Gathering as resistance in the Nama and Damara community
Posted: 20 December, 2024 Filed under: Sinqobile Makhathini | Tags: colonial legacies, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, culture, Damaraland, economic empowerment, holistic Indigenous healing, home-based abortions, Indigenous practices, medicinal knowledge, Nama people, Namibia, traditional healing practices, Western medical standards 1 Comment
Author: Sinqobile Makhathini
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
It was the middle of winter, and all nineteen of us sat in our polypropylene chairs – closely arranged, our eyes fixed on Ouma Dudu as she took out her bag filled with indigenous herbs and medicines from the Damara people. She unrolled each herb one by one, laying them out in her black bag. Some were stored in old Nola containers for preservation. Chairs creaked as we leaned forward, curiosity and excitement narrowing the space between us.
As Ouma introduced us to various medicines – like Sã-i, used for good luck and as a perfume, and ǃNãu/aru, a remedy for bladder infections, period pains, and even as an abortifacient – our smiles grew wider, and the room filled with eager whispers. With each revelation, our curiosity deepened. Yet, when the demonstration ended, a deeper question lingered. For the Khoisan communities present, this gathering meant more than just learning; it marked a step towards healing from a long history of violence that has scarred the Nama and Damara. Was this gathering the very ‘work in motion’ that Athambile Masola (2020) calls ukuzilanda, the act of reclaiming oneself by engaging with collective histories? The notion of remembering oneself through telling intimate stories of our past?
Testing the Waters of Transparency: The Impact of Namibia’s Access to Information Act on Constitutionalism
Posted: 18 June, 2024 Filed under: Dunia P. Zongwe | Tags: Access to Information Act, accountability, ‘Fishrot’ Files, constitutionalism, corruption scandal, Gondwana case, Haufiku case, human rights, international standards, Namibia, national security, RAI, right to access information, rule of law, secrecy, secret information Leave a comment
Author: Dunia P. Zongwe
Associate Professor, Alliance School of Law, India; and Adjunct Associate Professor, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa
Abstract
This paper decodes the right to access information (RAI) in the newly enacted Access to Information Act in Namibia. Passed by Parliament in 2022, this Act came on the heels of the infamous ‘Fishrot’ Files, the country’s ugliest corruption scandal, uncovered through massive information leaks. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the Act in advancing the goals of constitutionalism by enabling individuals to access information robustly and transparently, thereby holding the ruling elite accountable to the public.
This paper unfolds in four steps. It begins by describing the loopholes that existed in the law before 2022, pondering what these lacunae imply for constitutionalism. Next, the paper dissects the RAI in theory, doctrine, and as presented in the Access to Information Act 8 of 2022. It then examines the Act’s provisions on RAI against the provisions laid out in the 2013 Model Law on Access to Information for Africa, highlighting key parallels. Lastly, drawing on those parallels, the paper assesses whether the RAI, as consecrated in the 2022 Act, advances the goals of constitutionalism. The paper argues that, by excluding from its scope Cabinet deliberations, the Act watered down the presumption of disclosure, and, in that sense, it failed to close the last loopholes that allowed the executive branch to evade accountability. This paper adds to the relevant literature by revealing that implementing the RAI and the disclosure presumption may constrain the executive more effectively than the other organs of the state.
Is southern Africa entering its own ‘War on Terror’?
Posted: 6 July, 2021 Filed under: Marko Svicevic | Tags: acts of terrorism, Al-Qaeda, Angola, Ansar al-Sunna, apartheid, Cabo Delgado, conflict, DRC, extremism, foreign fighters, ISIS, Lesotho, military, Mozambique, Namibia, SADC, SADC Deployment, SADC interventions, SADC Standby Force Mission to Mozambique, SADC Summit, South Africa, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Southern African Development Coordination Conference, Tanzania, terror, terrorists, violent extremism, war, war on terror Leave a comment
Author: Marko Svicevic
Post-doctoral research fellow, South African Research Chair in International Law (SARCIL), University of Johannesburg
What the proposed SADC deployment in Mozambique means for the sub-region
Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met again on 23 June 2021 in Maputo to discuss the expanding insurgency in northern Mozambique. It’s the first time the Summit has met since a technical assessment to Mozambique recommended a 3000 strong military deployment. In a communique issued following the meeting, the SADC Summit – its highest decision-making body – endorsed the recommendations made by the technical assessment and approved a mandate for the SADC Standby Force Mission to Mozambique.
From domestic grievances to terrorist acts and foreign aggression
Now approaching its fourth year, the conflict in Mozambique has raged across Cabo Delgado, its northern most province neighboring Tanzania. Initially, the Mozambican government seemed to brush off the violence as local criminality. In the last year and a half however, it has consistently re-framed this narrative as one of ‘foreign aggression.’ Both arguments have merit; there is ample research to suggest the drivers of the conflict are placed with a sense of neglect by the government together with high levels of poverty and unemployment. At the same time, the conflict is being internationalised with some evidence of foreign fighters joining the ‘insurgency’, which has since become known as Ansar al-Sunna. Further yet, the group’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in 2019 and the US designation of ‘ISIS-Mozambique’ as Specially Designated Global Terrorists may be playing into Maputo’s newfound narrative: that the conflict is not rooted in domestic issues but constitutes an act of aggression against Mozambique’s sovereignty.
The right to happiness in Africa
Posted: 13 July, 2016 Filed under: Saul Leal | Tags: Africa, apartheid, Christopher Mbazira, colonialism, constitution, David Bilchitz, economic development, Egypt, employment, Frederick Fourie, freedom, Ghana, Justice Albie Sachs, Leopold Sadar Senghor, Liberia, liberty, Namibia, Nigeria, racism, right to happiness, right to life, safety, security, South Africa, Steve Biko, Stu Woolan, Swaziland 3 Comments
Author: Saul Leal
Vice-Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA)
Leopold Sedar Senghor said: emotion is African.[1] This emotion has been channeled to constitutions. Happiness is a core value in many African constitutions. It was explicitly mentioned in Liberia, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, Swaziland, and Egypt.
Article 1 of the Constitution of Liberia, 1986, proclaims that all free governments are instituted by the people’s authority, for their benefit, and they have the right to alter and reform it when their safety and ‘happiness’ require it.[2] The preamble of the Egyptian Constitution, 2014, cites ‘a place of common happiness for its people’. The Namibian Constitution, 1990, assures the right ‘to the pursuit of happiness’. In this regard, Frederick Fourie defends the preamble of the Namibian Constitution, explaining that it is coloured by the struggle against colonialism and racism; that it is built around the denial of the ‘right of the individual life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ by colonialism, racism and apartheid.[3]
AfricLaw 