Federal Convention of Namibia

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Federal Convention of Namibia
Leader Hans Diergaardt (until 1998, his death)
Kephes Conradie (since 1998)
Founded1988 [1]
Headquarters Rehoboth, Namibia

The Federal Convention of Namibia (FCN) was a political party based in Rehoboth, Namibia. It was created in the wake of Namibian independence in 1988 by a merger of several smaller parties and gained a seat in the Namibian Constituent Assembly. After also-ran results in 1994 and 1999 it ceased to be publicly active.

A political party is an organized group of people who have the same ideology, or who otherwise have the same political positions, and who field candidates for elections, in an attempt to get them elected and thereby implement the party's agenda.

Rehoboth, Namibia Town in Hardap Region, Namibia

Rehoboth is a town in central Namibia just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Located 90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with several natural hot-water springs. It receives sparse mean annual rainfall of 240 millimetres (9.4 in), although in the 2010/2011 a record 731 millimetres (28.8 in) were measured. In 2005, it had a population of 21,378 later increased to 28,843 in 2011, according to the 2011 Namibian Population and Housing Census.

Namibia republic in southern Africa

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek, and it is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Contents

History

The FCN was formed in 1988 by a merger of several smaller parties:

Baster ethnic group

The Basters are a Namibian and South African ethnic group descended from Boer men and their concubines, usually Bushmen women or Khoekhoe, but occasionally also slave women from the Cape, who resided in the Dutch Cape Colony in the 18th century. Since the second half of the 19th century, the Rehoboth Baster community has been concentrated in central Namibia, in and around the town of Rehoboth. Basters are closely related to Afrikaners, Cape Coloured and Griqua peoples of South Africa with whom they share a language and culture.

Johannes Gerard Adolph Diergaardt, more commonly known as Hans Diergaardt was a Namibian politician active for nearly a decade after Namibia gained independence. Prior to that, he was elected as the fifth Kaptein of the then-autonomous Baster community at Rehoboth, succeeding Dr. Ben Africa in 1979 after winning a court challenge to the disputed election of 1976.

Democratic Action for Namas

Democratic Action for Namas was a political party in Namibia with ethnic affiliation to the Nama people. The chairman was Willem Oasib Boois. It was founded on 20 November 1984. It was one of the parties that merged into the Federal Convention of Namibia in 1988.

The FCN was led by Diergaardt until his death in 1998. After that, Kephes Conradie took over the leadership of the party. [5] The party contested Namibia's legislative elections from 1989 to 1999.

Electoral results

In the 1989 election, FCN received 10,452 total votes, which allotted it one seat in the Namibian Constituent Assembly. In the former Coloured homeland, the party received twenty-nine percent of the total vote, less than the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and SWAPO parties. This result, surprising as Diergaardt was Kaptein of the Rehoboth Basters at that time, was attributed to Diergaardt's secession plans for the territory around Rehoboth. [6] President Diergaardt took FCN's sole Constituent Assembly seat but soon resigned on health grounds. Kerina took over from him and was elected Deputy Speaker of the house. [7]

SWAPO Political party in Namibia

The South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), officially known as SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia. It has been the governing party in Namibia since the country achieved independence in 1990. The party continues to be dominated in number and influence by the Ovambo ethnic group.

A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.

Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals. It is, therefore, a process, which commences once a group proclaims the act of secession. It could involve a violent or peaceful process but these do not change the nature of the outcome, which is the creation of a new state or entity independent from the group or territory it seceded from.

In the 1994 Namibian parliamentary election, the party failed to earn a seat and received just 1,166 total votes. [8] In the 1999 Namibian parliamentary election, it received just 764 total votes, ranking last of parties contesting the election. [9] It did not contest the 2004 Namibian parliamentary election.

See also

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Hermanus van Wyk Captain of the Baster community

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Constance Kgosiemang paramount chief of the Tswana people in Namibia

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William Eric Getzen, more commonly known as Mburumba Kerina, is a Namibian politician, academic, and author. He is a co-founder of SWAPO, NUDO, and FCN, and the founder of a host of smaller political parties. For independent Namibia he was a member of Namibia's Constituent Assembly, as well as the National Assembly and the National Council. Kerina coined the name "Namib" for the independent state "Namibia" on the territory of South West Africa.

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References

  1. 1 2 Dierks, Klaus. "Biographies of Namibian Personalities, D". klausdierks.com. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Torreguitar, Elena (2009). National Liberation Movements in Office: Forging Democracy with African Adjectives in Namibia. European University Studies; Political Science. 567. Peter Lang. p. 484. ISBN   3631579950.
  3. ↑ Dierks, Klaus. "Biographies of Namibian Personalities, K". klausdierks.com. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Africa South of the Sahara 2004. Europa Regional Surveys of the World 2004 Series: Regional surveys of the world. Psychology Press. 2003. p. 786. ISBN   9781857431834.
  5. ↑ "Namibia: Registered Parties" Archived 2009-02-21 at the Wayback Machine . EISA.org.za.
  6. ↑ "Chronology for Basters in Namibia". Minorities at Risk Project. 2004.
  7. ↑ Tonchi, Victor L; Lindeke, William A; Grotpeter, John J (2012). Historical Dictionary of Namibia. Historical Dictionaries of Africa, African historical dictionaries (2 ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 85. ISBN   9780810879904.
  8. ↑ "Namibia: 1994 Election National Assembly Results" Archived 2009-05-20 at the Wayback Machine . EISA Namibia. November 2007.
  9. ↑ "Elections in Namibia".
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