sufficie ntlee way towrest cont ro loutof the ru ling Party's hands. As a matt er of governa nce this entail s firm executi ve cont rol. The characte r may aller; econoc rats may indeed replace securoc rats in the inne r sanctum.
Whoeve r the functiona ries may be, the ir ma st er will perpet ually be the Presid ent. Par lia men t's subo rd inate role is assured. Political power in the curre nt circ um- stances re st swit h the Pre sident and the advisorsand bodies wit h whom he choosesto de al.
Van Zyl Siabbe rt has usefully dep ict ed Sout h Afri can polit icsunder thestateof emerge ncy as being in unst a ble eq uilib riu m. Nowad ays, I would say it is in sta ble
orse -
quutbrtum .Ther e's alwa ys despair; but the re's always laugh ter; and ther e are delicious moment s ofeuphor ia.
Life is never , neve r dull. Untam ed, South Afric a Is inher entlyungovernable .That'sreall yno bad thing.But many of us, it is tru e, wou ld rath er be ungoverned by someoneelse.O
by DOR IA N HAARHOFF_
THE THE
METEORITE AT THE LE NS
END OF
Future South African-Namibian Relationships as depicted In two dramascripts.
DULLY:Well .Ican'tsee thismeteor
JITIERWIT:Have you lo oked throug h the telesc o pe?
It' sa blazin g golden ball
With a fierc eblue circle around it
And aro undthat circ le,a fierce red biggercircl e, And arountthat one,afierc epurple circ le- II'srush in gto swallow us up,bigg e revery minute . (Ted Hughes.TheTiger'sBones)
Skeleton in Pretoria, Gra ha msto wn and Cape Town dur ing 1989. The earlier play was directed by Aldo Be hre ns. Head of the Department of Drama at the University of Namibia and the latter one by Gerr it SChoon hoven,(Pleknlek byDi ng aa n.et al) lecturing ina temporary capaci ty in the same Department. I am in- debted to both these dramatic men for their st ruc tu ral insig hts.
Aftershuffli ng sequence s, crisp ing dialogue,attend ing to rhythms, I rescripted the producti on produc t where necessa ry.
In eac hcaseI prod uced a script whichwas discu ssed and worksbooo eo with frequent co nsu lta tions with directo r and cast. If one think s of a conti nuum with a fixed, una ltera b le scriptat one end and afloat ing non-formed idea at the ot her,the n the scripts I broughtto the first rehearsalwere plac ed thus:
Issues
OrangeandSkeletonbot h dealwit h a numbe rof rel at ed issues, one of which is the South Africa n-Namib ian co nnec tion that I wish to explore. Both play sset in the future 1990's,deal with thecolonial past and its prese nt play-out.In theOrangesce nario,Na ngo,a returned exile with a D.Cit (Dr. of Citrus), comes home to inve nt a mach ine, the WIllia m of Orange, whic h affec t s the curre ntofthe lClderitzco ast and produce s ahigh rainfa ll area. Whatoncewasdesert isnowthefe rt ile SWARANGE plantation,producingoranges juic ier than Outspan.The oranges come in three sizes. The largest. the Loft us FLOATING IDEA Orange
Skeleto n
FIXED
----.;""'f!,;;;;-- - -- - - --
SCRIPT
Whatfollow s is my perso nalvers ionof a possiblefuture scena rio asdepictedin two drama textsscriptedby me and performed by Univer sity of Nam ibia students.Pe r- ce ptions are of course by definition subjec t ive and speculative. Oran g e wasperformedettheGra ha msto wn fringe and in Windhoekand Swakopmund in 198 8;and InTed Hugh es' The Tiger' s Bonesthe Mast e rand his entoura ge are convincedthat the approaching meteorite seen thro ug h their telescope.is about to land on their head s. Dully unsc rews the te les cope to find a blob of growing penicill in on thelens.Perhapsthis imageoffe rs an approp riate introd uc tion to an article dealing wit h pe rc ep tion s of anindep e nde nt Namibia'sfuture relati on- ship wit h the fo rmer colonizi ngpowe r,Sout h Africa.There are many specu lationsastothe sizeoftheSout h African meteori tein theNamibianimaginat ion. To whatexl e nt will So uth Af ric a loo m large on the Nam ib ian lens? Will inde pe ndence remove the fu ng us and prov e its power and inf lue ncean illusion?An exa mp leof the rem ova bl e fungus theo rywasrecentlyreport ed inThe Namibian. At an elec tion rally Ms Maria «ao ere. Deputy Head of Mo bilizat io n in theSWAPQElec tion Dire ct or at e,asse rt ed that "the election in Nove mb er is the first cha nce Ihat Namib ian shavehadin the ir hist ory to rid them selves of South Afr icaforever" (5 Aug.1989 :5).
9
Ora nge, is injected with oranje-wit-e n-blou-blitz and exported totherugbycrow ds downsouth,The mediumis bound forEurope whilethesma llest,the OvambcOrange, is kept forhomeconsu mption.
NOPU(Na mibia n Orange PickersUnion) lead byWitbooi (desc e nda ntof the famous fightingHendrik Witbo oiwho ledhiswhite-head-bandwarriorsagainst colonia l forces) wanttheora ng es fo rNamibia. Theycha lle ng e manage- ment in the person of Mrs tse Blom, the -cnrahouc ca pit ali st" and"ki ndof Namibian Thatche r" whoinsis tson payin g offthenat ional debt toRSA.Hedda, a whiteSouth African-born st udent from the University holida y-jobbi ng atSw arange, andJonas,anold workerfromOvamborano, setout tohelpIse Blom sort out her priorities.Theyalso conf ro nt Nango whoiscompromi sedsince he is part of managementyet hasroot sin the worker movemen t.
Blom isfurtherco mpro m ised bythe arriva l of the villa in, va n derScru m fromthe RSA.He appears tonavecome to buy fertile land but is essentially a destablilizer. He promotescontinued econ om ic dependence of Namibia on SouthAfric a.
Blom:You reallyare the old frontiertypen~?
VDS:Ya.The fro ntierflows in the blood.
Cho rus:Blood Rive r in the bloodstream.
Van derSerum'sbottom line("You knowora ng eis nogal my favo u ritecolo ur... It makes methink of the Orange River,the Orange Express,theOrani evrvstaat,the tailof the Boeing,the orangebandinourflag")is to destro ythe machineif nece ssa ry.
The final sceneta kes placearo undWilliam of Orangeand features a tria l (NOPU vs van der Serum) in which the South Afr icanisfo un d guiltyofcollusionwith whiteblack men inside Namib ia and expe lled acro ss the Orange.
How eve rhis fina l"We'lltrek back" han g s in the frontier air. TheNa mibi ans agre eto tryto solvethe ir diffe rences and in a final act,the machineisrec hrist ened iNamseb (Hend rik wrtboors Na ma name) .
Skeleton
Skeleton is setinan Ind ep en d en t 1998 Namibi a. As the country strugg les with its W.D.1. (Wate red Down Inde- pende nce)ske letons abou nd from a vio lentpre-colonial andcolo nia lpast and the waterlevel sdro p.The Skeleton Coast has to be swept off the city streets. The new currenc y, the Kalkrand (a sma ll Na mibia n vill age) is strugg li ngaga instthe Mark .The Usako s Kos Co ,(Usakos is anothe rvillage)a smallco-op grow ingcucumbers and cabbages in the de sert, is conf ro nte d by the small but powerful RSR(The Re p ublic ofSkeleton Rep ubli c)under its ffag-"a whit erhi no horncrossed witha white powder horn ona whitebac kgr o un d" ,The RSR, "another Wal vis Bay",led by thenotori ou s van der Men tel e,abilton g bo er who hunts rhino ho rn,istapping the wate rsupplyin the unde rg rou ndst reamstousefor nef ar io us purposessuch asthegreenrugby fie ld(Tes t mat c he s agains tthe WBTF- Walvis BayTerrito rial Fo rc e).
The sto ry li ne conce rns the drea m journey of
ur ns
from UNOwhohas come toNam ibi ato checkon her ske let on staff.She encounters Nampa,the Namibian who floats betw ee n Europe and the Usako s Kos Co, and his daughter Dorsa, who works at Nam brew. The ir beer 10making at October Fe st time is also affected by the sinking watertabl e,They all mee tatthe Ip umbu-St rijdo m Airport.(The possib le future and the past name of the Airport. lpumbu,the rebe lOvambo chief,fell foul of the SouthAfrica ns in the earlydecades of thece nt ury).They agr ee to meet at the Independen c e Cafe the following day,
Unis, taking the bus down JanJo nker Road into Wind- hoek,falls down excavations("alt yd a gatindie straat") intopre-c olonialEikhams (W indhoe k),meanin g the place ofst ea ming wat e r.Thereshe encounter sbothnegl ec tof the water supp ly in the grea t cattle raid days and the bon e s ofHereroslave s.Back in thepresent,shemeets up with Klau sferreting aroundthe exc avation site.Ent icing her with hisprivate supply of well wat er(Unisisfor eve r thirsty,herbonesdryingup in sucha land) theytour Klau s' Antique Sho p brimmingwithcol onialme morabi liasuchas the jawboneof von Trotha's horse (Von Trot ha was the Germancommanderinvolvedinthe neargenocide of the He rero during the 1904-6 war).
At the Independence Cafe in Kaiser-Mandume Street (ano t herhybridofOvamboprotestand Germanpast)
unrs
meets afrie ndofNam pa, Sonde rwat er f ro m WaterAffairs. She acc ompan ieshim dow n Dragon'sBreath,the under- watersyst em,to ascertain whythelevel saredropping.In the Na mibian under gr o und they encounter a coloni al gho st, a colo nial addict, Met hs (Missio na ry, Exp lo re r, Trade r,Hunt er ,So ldier)whoinhabits a house ofelephant bonesandwhowill not let them passuntil theyguess his name.
u nts
andSonderwater,spurted out atopa"moe rse windpomp", encounter van der Mentele, are expe lle d from the RSR and end up at the Usakos Co-Op.In the final scene the com munit y,attempting to grapple with the water problemandthe RSR's monopoly(e ndings are the difficult bit) rea lize their pote ntial as water and dance the danceofEzekie l in which bone is united with bone and fles h with Itesb. Hop ef ull y as Ernst Block asserts,"The true genesisis not at the beginning but at the end",
Image s
Pe rh ap sthis is whe re thisarticleshould end.Satire and symbolsareself-evident. Briefl y however1wish toreview the reviews and refl ect on some of these images, Int e re stingl y noneofthe threa t recriticsof the twopieces focused ontheNam ib ia/SA connection.Crit ics of Orange discu ssed the whit e Afr ica n theme (He dda) and structural events suc h as the cho rus.A South African Univer sityDram a acade micina private let ter also raised the issue of the chorus as a techn ique sustaining
"tensions between individualsandacollec t ive spirit"and the white Africa n theme while all udi ng to the iss ue of
"colonia lstealth",Fanie Olivier(C ue6July 1988)feltthe stre ng t hofthe play was "no ttobe found in eith e r thestory or theideo log y but in the st ructure ofthe prese nt at io n", Skeleton critics also re spo nded to stylist ic- struc tural ele me nts.TheStarcrit ic,AndreaVinassa(12 April1989) comme nte d pos itively. The "co mbinatio n of satire, ca- baret,popsci-f i film devic e" , ,effects a sort of political 'Back to the fut ure". Indiscussions wit h some st udents, libe rati on sloga n eu pho ria did not cou nte nance the possibilit y ofsuc haRSA infl uencedscenario.
Orange wasperfor medin themon t hsbef or e43 5bec a me
a politic alreality.In thisscena rioatleast,thedestabilize r andcohortare identified and expelled,ifonly temporarily.
Yet if the RSA,as frontline states assert, is capable of destabi lization of independent states that have never been colonies, what ofNa mib ia where conscripted man- powerandarmy remnantsexist in a formersettlercolony?
Ironic ally SWAPO has itself cont ributed to the SA spy paranoia in assertingthat dissident she ld inca mps were part of asophi stic ate d and tried front lineinfil t rati o n.
Sk eletonwas written and first performed in Ap ril to the ironic accompaniment of SAOF/Planengagement along the border.Inth isplay the RSA presence is extended into a st ate within a stat e - a white homeland in a co m- promisedland.Theid eaisnot as far fetchedas it seems.
ProminentRehob othpoliticiansdreamof aninde pe nd ent Rehoboth Republic with a corridor toWalvis Bay (some 300 kilometresaway).WalvisBayitse lf isthe entrenched enclavelandlockingNa mibia as effectively as ifit werean in lan d state.Ric ha rd Moorso m argues:
"Wa lvis Bay will continue to play an important part in South Africa's strategy towards Na mibia and neigh - bouringstatestotheeastandnorth.Econom ically.Walvis Baycanbe used asacowertuuevertocoe rce aNa mib ia n government to mainta in 'frie ndly relations' with South Africa, or in other words to remain subservient to the regime 's ec onomic and military aims in the southern Africansubcontine nt. Itcanalso be used todenyto the black nations of ce ntral Africa an alternative to their presenttrade dependence onSouth Africanports. Mill·
teruv.the massivebuild-up of South African armed might withintheenclave re pre sents a seriousthreat not only to the self-determination processinNamibiabut alsoto the victims of South Africa's repea t ed acts of military ago gression beyond Namibia's borders, part ic ularly in southernAngola."
(Walvis Bay,Namibia's Port,19 8 4:7 0 )
The brandof indepe ndenceis theborderlandas opposed
to the hom el a ndmode l as Nami bia joinsthose fron tline sta tes where customs are vulnerable to squeezes and where vocal protest isund ersco red bysile nt import. In sucha situ ationwordsand deed s sepa rateand as Willia m Faul kne r'sAddi e of As I Lay Dyingsuggests,soonthey are"toofar apartfo r thesame person to straddlefro m one to the other" (1983:138).
The solutionto Na mibi an independence does not lie in Namibia butinthe solutionto the greater southernAfrican problem. In 19 15 , General Smuts was invo lve d in the conq uest of Ge rman Sout h West Africa. In aletter toJ.X. Merriman, Smuts spoke of a greate r South Africa n politicalentityfromtheKunene tothe Zambezi,including the Hig h Commission territories and southern Moza m- bique whic h was to be exchanged with Mozamblqua n acquisition of territoryin east Africa. The greater plan nevermate rialized and instead of South Africanssecuring Bechuanaland,Swa ziland,Southe rn Rhodesia. Basuto- land,southern Mozamb iqueandSouth WestAfrica,they secured only te nta t ive ly the latterstate. South Africa's wooden spoonistpositionon the Empire log - Played6, lost 5,Wo n 1- perhaps partly explains it s emotional involvement in itsonly fift hprovincecolony.While Smuts' advocat io n of a greatersouth Africa ,with what he called natural bord e rs,was a latter-day colonial anachronism, ironicallythereis a kind ofsense in reg ard ing Southern Africa as a unit. NorcanKwachacome toone partwhile in another it is st ill night. I am reminded of Ezekiel Mphahle le'SChirundu whe re the prison warde r supe r- vising detainees (po ssible South African spies), con- tinually lauds the new dawn.rdo not think that Na mibi a can be free until South Africa is.
The red,purple and blue circle s of the Tiger's Bones telescope mig ht be removable fungus on the lens. But until the parad igm shift within South Africa itself, the orange,white and blue bands seen in the ind epe ndent Namibian lens exist as an approaching meteorite.O
Editor' sNote: Thenextissue of REALITYwillbe ado ub le issue deali ngwith malters rel at ingtoland and urbanisation in South Africa. It will co mbine the January and Marc h issues for 1990 and we hope to get it to subscribers during Fe bruary.
Among our con tri butors
Ruth Edgec ombe Isa Seniorle cturer In Econ om ic History,UnIversityof Natal,PMB.
Do ri an Haarhoffis alectu rer in English attheUniversity of Na mibi a.
Ralph Lawre n ce is a Senior Lect urerinthe Departmen t of Po lit ica l St ud ies, University of Natal,PM B.
Martin Prose z ky is Prof esso r of Re ligious St udies,Universit y ofNat al,PMB.
Gordon Smithis alect urerinEc on omic s,Univer sit y ofNatal,PMB.
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