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claimed before the United Nations
to represen! the majority of the
people of South West Africa. But
SWAPO has never contested or won
a free elect ion.
Wherever free elections have
been held - among Ovambos. Ka–
vangos, Colou red. Rehoboth Bas–
ters, a nd whi tes - responsible
leaders opposed to SWAPO have
won. These freely elected leade rs
and th e tradit ional chiefs and head–
men of other population groups
shoulde r the respons ibility of forg–
ing a new nation in the Cons titu–
tional Confere nce. But will the
United Nat ions grant th em an hon–
est hearing?
One Man, One Vote?
lt
is easy for those who live else–
where in the world to adopt the
slogans of SWAPO- immediate
in–
u dependence and one man, one vote
_;~~.;,..;,¡¡¡¡¡;::;\;¡• ~
-
and expect all the problems of
1
South West Africa to vanish. But to
~
~
do so is to overlook the reaJiy big
!;
~
interna! dilemma facing the terri-
tory: how to protect minori ty rights.
lt is not simply a question of a
:..
~
wh ite minority. The whites a re only
~!¡¡~i!;~E~~~~..¡¡~~lJ~~~Ü;.....;.¡;¡:¡~:d;:t.liJ
f5
one of ten minorities represented at
íl
á:
th e conference. The following sum-
ARCHITECTURAL CONTRAST:
German-style buildings, above, fine street of
mary of population groups illus-
Windhoek . German influence
is sti/1
strong in the capital of the former German
t rates t he serio us n ess of t h e
colony, from street names (such
as
Kaiserstrasse)
to newspapers. Scene below
problem. The Nama. Coloureds,
is
in a village in the populous northern "South West."
Bushmen, and Rehoboth Basters are
brown peoples. Prior to the coming
of the whites. the very black Dam–
aras were enslaved by both the
brown Namas and the black Here-
ros.
Almost one half of the total are
Ovambos. This popu la tion group
lives on either side of the border
with Angola. Because of the sti ll un–
sett led conditions in newly Marxist
An gola, a cont inuing stream of
Ovambos are entering South West
Africa from the North. Their num–
bers are consequently increasing to
the point where they would com–
prise more than 50% of the popu–
la tion in less than five years.
With the principie of one man.
one vote, the Ovambos would domí–
nate the country politically. Yet
they are significant ly less well devel–
oped educat iona lly and cultura lly.
Many Ovambos live in the tradi–
tional tribal manne r, qui te unlike
the Rehoboth Bas ters. Coloured, or
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1976