to 1904, when
Herero women voluntarily launched their historic ‘sexual intercourse
strike’ to pressurize men to fight and end German occupation (Clever
& Wallace, 1990, p. 80). They vowed that they would not bear
children until the war against German settlers was over. However their
resistance against the new South Africa regime, that had overthrown
German occupation in 1915, took a more direct confrontation. On December
10, 1959, the Namibian women under the leadership of SWANU led an overt
resistance to South Africa ’s forceful land confiscation policy in
Windhock. On that day the South African forces opened fire, killing
twelve people and injuring 54. As in Zimbabwe where Nehanda took the
lead, the SWANU leadership during the 1959 demonstration included
Kakurukaze Mungunda, a woman
militant who marched side by side with other nationalists such as Sam
Nujoma, Ngavi Muundjua, Aaron Tjatindi, Moses Garoeb, David Meroro and
Johny Ya otto and Mutumbulwa. Kakurukaze was gunned down and became one
of the first women martyrs of South African brutality. Today, December
10 is official day in Namibia which is commemorated in honor of Mungunda
and those other people who were killed. It is also the day when people
resolved to adopt the armed struggle as the only response.
“She
was hit by a bullet in the chest; realizing that she had been fatally
wounded, Mama Mungunda…stumbled, despite profuse bleeding, towards a
parked car belonging to the (white) superintendent of the city and
managed to set it ablaze with a box of matches. Shortly thereafter she
died…It is a tribute to the bravery and heroism of Kakurukaze Mungunda,
that SWAPO has designated 10 December Namibia’s Women’s Day.”
Potuse
Appollus a woman activist would say later that she saw in the Windhoek
massacre a change in the nature of women resistance as they “activated
the hitherto patient force imbodied in the indomitable willpower” of the
Namibian women. Following this massacre, Nujoma’s labor movement broke
away from SWANU which was reluctant to take up the armed struggle and
reconstituted itself into SWAPO which eventually led the
Namibian masses to freedom through an armed liberation war. But unlike
in Zimbabwe , where women had always been part of the ‘Second
Chimurenga,’ the Namibian women were not fully energized into a vibrant
combat force at the early stage of the war. For example, the SWAPO Women
Council (SWC) was not formed until 1969, but then only among the exiled
community until in 1980 when the first SWC congress was held in Angola .
At this meeting demands were made for changes within SWAPO to
“recognize the women’s participation in all aspects of the struggle and
to share leadership” (Cleaver and Wallace, ibid, p.81). But as Sparks
and Green (1992) confirm, the policy of SWAPO women in combat role was
questioned by men at first. But since the SWAPO’s 1989 election
manifesto mentions very limited roles for women in the army of an
independent Namibia, it confirms earlier assumptions that the partys
“role for women in combat was always considered extraordinary.” (p.143),
despite Namibian women’s commitment to participate actively. The ratio
of Namibian women to men in the army today ought to be an issue of
affirmative action just like in the other sectors of government
service..
“At
the launching of the armed struggle in 1966, there were only a handful
of women in the movement in exile. But within the last 20 years, the
women have become visible in practically every aspect of the struggle”
(SWC), 1987).
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