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Exploring Economic Reintegration in Namibia

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Exploring Economic Reintegration in Namibia Exploring economic reintegration in Namibia: Individual trajectories of PLAN ex-fighters and SWAPO exiles, 1989 – 2018 Tichaona Trust Mazarire Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements in respect of the Doctoral Degree Africa Studies in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Free State November 2019 Supervisor: Dr. Christian Williams Co-supervisor: Prof Henning Melber Abstract This thesis draws from life histories to present constraints and possibilities that have shaped former SWAPO exiles’ economic reintegration in post-colonial Namibia. The thesis advances three arguments each of which pushes beyond existing scholarship on Namibia and/or reintegration broadly. Collectively, these arguments challenge dominant narratives that have generalised former SWAPO exiles’ reintegration experiences, highlighting that there is no single narrative that can describe their unique life stories of reintegration in the post-colony. First, for almost three decades, patriotic history has shaped and influenced Namibia’s post-colonial reintegration discourses and policies, delineating who fought on the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ side of the liberation struggle. However, for the majority of former SWAPO exiles (including PLAN ex-fighters) whom patriotic history has designated as having fought on the ‘right side’, their glorification in liberation histories has not always translated to tangible benefits in their actual lives. Consequently, former SWAPO exiles have often exploited their ‘hero’ status to push for various benefits. Nevertheless, they have profited unevenly from these initiatives, with benefits often being skewed in favour of direct participants of the armed struggle/violent resistance. Moreover, patriotic history distinguishes between the patriotic credentials of a range of people with differing relationships to the armed struggle as defined by the ruling Swapo Party elites. Its social impact, therefore, is quite complex and requires a nuanced understanding of Namibians’ experiences in exile that can best be accessed through tracing the details of individual life stories. i Beyond highlighting the complex repercussions of patriotic history, former SWAPO exiles’ personal stories also reveal how UNTAG’s limited role in Namibia’s transition had lasting effects that shaped former SWAPO exiles’ reintegration processes in the post-colony. These life stories invite the reader to consider the prospect of UNTAG’s mandate as having been limited and its humanitarian support to returning SWAPO exiles as being overrated. This then brings the spotlight back to the Cold War and how it dictated UNTAG’s minimalist security centred approach that had far-reaching consequences for economically vulnerable former SWAPO exiles in the aftermath of repatriation. Finally, life histories show how former SWAPO exiles’ human and social capital originated in exile where differing access to skills and networks were instrumental in class formations that manifested in the post-colony. These forms of capital have contributed to the economic inequality amongst former SWAPO exiles in post- Independence Namibia. Nevertheless, some life stories highlight how some former SWAPO exiles who have found themselves in difficult positions in postcolonial Namibia, have built decent lives for themselves in spite of these circumstances. These former SWAPO exiles highlight the limitations of reintegration programming and the broader DDR framework, which privileges its own measures of analysis at the expense of understanding how people make lives in the aftermath of war with or without assistance from programming. Thus, they suggest that successful reintegration hinges, to a great extent, on one’s ability to adapt and not necessarily on benefits from reintegration programming. Keywords: DDR, liberation struggle, patriotic history, reintegration, life histories, SWAPO exiles, PLAN ex-fighters, UNTAG, human capital, social capital ii Abbreviations and Acronyms CCN Council of Churches in Namibia DBC Development Brigade Corporation DD Disarmament and demobilization DDR Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration FAPLA People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de Moçambique GDR German Democratic Republic IDDRS Integrated Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration IFIs International Financial Institutions IVP Individual Veterans Project LWF Lutheran World Federation MLRR Ministry of Lands, Rehabilitation and Resettlement MPLA Movement for the Liberation of Angola NAMPOL Namibian Police NBC Namibian Broadcasting Corporation NBC Namibian Broadcasting Corporation NCS Namibian Correctional Services NDF Namibian Defence Force NGO Non-governmental organization NNLVA Namibia National Liberation Veterans Association NRI 1989 Namibians Repatriated in 1989 PLAN Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia RRR Repatriation Resettlement and Reconstruction Committee SWABC South West Africa Broadcasting Corporation iii SADC Southern Africa Development Community SADF South African Defence Force SWANU South West African National Union SWAPO South West Africa Peoples Organization Swapo Party SWATF South West Africa Territorial Force UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNDPKO United Nations Department of Peace Keeping Operation UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNIN United Nations Institute for Namibia UNITA National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola UNSC United Nations Security Council UNTAG UN Transitional Assistance Group USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics VON Voice of Namibia WFP World Food Programme WHO World Health Organization ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ZANU-PF Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front ZAPU Zimbabwe African Peoples Union ZIPRA Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army ZNA Zimbabwe National Army iv Declaration I, Tichaona Trust Mazarire, declare that the Doctoral Degree research thesis that I herewith submit for the Doctoral Degree qualification in Africa Studies at the University of the Free State, is my independent work, and that I have not previously submitted it for a qualification at another institution of higher education. v Acknowledgements I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Christian Williams for his unwavering and consistent support throughout my thesis project. From the proposal phase to the completion of the project his guidance and wisdom was invaluable. I would like to thank my co-supervisor Professor Henning Melber, for his inputs and perspectives which helped further fine tune my work. I would also like to thank University of Namibia, faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences staff for hosting me and providing me with an office from which I spent many hours writing my thesis. I would also like to personally thank Ueshitile ‘Banana’ Shekupe, for granting me access to the organisation, Namibians Repatriated in 1989, his support was invaluable. Thank you to the staff at University of the Free State’s Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) for their support, especially Ankia Bradfiled and Dr Stephanie Cawood. I would also like to thank my wife Luiza, for her unwavering support and encouragement through the tough times, as I pushed to finish this thesis. I would also like to thank my parents and siblings, who were supportive throughout the whole process. Finally, and most important of all I would like to thank God, my faith kept me from giving up or succumbing to pressure when things got tough, thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path (Psalm 119:105). vi Table of Contents Chapter 1: Background ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 Patriotic History, Ex-combatants and Reintegration in Namibia ......................... 5 1.1.1The making of Patriotic history: the past in the present ................................ 8 1.1.2 PLAN ex-fighters in Patriotic History ........................................................ 10 1.1.3 Reintegration in the Post-Colony ................................................................ 12 1.2 Contextualizing and Problematizing DDR in and beyond Namibia .................. 14 1.3 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 22 1.4 Structure of the thesis......................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2: Deciphering how ‘Patriotic’ history shaped reintegration discourse, policy/programmes and processes in Namibia: winners and losers ...................... 37 2.1 Brief Background: Contextualizing patriotic history in reintegration policy/programmes .................................................................................................. 37 2.2 Exploring SWAPO exiles’ post-liberation war identities and their interaction with reintegration policies........................................................................................ 42 Chapter 3: Disarmament, Demobilization and Repatriation – The limitations and consequences of UNTAG’s mandate on economic reintegration in Namibia ...................................................................................................................................... 87 3.1 What was UNTAG? ........................................................................................... 87 3.1.1 How the Cold war influenced
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