These uprisings were very useful because they kept the flames of traditional resistance to
19 Andre du Pisani. SW AlNamibia: The Politics of Continuity and Change.
Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball. 1986. pp. 93-95.
20 Bryn O'Callaghan. Understanding History. The World and Africa. Windhoek:
Longman. 1997.p. 337.
21 Mail and Guardian, Johannesburg. 30 April to 7 May 1998. p. 19.
foreign domination burning. Black mobilisation in the 1940's and 1950's coincided with the National Party's 1948 victory over the United Party in a South African election. After coming to power, the National Party Government in South Africa refused to place Namibia under the United Nations Trusteeship system (as happened in the case of all other Band C Mandates, such as French Togo Land, Naura, and New Guinea) and in 1949 discontinued annual reports
to the UN on its administration of the territory. This move was condemned both
internationally and within the territory itself. Due to the refusal of South Africa to comply with the guidelines of trusteeship, Namibia has been an explosive international issue in the United Nations since 1946.
The National Party government who came to power in 1948 adopted a hardline stance from the outset by refusing any cooperation with the United Nations, and gradually introduced 'baasskap' (lordship), also interpreted as 'guardianship'. It was typical of the colonial era.22 The newly elected National Party government under Daniel Malan extended to South West Africa also some of its recently introduced apartheid laws including the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and the Immorality Act.23 The aim of South Africa was to incorporate South West Africa as a fifth province. The introduction of administrative structures in the various ethnic homelands was a further manifestation of the transformation of Namibia into an apartheid societY. One of the many legacies of South Africa's administration of Namibia institutionalised inequality in terms of education, social welfare and labour. The indigenous inhabitants' education was left almost entirely to the missionaries and the churches and was subsidised scantily by the local administration.
The migrant workers who spent years away from home, were more acutely aware of the oppressive effects of foreign domination than most other sections of the Namibian population.24 Due to the interaction with other people, this group of Namibian workers became more politically conscious than the contract workers. The contract workers especially
22 L. Benjamin and C. Gregory (eds). 1992. p. 110.
. . 23 M. Hope and J. Young (eds). The South African Churches in a Revolutionary SItuatIon. New York: Orbis Books. 1983. p. 32.
24 S. C. Saxena. Namibia and the World: The Story of the Birth of a Nation. Delhi: Kalinga Publications. 1991. p. 60.
recruited from Northern Namibia were economically exploited with heavy taxes being imposed upon them. The recruitment and control of migrant labour was conducted by the SW A Native Labour Association (SW ANLA), which allocated workers to employers regardless of their skills or preferences. Workers signed contracts of 6 to 24 months. In the event of breaking the contract it was a criminal offence. They were forced by the pass laws to return to the Bantustans after the expiry of their contracts. No African was allowed to spend more than 72 hours in a 'white' area without official approval.
The growing political consciousness among workers led some of them to found a workers organisation, the Ovamboland People's Congress (OPC) in Cape Town in 1957 under the leadership of Andimba H. Toivo ya Toivo. The aim of the OPC was to fight against the hated labour system. In 1959 the OPC moved to Namibia under the new name of the Ovamboland People's Organisation (OPO). The OPO, under the leadership of Sam Nujoma (who is now President of the Republic of Namibia), developed into a powerful workers' organisation. It mobilised thousands of contract workers throughout the country to wage struggle against the contract labour system which was deeply resented by them. So the contract labour system proved to be the most important cause to rally Namibians against apartheid.25
During the apartheid era, the workers of Namibia as a united force, could compel the employers to listen to their plea, although no industry-wide bargaining structures existed. The official policy of the South African installed administration in Windhoek was that wage determination should be a function of market forces.
On the one hand the spiritual upliftment conducted by the missions and churches among the contract workers in the country strengthened the workers in their inhumane working situations. The missionaries and church workers did not use the scripture and theology to challenge exploitation and oppression of contract workers in the country. It seems as if they thought that the work was more important than the people who suffered. The analysis of Dr Philip who was the Superintendent of the LMS (1829-) and an advocate of the freedom of
25 S. C. Saxena. Namibia and the World: The StOry of the Birth of a Nation. Delhi:
Kalinga Publications. 1991. p. 61.
slaves is applicable here. According to Philip the missionaries and church workers emphasised the dignity of work and not the worthiness of workers.26 They neither challenged the inhumane contract system nor proposed the transfonnation of the working place.
Except that the missionaries benefitted financially from the contract system, they considered the white employers as their equals with whom they shared and kept secrets. Issues were negotiated and agreed upon between themselves before being cautiously translated to indigenous people. Unlike the indigenous people the missionaries, the colonist and the employers understood each other. They maintained their unity in whatever situation in order to prevent any possible insubordination in this regard.27 Missionaries acted in the spirit of betraying the indigenous people as it is evident in the words of Rev. P.A. Schmidt who refers to the relation between the Gennan colonist and Rhenish missionaries that the church must rather - even in individual instances offer herself as the spokesman for the blacks, since she is by her very nature in a better position to gain their confidence.28
The church neglected its prime responsibility to teach the victims their rights to participate fully in decision-making processes, to regain their social dignity to resist a system where the workers had no bargain privileges and no access to an industrial court, where the workers were foreigners in their own country who served the needs and interests of the privileged white communities in industrial and urban areas. As other employees in various governmental departments and private sectors, the workers have a right to participate in the equitable distribution of wealth in the country and to receive solidarity and support from the church in this regard. It is obvious that such negligence indirectly supported the contract system in the country, and thus in spite of the fact that the contract workers supported the church continuously and faithfully.
It was at this point, in 1946, that the British clergyman Michael Scott (the UN representative
26 Seoka, J.T. "Towards a Theology of Work: Black Perspective". In Seoka, IT. (ed).
Industrial Mission. Turffontein; Theological Education by Extension. 1994. pp. 73-88.
27 J.e. Scott. Domination and Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1990. p. 158.
28 Interview with Emeritus Rev. P.A. Schmidt, Maltahohe, Namibia, 4 February 1997.
of Herero Chief Hosea Kutako), Mburumba Kerina and Samuel Witbooi based themselves at UN headquarters in New York, where they worked tirelessly to expose the nature of South Africa's rule. The year 1946, is also significant in the history of Namibia because the African Methodist Episcopal Church schism occurred in the South of Namibia. During this schism approximately 3000 members organised a massive secession from the Rhenish Mission Society in South West Africa. They revolted against dependence on the RMS and contemplated forming their own independent church, with African leadership and clergy. 29