Nahas weighs in on ‘founding father’ debate

Former prime minister Nahas Angula says his foremost political heroes – Sam Nujoma and Andimba Toivo ya Toivo – played complementary roles in the struggle for independence, and the debate about who deserved to be bestowed with titles such as ‘founding father’ is thus unnecessary.

A former railway police officer in Cape Town, Ya Toivo co-founded the Ovamboland People's Congress (OPC) in that South African city in 1957. He briefly led it before, in 1959, Sam Nujoma, Jacob Kuhangua, Louis Nelengani, Emil Appolus and Lucas Haleinge Nepela officially established the Owamboland People's Organisation (OPO) as the successor of the OPC at the Old Location in Windhoek.

Party growth

At the first congress in 1960, OPO became Swapo, and Nujoma – who had just left the country to mobilise international support abroad – was elected its president in absentia. At the time, Ya Toivo was under house arrest in the then-Owamboland and missed out on a position, although he was deemed the organisation's leader in Owamboland.

Ya Toivo later became the secretary of Swapo’s Ondangwa branch, where he played an important role in mobilising new members and educating them about colonial resistance. It is said that during this time, Nujoma and Ya Toivo only communicated through letters and did not meet face-to-face until Ya Toivo was released from Robben Island prison in 1984.

After going into exile, Nujoma oversaw the formation of Swapo’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), which officially initiated the war against apartheid South Africa on 26 August 1966, at Ongulumbashe. Nujoma would preside over the liberation struggle until independence, after which he was elected as Namibia's president.

Succession

Following independence, Ya Toivo held three different ministerial portfolios – prisons, labour and mines – before retiring from active politics in 2006. Nujoma served as head of state until 2005 and as Swapo president until 2007.

Meanwhile, Namibia's parliament honoured Nujoma with the titles 'Founding President of the Republic of Namibia' and 'Father of the Namibian Nation', while Swapo decided to give him the title of 'Leader of the Namibian Revolution'.

The bestowment of these titles by government and Swapo has ignited a debate over whether Ya Toivo deserved these titles more than Nujoma did. Some have also suggested that Ya Toivo deserved to become president at independence.

Balanced contributions

But Angula says both men contributed in their own right.

"You have to go back to the genesis of the movement," Angula told Namibian Sun at Okalumbu village in Onyaanya constituency last week, ahead of his 80th birthday celebration.

"When Ya Toivo and his colleagues in Cape Town started OPC and Ya Toivo was deported from Cape Town, he was determined to come and mobilise people in the north (Owamboland). People in central Namibia wanted someone who is in Windhoek to contact the international world," the former prime minister, who was recruited to Swapo by Ya Toivo, recalled.

"This, in my guess, is what brought these divided thoughts. But what is important is that these two figures played very crucial roles in different ways. Ya Toivo mobilised the population at home. Nujoma mobilised international solidarity abroad. These two [roles] are complementary."

He added: "You can only have one person as president, and I’m happy that Ya Toivo didn’t really care what role he was playing. He only wanted independence."