Episode 2 - South Africa’s poisoned mandate and SWAPO emerges as the key early struggle movement

[Music] Welcome back to the South African Border Wars podcast with Me, Your Host, There's Latin. This is episode two. While we are extensively pairing at South West and Angola, we will also need to take into account what was going on in the region, such as the Belgian Congo, for example. But first we need to understand what happened in German South West Africa through the early part of the 20th century to get a feel for the nuance of what was going on. By 1914 the German colony had been developing slowly but steadily, but it was very much a backwater even amongst the hazy list of obscure colonies. It was the discovery of diamonds in 1908 near Luderitz in the south of the country that sparked a frenzy of German interests. An avalanche of fortune hunters descended on this desert land. In a few months and if you travel there today, you'll find a region dotted with ghostly reminders of that time. Buildings disappearing under the weight of shifting desert sands. The Germans quickly declared this area as "Sperchabit" or "Fabiden" and the prospectors were chased away. This while diamond rush didn't last long, but nearby Luderitz had grown large enough to become a sustainable community. The "Sperchabit" remains in place. You need a permit now on parts of the coast where you'll find yourself thrown into jail if you go diamond-prospecting there these days. By 1912 the port town already had 1100 German inhabitants and trade was surging. Two years later the outbreak of the First World War ushered in another period of major change for the residents of south-west Africa. As the tension grew between Great Britain and Germany, south-west became more significant. When war broke out in 1914 London asked South African Prime Minister Louis Buddha to send his army into German south-west Africa to secure the Atlantic Seaboard. Germans were operating a series of radio towers there which communicated with U-Boats prowling the Atlantic Ocean. But Britain's decision to go ahead with the invasion of German south-west Africa was not supported by all South Africans. The war war had ended only 12 years earlier and hardliners from that conflict wanted to continue fighting the English. South African troops were mobilised along the border between the two countries under the command of General Henry Luchen and Lieutenant Colonel Mining-Maritz early in September 1914. Providing Mining-Maritz with arms ammunition and a battalion was not a wise decision as he was one of the hardest of the poor hardliners. Naturally he thanked Prime Minister Louis Buddha for the arms and ammunition and promptly rebelled and called on all Whites in the former South African Republic and Orange Free State as well as the Cape province and in a tell to take up arms against Louis Buddha. Eventually, Meritz gathered 12,000 rebels around him ready to fight for the cause and what became known as the Boer Revolt. Louis Buddha moved fast and declared martial law which meant these two erstwhile leaders of the Boer War were now going into battle against each other. The South African army initially fought a war in two fronts then one against its own people and the other against the Germans. The first skirmish against the Germans did not end well for Buddha. The South Africans were defeated at the Battle of Sunfontaine on the 26th September 1914. The Germans then launched a preemptive strike and attacked the South Africans once more at Kakamas in the Northern Cape near the southwest border and there was in February 1915 they were trying to take control of an important series of forwards over the Orange River but this time the South Africans fought them off. Five fights and skirmishes continued but by late February 1915 mining Meritz's rebellion had been crushed and the South Africans could concentrate on the occupation of German southwest Africa. Buddha took personal command of the army splitting his force in two taking the northern part and heading for swacculpement while Jansmuts led the southern forces. By mid-February, Buddha had built up a large South African force using the Porta Volpheus Bay which is only a few kilometers from swacculpement and by March Buddha was ready. He used the swacculp valley and its railway line to advance inland. Within a few weeks he had overcome German forces at Archim Bingwe, Karebib, Frierech's Felder, Willemstahl and Okahanger. General Buddha ended when took on the Fifth May 1915 and then Germans there offered to surrender. Buddha though refused to accept their terms and continued attacking German settlements in isolated areas and then he broke up his force into four contingents, other Kun Brits, Luchen, Maniburta and Meibach. Brits went north to Archivarongo, Ucho and Itasha Pan and managed to cut off German forces in the interior from the coastal regions of Koneni and Kalkufelt. The other three columns fanned out in the north east. Luchen went along the railway line running from swacculpement to Tsumib. They had the two columns advanced on Luchen's right front. Meibach targeted Otavi Junction and Maniburta had his eyes on Tsumib, which was the terminus of the strategic railway. The men who commanded these columns were highly experienced soldiers from the World War and the Germans were now facing well-trained veterans of that conflict. Eventually the German forces made a last stand at Otavi on the 1st of July 1915 and were defeated, surrendering on the north of July at Korab. Meanwhile, Jan Smuts and the South landed at Luderitz after securing the town he advanced inland, capturing Gipman's whoop in May 1915. Two other columns then joined him. One had made it overland all the way from Kimbali and the other disempowered at Fort Nulleth and then marched north. The remaining German forces were caught between Brits in the north and Smuts in the south. Within two weeks the main German units surrendered. But it still wasn't over. Even further north a number of clashes had taken place on the border between Portuguese Angola and German south-west Africa. The Germans won most of these skirmishes and actually advanced north into the Humber region of southern Angola then retreated as the word came over the surrendering going on to the south. Eventually this small German force also surrendered. By the end of this war that was fought on the sidelines of the major battles of the western front, 113 South Africans were killed in action. Another 153 died of snake bites, non-battle injuries and illness. The south-west was already costing South Africans their lives. 263 were wounded. On the German side, 103 were killed and 890 taken prisoner. South Africa finally gained control over the territory that Herrero Lida Chief Macherero Kajimuai had initially offered to Britain as a protectorate all that way back in 1870s and could very well have become its fifth province. One of the unique aspects of the new territory was a map-induced corridor taken from northern Vechoanaland and called the Caprivi strip. It was named after the German Chancellor at the time and we're talking 1890. The Heligoland Zanzibar Treaty ceded Germany this tiny slither of land which was determined into a killing zone during the early part of the border war in the 1970s and 80s. The corridor meant Namibia now reached as far as the Zambezi River and at a point to this day three countries converged there. Namibia Botswana and Zimbabwe while five countries converged at the strip if you include Zambia and Angola. This was a security nightmare and one time here in particular it would become synonymous with the upcoming border war Katimumulilo. After the first world war ended South Africa administered South West Africa as part of a League of Nations mandated territory from 1919. Now the mandate system was formed as a compromise between those who advocated an allied annexation of all former German and Turkish territories and the others put forward by those who preferred some sort of international trusteeship that should control these colonies until they govern themselves. All former German and Turkish territories were classified into three types of mandates class A predominantly in the Middle East class B which encompassed Central Africa and class C which were reserved for the most sparsely populated or least developed German colonies including South West Africa, German New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands. It soon became apparent the South African government had interpreted the mandate as a veiled annexation. In 1922 Jansmats testified before the League of Nations mandate commission and said South West Africa was being fully incorporated into the Union and should be regarded as a fifth province of South Africa. According to Smuts this constituted annexation in all but name. That did not go down well at the League. Through the 1920s and 30s the League of Nations complained that of all the mandatory powers South Africa was the most delinquent with regards to observing the terms of its mandate. There was no attempt at developing South West into an independent nation. Then the mandate commission vetoed a number of South African policy decisions including proposals to nationalize South West African rollways and then changed the pre-existing borders. It was even sharper criticism levelled out South Africa's disproportionate spending on the local white population which was defended by Pretoria which said whites paid more tax so they should get the lion's share of social spending. The league, responded by declaring that all citizens should receive the same treatment under law. Pretoria was told that there was nothing in the mandate that allowed for a special obligation towards whites. Smuts ignored their declarations. Then South Africa gave the Whites of South West the own representation in the Parliament in Cape Town itself, while also building a whites-only administration in the South West Africa Legislative Assembly in Vintuq. And yet, the real power in South West rested in the hands of the South African-appointed Administrator. For the next 24 years or so, the system was fairly stable until the end of the Second World War, then the real story starts. In 1946, the newly formed United Nations General Assembly revoked the decision-granting South Africa a mandate over German-South West Africa. UN nations overwhelmingly voted that it should be allowed to become an independent country as soon as possible. South Africa rejected this. Too many lives had been lost on the parched ground just to walk away, but there were other reasons. Not only were the Afrikanas based in South West, as the history in the region stretched back before 1870, but South Africa had the all-important port of Volphus Bay to consider. Yes, that port stuck in the middle of South West had created a major political challenge much as Gibraltar does today for the Spanish and the British. Soon after hostilities of the Second World War ceased, the clamour for independence by Sub-Saharan African countries began in earnest. After the Second World War, Article 77 of the United Nations Charter converted South Africa's mandate to what was called a trusteeship. Critically, the UN failed to describe what a trusteeship meant, declaring that the terms will be subsequently discussed. This disconnect between the UN and South Africa were turned into a "gulf" within a very short time. In 1946, South African UN Representative Heaton Nichols addressed the General Assembly and announced that self-determination in German South West was impossible since the territory was too underdeveloped and underpopulated to function as a strong independent state. This was presumed to be a rather self-serving exercise. Smuts followed on and informed the General Assembly that South West had been so thoroughly incorporated within South Africa that a UN sanctioned annexation was no more than a necessary formality. It was basically an annexed state anyway. Then at that time, the UN Assembly, with the backing of the five major powers in the world, decided that all mandates should be placed under the trusteeship of the UN and not allow South Africa to annex South West Africa. This upset Pretoria no-end, which had spent a lot of time and effort administrating the territory. Thirty-seven member states voted to block the South African annexation of South West Africa. Nine abstained. There are always forks in the road when decisions are made and in this case South Africa had arrived at one of those forks. South Africa's internal politics also changed at this time. Right-wing politicians were incensed by the UN's position. It was only two years later that the National Party took power in South Africa, with Prime Minister Doni Milan prepared to adopt a far more aggressive stance concerning the annexation of South West. The Nationalists won the 1948 election in a kind of shock result booting out the SA party of Jans Mats. Only a year later, in 1949, the fight with the UN entered a new phase. That's when a formal statement was issued to the General Assembly, which proclaimed that South Africa had no intention of complying with any trusteeship nor was it obliged to release new information or any reports about how the territory was administrative. It would go it alone. Subultaneously, the South West African Affairs Administration Act of 1949 was passed by the South African Parliament, which gave White South West Africans parliamentary representation and the same political rights as White South Africans. Meanwhile, the UN sent the case to the International Court of Justice to rule on South West international status. I see Jay julie ruled that while the UN could not demand a trusteeship, the South Africans could not arbitrarily decide the South West was a province or independent. It split the difference, if you like, coming down on another side. Of course, the National Party under Milan rejected the International Court's ruling as irrelevant, which further alienated the neutrals at the UN. South Africa was not quite happy to burn all its UN bridges. The UN immediately formed its own committee on South West Africa, which issued independent reports on how the territory was being administered, further infuriating the Conservatives in the National Party in Pretoria. They tried to stop UN officials from entering the country. The National Party became apoplectic when these UN reports were increasingly scathing about their administration. This was the period in which the National Party began to impose its harsh system of racial segregation or apartheid on South West Africa as well as back home, including the Population Registration Act, the Past Laws, the Group Areas Act. In a world rapidly decolonizing, this was out of step with international diplomacy. The finance campaigns against the Past Laws began to sweep South Africa starting in 1952 and afterwards, the African National Congress organized the South West African Progressive Association, or Swapar. This was a group of intellectuals and students, but a much more potent organization was about to take off in Cape Town of all places. That's where the Avambalan People's Congress was launched by Margaret Avambal Laborers living in the Western Cape. It changed its name to the Avambalan People's Organization, or OPO, and identified with South West Independence. Swapar and the OPO then joined together and became the South West African National Union, or Swanu, in September 1959. Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Nationalists were emptying cities of black Indian and coloured people, pushing them out of the central business districts and suburbs and do specially created townships and a process known as forced removals. Connected to this philosophy and starting in December 1959, Pretoria began forcing black and coloured residents of old location in Ventuk to move out of their neighbourhood near the city centre. Swanu then immediately organised the bus boycott and mass demonstrations in response, and on the 10th of December, the South Africans opened fire on Swanu protesters in Ventuk during one of these demonstrations. 11 protesters were shot dead. This caused an immediate split in Swanu, with the former Avambalan People's Organization officials who were more radical, leaving and petitioning UN members in New York for support. But their weakness when it came to international support was they were identified as Avambal, one ethnic group. This didn't sit well with UN logic. So the Avambalan People's Organization changed its name to South West African People's Organization. The new organisation marketed itself as a group of many ethnicities and races thus Swapu was born. Within a few months, Tanzania recognised Swapu and allowed the organisation to open an office in Dara Salam. Swanu, meanwhile, was still talking about negotiation, but Swapu had decided that armed struggle was the only solution. If you look at Swanu and Swapu's manifestos, they were remarkably similar when it came to basic political aims. Both advocated the abolition of colonialism in all forms of racialism, the promotion of pan-Africanism and called for the economic, social and cultural advancement of South West Africans. However, Swapu was far more radical and wanted immediate independence under Black Majority Rule to be granted by 1963, whereas Swanu was trying to ensure a place at the table through negotiation. Swapu also promised universal suffrage, free healthcare, free public education, nationalisation of all major industry and the forcible redistribution of foreign-owned land in accordance with African communal ownership principles. But those were remained unspecific, but its socialist messaging unnerved South African officials. With African nations breaking away from the former colonial powers, the moment was ripe for this organisation to set up an armed wing which it did, creating the South-West African Liberation Army, or Swala, in 1962, and then model that on the ANC's I'm corn to a Caesar. This elevated Swapu in the eyes of Africans fighting colonialism and drew attention from the Russians. The first seven Swapu cadres were selected and sent from Darisalam to Egypt and then onwards to the Soviet Union for military training in 1962. They returned within a year to set up a makeshift military camp in Tanzania. Things were moving swiftly towards armed conflict. It was just a matter of time. What has started as a mandate was rapidly deteriorating into something far more malignant for the youth of South Africa. At the time, the Cold War dominoe theory about geopolitics had taken off, this held that the Soviet Union supporting nationalist movements worldwide were actually using a misdominal. owners, each country that became communist, then fell into the Soviet sphere of influence. It also held that it was only a matter of time before Southwest and then South Africa would be next. At the same time, uranium and large quantities had been discovered in Southwest, close to swacopement, which further applied the minds of the Cold War nations, which were on the verge of a nuclear war consistently in the early 1960s. Another strategic fact was that South Africa was still very important when it came to world shipping lanes from the east to Europe and America. The West supported South Africa covertly, if not overtly. Milan and his nationalist cabinet then tried to woo NATO, saying they should be part of a defence alliance, but Great Britain thought this a very bad idea because of apartheid. Their Americans, on the other hand, while constantly pressurising the nationalists about apartheid had already eyed the French departure from Indochina with misgiving, a source similarities between Vietnam and African nations falling into the Russian Ambit, the domino theory. And the South Africans had also sent thousands of men to support the Americans during the Korean War, and this had endeared them to Washington, which meant overt military support was secured from Washington, at least until the very early 1960s. Then it became covert. You can see how the sides are starting to stack up. We must halt now for this episode. Next week we'll hear hard developments in Angola, which impact South Africa as the regions slid inexorably towards full-blown war. Please rate the podcast on iTunes if you have time, or head off to abwarpodcast.com and click on the South African Border Wars page. You're welcome to post comments, thereby email, or you can contact me directly on Twitter. Until next, stay safe.