H-NET BOOK REVIEW

Published by H-Africa@h-net.msu.edu (December, 1998)

Gretchen Bauer.  _Labour and Democracy in Namibia, 1971-1996_. Athens: Ohio
University Press, Oxford: James Curry, 1998.  x + 220pp. Notes,
bibliography, and index.  $34.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-8214-1216-7; $17.95
(paper), ISBN 0-8214-1217-5.

Reviewed for H-Africa by Timothy Dauth, tdauth@cyllene.uwa.edu.au,
Department of History, University of Western Australia.

                    Liberation and Restraint

"Trade unions and workers must appreciate the difficulties faced by the
country; for... we are partners.  Government is made up of workers, and
SWAPO is a workers' party.  Together, all of us must concern ourselves with
the welfare of the nation." [1]

Since independence in 1990 the largest trade union federation in Namibia,
the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), has faced a considerable
crisis in direction.  Having operated virtually as a wing of the liberation
movement, the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), in the years
leading up to independence, the NUNW now faces the problem of how to relate
to SWAPO as government and ruling party.

The above statement by the Namibian Prime Minister, Hage Geingob,
encapsulates the question facing worker organisation since independence.
While SWAPO's actions in government in terms of economic and labour policy
may make it hard to accept its self definition as a 'workers party', SWAPO
is still seen as such by many trade unionists, workers, and indeed SWAPO
activists.

The political quandary facing the NUNW in the post independence years is
similar to that facing any union federation under a 'friendly' government.
While the federation is bound to militate for the interests of its members,
it is also restrained by its affiliate links with the governing body.  This
is more particularly so when that government includes many former unionists.

The history of the relationship between the NUNW and the ruling SWAPO Party,
as Gretchen Bauer explains in this work, adds further dimensions to the
NUNW's difficulties.  While SWAPO has proclaimed itself a 'workers party',
its stance towards trade unionism and trade unionists has been problematic.

On the one hand, SWAPO is, as Bauer argues, a strictly nationalist
organisation and on the other, SWAPO is a party which at least "acknowledges
the superiority of the socialist system" [2].  While Bauer, amongst others,
contends that "the bulk of SWAPO's leaders and members never particularly
embraced socialism and its tenets" (p.100), the political framework SWAPO
uses in its relationship with the NUNW is at least partly drawn from a
Marxist-Leninist ideological heritage.
During the struggle years, SWAPO acted both as a National Liberation
Movement and as a 'vanguard party'.  Although it itself created the NUNW, it
also sought to keep the union movement under its strict control.  Trade
unionists, as Bauer notes, were prominent amongst those who fell victim to
SWAPO's security apparatus in the internal crises that shook the party in
1976 and in the 1980s. For the most part, and until just a few years before
independence, union activity was to be under the direction of SWAPO, or it
was deemed 'counter-revolutionary'.

SWAPO politics has also been very suggestive of a 'stagist' approach - in
which SWAPO would oversee the transition to independence and a future
transition to socialism.  In this sense, the ultimate solution to the
problems of workers - a transition to socialism - is seen as the prerogative
of the party.  The role of the unions in this, as former General Secretary
of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia, Ben Ulenga, noted in 1990 is "helping
SWAPO to create the right conditions for Socialist Construction." [3]  This
'supportive' relationship then becomes ambiguous when the 'second stage'
becomes delayed. [4]

Then SWAPO General Secretary, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, acknowledged in 1989
that: "We cannot jump to a conclusion and say that tomorrow we are going to
declare the socialist system.  If we do that we will just commit suicide."
[5]  In this instance, the primary concerns for the party, union and
government are the 'welfare of the nation', 'nation building' and 'national
unity': "If we reach a maximum point where we think, yes, the society can
handle it on its own... If you have nationalism in the country, its where
you can say lets go for socialism." [6]

In this context and in a climate of economic restraint, the unions, the
party and the government are bound to clash.  While the SWAPO government
argues, for example, that Export Processing Zones (in which union rights are
curtailed), are essential for the development of the nation, the NUNW is
bound to respond.

Gretchen Bauer's work describes in detail, and on the basis of considerable
research, how the NUNW's capacity to respond to such issues has been
restrained in the post-independence era.  Considering the relatively late
development of unionism and the union federation in Namibia, and the NUNW's
close political ties with, and virtual subordination to, the ruling party,
SWAPO, the NUNW is not in a strong position to reassert itself.

Although somewhat pessimistic as to the prospects of such, Bauer argues for
the development of strong and autonomous social movement unionism in
Namibia.  Such a unionism, Bauer contends, would disentangle itself from its
ties with SWAPO to link with 'civil society' in the consolidation of a
democracy in Namibia that is not, as is feared, solely dictated by the
ruling party.


NOTES

[1] Hage Geingob. "Introductory Remarks of the Right Honourable Hage G
Geingob Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia at the Consultative
Meeting on Labour Relations."  Windhoek, 25 February 1993.

[2] "An Independent Namibia: SWAPO's Goals and Aspirations." Statement from
SWAPO President, Dr Sam Nujoma, Delivered by Comrade Hage Geingob, Member of
SWAPO Politburo and Director, UN Institute for Namibia. London, 21 April 1989.

[3] "Union Man in Constituent Assembly." Interview with Ben Ulenga.
_Namibian Worker_, No.12, January 1990, p.7.

[4] Ben Ulenga has since left SWAPO and was instrumental in the formation of
the Congress of Democrats in 1999.

[5]  Andimba Toivo ya Toivo (later to become Minister for Mines and Energy).
"Time of Hope."  _World Marxist Review_, vol.32, 4 April 1989, p.69.

[6]  Louise Nambahu (SWAPO and Namibia National Students Organisation
activist).  Interview with the author, Windhoek, 19 July 1995.

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