Struggle ‘traitors’ unleashedThe former minister of justice and Swapo secretary-general has released his autobiography in which he gives insight into the country’s liberation struggle, among other things. Tjiriange bares it all in new book Former Swapo secretary-general Ngarikutuke Tjiriange yesterday launched what is set to be a controversial piece of literature, recounting the struggle of Swapo and the sacrifices that were made by ordinary Namibians. Tjiriange said that the book might not be a welcomed piece of writing by some, but emphasised that it was time to tell the true history of the liberation struggle, and name those who were in cohorts with the enemy forces, even though they are celebrated liberation heroes today.
“The time has come to tell the truth and there might be some people that will be annoyed by the things that are written in this book, saying that those things have passed and have no bearing on the future of this country,” he said. “But we need to stop this trend of people lying to the younger generations about the involvement of Swapo and the sacrifices that were made to get this country to where it is today.”
Tjiriange, who said “the past is the genesis of whatever is happening today,” mentioned also that honesty and transparency were required when recounting and recording history.
“We cannot, and I surely will not celebrate those that are not worthy of being celebrated.”
“If you are a traitor, and have been one, then you must be treated as such, and if you are a hero, you must be accorded those accolades, but we don’t treat traitors like they are heroes,” Tjiriange said with a finger of warning accompanying his words.
In the book, titled ‘To Hell and Back’, Tjiriange writes about his experience during the liberation struggle, which included various international travels as well as his heydays and other exiled Namibians in Zambia.
He also didn’t pull any punches when he castigated the infamous ‘Shipanga Rebellion’, led by the late Andreas Shipanga.
The so-called ‘Shipanga Rebellion’ included a group of former Swapo members who were jailed by Swapo in Zambia in the 1970s.
This followed after Shipanga had reportedly complained about corruption within Swapo and misuse of donor funds. He suggested to elect new leaders and for this to be able to happen he pushed forward the organisation of a party congress.
These actions were later called the ‘Shipanga Rebellion’.
After his release from prison Shipanga founded the opposing Swapo Democrats and served as minister in different portfolios in the Transitional Government of National Unity, the interim government of South-West Africa directly before Namibian independence.
In his book, Tjiriange described the ‘Shipanga Rebellion’ as a sensitive and dangerous situation for the country’s liberation struggle, adding that he misled many Namibians who are still Swapo members to this date.
“When the Shipanga rebellion failed to achieve its intended purpose he left and came back to Namibia prematurely and joined the South African puppets in the country. Unfortunately he had misled a large number of people, particularly the youth, before his misdeeds counter-revolutionary acts were exposed. We know some of them are still with us in Swapo.
“I really do not know how they feel today. It is always important for people to be careful to avoid being misled in their political life.” Tjiriange also blasted fellow Namibians who worked as ex-SWATF and Koevoet operatives. “It is indeed, very bad and unbelievable that some countrymen could voluntarily and willingly allow themselves to be used by a murderous colonial regime to maim and kill their own people,” he wrote. “As fate would have it, this diabolic, evil and cruel treatment and killings of our people backfired and exploded in the faces of both the colonial occupiers and their puppet murderers when our people were forced to leave their country en masse and join the liberation struggle in exile.”
Former Prime Minister Nahas Angula, who was one of the struggle veterans, who attended the book launch in Windhoek yesterday, beamed with pride as he spoke of his friendship with Tjiriange, said that the launch of the book was a necessary step in making sure that the African narrative is told from the African perspective.
“For too long a time the African story was told by non-Africans. I would like to therefore congratulate Dr Ngarikutuke Tjiriange for kick-starting the process,” Angula rejoiced.
KEITH VRIES