Pauline Dempers

Last updated

Pauline Frannzisca Dempers (born 28 April 1962 in Aranos, Hardap Region) is a Namibian human rights activist and politician. In 1996, Dempers became national coordinator for Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS), a group which advocates for the rights of those detained by SWAPO during the Namibian War of Independence. Dempers was active with the Congress of Democrats.

Contents

Career

Dempers was a prominent anti-apartheid activist in southern Namibia prior to fleeing into exile in 1983 to join SWAPO. She was arrested by SWAPO in 1986 while living in a refugee camp near Lubango in southern Angola. Along with hundreds of other Namibian exiles, Dempers was accused of having turned against the liberation movement, and of spying on behalf of the oppressors. They were tortured and held in the 'dungeons' of Lubango in the final years of the Namibian War of Independence. [1] She was released in March 1989 and repatriated to Namibia following the moves towards independence which culminated in March 1990. [2]

Dempers became national coordinator for Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS) in 1999, three years after its formation. [2] BWS is a non-governmental organization named after Siegfried Groth 's book Namibia. The Wall of Silence that exposed the atrocities at Lubango. [3] At that time she had quit SWAPO and joined the opposition party Congress of Democrats (CoD). In 2007, Dempers was part of a controversy as a member of the CoD's central committee. She and other committee members were expelled by a faction of the party led by Ben Ulenga. She joined up with the faction led by Ignatius Shixwameni and formed an 'interim national committee'. [4]

In March 2008, close friend and fellow detainee Kalla Gertze died from an asthma attack. [5] In eulogising Gertze, Dempers called for members of the National Assembly to open the debate on the Lubango detainees. [6]

Related Research Articles

SWAPO Political party in Namibia

The South West Africa People’s Organisation, officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia. Founded in 1960, 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.

Sam Nujoma President of Namibia from 1990 to 2005

Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1960. Prior to 1960, SWAPO was known as the Ovambo People's Organisation (OPO). He played an important role as leader of the national liberation movement in campaigning for Namibia's political independence from South African rule. He established the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1962 and launched a guerrilla war against the apartheid government of South Africa in August 1966 at Omungulugwombashe, beginning after the United Nations withdrew the mandate for South Africa to govern the territory. Nujoma led SWAPO during the lengthy Namibian War of Independence, which lasted from 1966 to 1989.

Congress of Democrats Political party in Namibia

The Congress of Democrats (CoD) is a Namibian opposition party without representation in the National Assembly and led by Ben Ulenga. It was established in 1999, prior to that year's general elections, and started off with a number of notable politicians that left the ruling SWAPO party. This includes Ulenga who left SWAPO to protest plans to amend the constitution so that President Sam Nujoma could run for a third term.

Hage Geingob President of Namibia since 2015

Hage Gottfried Geingob is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Between 2008 and 2012 Geingob served as Minister of Trade and Industry. He is also the current president of the ruling SWAPO Party since his election to the position in November 2017.

Benjamin Ulenga is a Namibian politician. In the 1990s, he served under the SWAPO government as a deputy minister and as an ambassador, but he left SWAPO in 1998 and founded an opposition party, the Congress of Democrats (CoD), in 1999. He was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2000 to 2015 and led the CoD until 2015.

Ngarikutuke Ernest Tjiriange was a Namibian politician, a member of the National Assembly and former secretary-general of the ruling SWAPO Party. He also served in the Namibian cabinet from 1990 to 2010, first as Minister of Justice, then without portfolio, and then as Minister of Veterans' Affairs.

Mishake Muyongo Namibian politician currently living in exile in Denmark (born 1944)

Albert Mishake Muyongo is a Namibian politician and former Member of Parliament who is currently living in exile in Denmark.

Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana is a Namibian politician who served as the secretary-general of the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) from 2007 to 2012. She was also minister of Justice from 2005 to 2012 and minister of Home Affairs from 2012 until February 2018 when president Hage Geingob relieved her off her duties in a cabinet reshuffle.

The following lists events that happened during 2008 in Namibia.

Reinhard "Kalla" Gertze was a Namibian university lecturer and parliamentarian as a member of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) party. He was in the National Assembly from 2005 until his death in 2008 and had previously been a lecturer at the University of Namibia.

Eric Biwa is a former Namibian politician with the Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM), a party which was a member of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

SWAPO Party Youth League Youth wing of SWAPO party, Namibia

The SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL), formerly known as the SWAPO Youth League (SYL), is the youth wing of the SWAPO Party, the ruling party of Namibia since 1990. It shares the same principles as those of the SWAPO Party.

Jhonny Haikella Hakaye is a Namibian politician. A member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Hakaye was first elected to the National Council in 1993. He is the Chief Whip for SWAPO in the National Council.

Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It is named after Siegfried Groth's book Namibia. The Wall of Silence, and was formed at the occasion of the book's release in 1996.

Chief Samuel Ankama was a Namibian politician, traditional leader, and educator. A member of SWAPO, Ankama was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2005 till 2021.

Nora Schimming-Chase was a Namibian politician and Namibia's first ambassador to Germany from 1992 to 1996. After changing her party membership from South West Africa National Union (SWANU) to Congress of Democrats (CoD), Schimming-Chase became a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2000 to 2010.

Ottilie Grete Abrahams was a Namibian educator, activist, and politician.

Peter Eneas Nanyemba,, (1935–1983) was a commander of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) during the Namibian War of Independence. Nanyemba worked as a diplomat, representing SWAPO in Botswana and Tanzania, before he was elected as the party Secretary of Defence in 1970. He played an important role as the chief organizer of PLAN during the beginning stages of the war of independence. Nanyemba is considered a national hero in Namibia.

Visolela Rosalinda "Rosa" Namises, nicknamed the "Rosa Luxemburg of Namibia", is a Namibian politician, human-rights activist and chief of a faction of the ǀKhomanin, a clan of the Damara people. She is a former member of Parliament and founding member and former secretary-general of the Namibian Congress of Democrats (CoD). A prominent voice on gender issues, human-rights violations, and violence against women and children in Namibia, she is the director of Woman Solidarity Namibia and works at the Dolam Residential Child Care centre, a day-care centre for vulnerable children.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Lister 2021, pp. 178–179.
  2. 1 2 Pauline Dempers Archived 11 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Namibia Institute for Democracy, 2008
  3. ↑ Lister 2021, p. 315.
  4. ↑ Weidlich, Brigitte (13 August 2007). "Rival CoD groups expel each other". The Namibian .
  5. ↑ CoD's Gertze Dies New Era, 14 March 2008
  6. ↑ Weidlich, Brigitte (20 March 2008). "Tributes flow for MP Gertze". The Namibian .

Literature

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.