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Namibia in 2014

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Namibia in 2014 Namibia in 2014 The second half of the year was dominated by preparations and campaigning for the national and presidential elections at the end of November. The dominant South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), the former liberation movement, in politi- cal power since Independence, retained its political hegemony as expected and even extended its control in the legislature. The SWAPO parliamentary majority adopted far-reaching constitutional amendments in August, including increasing the number of seats in the National Assembly and the National Council as from the next five-year term, and adding to the executive powers of Hage Geingob as the next elected head of state. Foreign policy continued with a ‘looking East’ orientation, while the controversial EPA was finally signed. Macroeconomic data suggested little change in terms of both socioeconomic trends and the stark inequalities in the distri- bution of wealth. Social protest against government policy was on the increase, with mounting confrontations, though the general cli- mate remained one of relative stability. Domestic Politics The growing frustration over government expenditure on infra- structure, which was considered unnecessary and as only serving the symbolic architecture of those in political power, erupted on 13 January with a protest march by around 100 mainly young people in Windhoek. They demonstrated against allocation by the cabi- net, reported in local print media, of N$ 700 m for the construction of a new parliament building. The ‘Tintenpalast’ (ink palace), the administrative building complex dating back to German colonial rule and home of the National Assembly, was considered an anach- ronistic relic that should be replaced. The youth demonstrators, not © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2�16 | doi 1�.1163/9789004321571_013 Namibia In 2014 151 visibly affiliated to any political party, handed over a petition, which demanded that the money should be spent on more important priorities in the light of massive youth unemployment and a dete- riorating health sector. On 19 February, physical violence erupted in a squatter camp on the outskirts of Windhoek’s former township, Katutura, when police demolished one of the illegal shacks erected there; stone throwers damaged several police vehicles. Social protest also mounted through a group organised in the Namibian Exile Kids Association (NEKA) and escalated into the killing of a demonstrator. NEKA had been formed by young Namibians born in exile, who (often as orphans) came to inde- pendent Namibia without patronage or family connections to the new political elite. They had complained for years about the lack of integration and employment opportunities and had articulated their growing frustration in various forms of peaceful protest. On 27 August, NEKA activists once again demonstrated outside SWAPO headquarters. Police dispersed the crowd with tear gas and opened fire. A fleeing young mother was shot in the back and died on the spot. Activists of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) condemned this repressive act and the SPYL leadership, in open defiance of party solidarity, attended the funeral of the victim in her northern Namibia home village instead of the launch of the party manifesto in Windhoek. From within the ranks of SPYL officials also emerged the most spectacular forms of protest seen thus far. Its Secretary of Information Job Amupanda together with two other leading activ- ists symbolically occupied an urban plot in an up-market Windhoek suburb on 9 November. Later dubbed an ‘affirmative repositioning’, this initiative expressed frustration over speculative land deals in Windhoek by members of the political municipal administration. Such property transactions were profitable only to a few selected cronies, while ordinary citizens could not afford to purchase plots. The SWAPO leadership (president, secretary general and their deputies) immediately suspended the SPYL activists. After being .
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