Mudge: Daddy ended apartheid, not Swapo
RP leader says discriminatory laws ended in late 1970s
The Republican Party leader says the ruling party is using misinformation to cover up its patchy record in post-independence Namibia.
Republican Party president Henk Mudge has claimed that, contrary to popular belief that apartheid ended with the attainment of independence in 1990, it had already ended in 1979 after his father, Dirk Mudge, abolished apartheid laws in his capacity as chairman of the then ministers council.
“The end of apartheid did not happen in 1989 or 1990. In 1979, when my father was chairperson of the council of ministers, he introduced legislation whereby all apartheid laws were abolished,” Henk Mudge said this week.
Speaking on the Network TV show The Agenda, which will air this Sunday, he added that the perpetual pointing of fingers at white Namibians, over four decades after laws on separate development were abolished, was Swapo’s cheap way to camouflage its own failures.
In its latest election manifesto, the Republican Party vows to abolish the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy, which Mudge said has been hijacked by a few elites masquerading as national leaders. The party also plans to discard the affirmative action policy, saying it has overstayed its welcome.
Outcome not recognised
Controversial parliamentary elections were held in South West Africa, as Namibia was then called, in December 1978. These were the first non-whites-only elections, conducted under universal adult suffrage, and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) was declared the landslide winner. The party claimed 41 of 50 seats and Dirk Mudge became the chairman of the council of ministers of the resulting government.
The elections were conducted without United Nations (UN) supervision and in defiance of the 1972 UN General Assembly's recognition of Swapo as the sole representative of Namibia's people. The UN did not recognise the election and its outcome.
Having at one stage led the National Party, whose government ruled both South Africa and Namibia, Dirk Mudge’s subsequent efforts for self-rule in Namibia had often been muddied by his past – especially in the eyes of present-day Namibians.
After leading a breakaway from the National Party, he forged a friendship with Ovaherero Chief Clemens Kapuuo and discussed plans for a self-governed Namibia with then-Prime Minister of South Africa John Vorster, later becoming one of the driving forces behind the 1975–77 Turnhalle Constitutional Conference.
Fierce opponent
Dirk Mudge fiercely opposed South Africa’s laws against racially mixed marriages and refused to celebrate South African public holidays, including those commemorating white Afrikaner settlers.
His son, who now leads the Republican Party in Namibia, says all apartheid laws were abolished under his father's command, a credit that Swapo also claims.
“The white community has been blamed since independence for a lot of things that went wrong. What people don’t realise is that apartheid was basically over in [1978]. That’s the year the Republican Party was formed because we were against apartheid and we left the National Party," Henk Mudge said during The Agenda interview this week.
“As far as I am concerned, unemployment is directly because of the incompetence and neglect of the Swapo government. You can’t blame the opposition for the role they didn’t play," he added.
Systemic racism, oppression
Meanwhile, political scientist Rui Tyitende hit back at the Republican Party’s plans to discard BEE and affirmative action.
“These policies were designed and implemented to address the racial policies that subjugated the majority black population. White people thrived on the blood and sweat of black communities. They are privileged today on account of systemic racism and oppression that was legalised and socially normalised,” he said.
“Notwithstanding the shortcomings of the said policy interventions in post-apartheid Namibia, calling for their cancellation is not only insensitive but an insult to the black majority that are still drowning in rampant poverty, unemployment and widening inequality," he stressed.
On claims that Dirk Mudge ended apartheid years before independence was attained in 1990, Tyitende said: “That is a figment of his imagination as this was a global initiative facilitated by the Western Contact Group. DTA was part and parcel of the racist apartheid government. Circumstances allowed them to renege on their hold on the country.”
“The end of apartheid did not happen in 1989 or 1990. In 1979, when my father was chairperson of the council of ministers, he introduced legislation whereby all apartheid laws were abolished,” Henk Mudge said this week.
Speaking on the Network TV show The Agenda, which will air this Sunday, he added that the perpetual pointing of fingers at white Namibians, over four decades after laws on separate development were abolished, was Swapo’s cheap way to camouflage its own failures.
In its latest election manifesto, the Republican Party vows to abolish the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy, which Mudge said has been hijacked by a few elites masquerading as national leaders. The party also plans to discard the affirmative action policy, saying it has overstayed its welcome.
Outcome not recognised
Controversial parliamentary elections were held in South West Africa, as Namibia was then called, in December 1978. These were the first non-whites-only elections, conducted under universal adult suffrage, and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) was declared the landslide winner. The party claimed 41 of 50 seats and Dirk Mudge became the chairman of the council of ministers of the resulting government.
The elections were conducted without United Nations (UN) supervision and in defiance of the 1972 UN General Assembly's recognition of Swapo as the sole representative of Namibia's people. The UN did not recognise the election and its outcome.
Having at one stage led the National Party, whose government ruled both South Africa and Namibia, Dirk Mudge’s subsequent efforts for self-rule in Namibia had often been muddied by his past – especially in the eyes of present-day Namibians.
After leading a breakaway from the National Party, he forged a friendship with Ovaherero Chief Clemens Kapuuo and discussed plans for a self-governed Namibia with then-Prime Minister of South Africa John Vorster, later becoming one of the driving forces behind the 1975–77 Turnhalle Constitutional Conference.
Fierce opponent
Dirk Mudge fiercely opposed South Africa’s laws against racially mixed marriages and refused to celebrate South African public holidays, including those commemorating white Afrikaner settlers.
His son, who now leads the Republican Party in Namibia, says all apartheid laws were abolished under his father's command, a credit that Swapo also claims.
“The white community has been blamed since independence for a lot of things that went wrong. What people don’t realise is that apartheid was basically over in [1978]. That’s the year the Republican Party was formed because we were against apartheid and we left the National Party," Henk Mudge said during The Agenda interview this week.
“As far as I am concerned, unemployment is directly because of the incompetence and neglect of the Swapo government. You can’t blame the opposition for the role they didn’t play," he added.
Systemic racism, oppression
Meanwhile, political scientist Rui Tyitende hit back at the Republican Party’s plans to discard BEE and affirmative action.
“These policies were designed and implemented to address the racial policies that subjugated the majority black population. White people thrived on the blood and sweat of black communities. They are privileged today on account of systemic racism and oppression that was legalised and socially normalised,” he said.
“Notwithstanding the shortcomings of the said policy interventions in post-apartheid Namibia, calling for their cancellation is not only insensitive but an insult to the black majority that are still drowning in rampant poverty, unemployment and widening inequality," he stressed.
On claims that Dirk Mudge ended apartheid years before independence was attained in 1990, Tyitende said: “That is a figment of his imagination as this was a global initiative facilitated by the Western Contact Group. DTA was part and parcel of the racist apartheid government. Circumstances allowed them to renege on their hold on the country.”
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