Lubango dungeons

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Lubango dungeons is a term used to describe the notorious killing and torture of SWAPO Party members and refugees by the party, accused of being spies of the South African colonial regime. [1] About 1000 SWAPO members were incarcerate for over nine years in these dungeons. [2] These atrocities were committed during the war of liberation struggle of Namibia in the 1980s at detention a centre, others refer to it as SWAPO death camp in Lubango, Angola. [3] [4] There have been efforts to suppress this chapter of the liberation movement SWAPO in the discourse of contemporary Namibia's public history by the current government regime. [5] Some of the notable survivors of these atrocities include Bience Gawanas, Oiva Angula, Kalla Gertze, Sustjie Mbumba, Emma Kambangula, Ndapewa Sisingi Hiskia and Ulrich Jackson Paulino among others. [6] [7] [8] [4]

Background

The South West Africa People Organisation (SWAPO) was recognised as a genuine national resistance movement against the apartheid colonial regime of South Africa from the 1960s until the independence in 1990. Thus, SWAPO was a primary caretaker of about 60 000 Namibians war refugees in exile that were accommodated mainly in camps. [9] The term "camps" basically refers to the central areas where Namibians in exile were residing. The life in these camps has shaped the narrative of public history of Namibia's liberation struggle. The first camp for SWAPO was established in Kongwa, Tanzania, in the 1960s. [9] In the 1970s SWAPO moved to establish various camps in Zamibia along the Namibian border to accommodate trained guerrillas that were to carry out attacks inside Namibia. When the Portuguese colonial regime weakened in Angola in 1974, that effect facilitated SWAPO in establishing a networks of camps in Angola. Those camps accommodated various Namibians fleeing the atrocities of the apartheid regime. SWAPO ruled these camps with stringent control that begins at moment of entry into the camp as well as living within the camp. The day-to-day life in the camps was designed in a way that inhabitants of those camps were required to follow the established rules, orders and routines. When individuals within the camp break the rules, they were disciplined in various ways such as detention and corporal punishment. [9]

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References

  1. ↑ Williams, Christian A. (2009). Exile History: An Ethnography of the SWAPO Camps and the Namibian Nation (Thesis thesis). hdl:2027.42/64754.
  2. ↑ McConnell, Tristan (2000). "Personal Narratives of Political History: Social Memory and Silence in Namibia". Dialectical Anthropology. 25 (1): 27–59. ISSN   0304-4092.
  3. ↑ Sun, Namibian; Beukes, Jemima (2018-08-13). "Inside the dungeons". Namibian Sun. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  4. 1 2 "Woman haunted by torture". The Mail & Guardian. 1998-06-05. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  5. ↑ "Iivula-Ithana cautions against 'dungeons' probe". Truth, for its own sake. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  6. ↑ Nakashole, Puyeipawa (2024-05-20). "Two Lubango dungeons victims honoured with street names". The Namibian. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  7. ↑ Saul, John S.; Leys, Colin (2003). "Lubango and after: 'Forgotten History' as Politics in Contemporary Namibia". Journal of Southern African Studies. 29 (2): 333–353. doi:10.1080/03057070306209. ISSN   0305-7070. JSTOR   3557366.
  8. ↑ Sun, Namibian; KHEIBES, ELIZABETH (2024-02-28). "'Lubango forgiveness' proves new first lady's kindness". Namibian Sun. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  9. 1 2 3 Williams, Christian A., ed. (2015), "National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa", National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa: A Historical Ethnography of SWAPO's Exile Camps, African Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. i–ii, ISBN   978-1-107-09934-0 , retrieved 2024-05-30
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