Namibian elections seen as warning for South Africa
By Melanie Sjoberg
The experiences of the elections in Namibia provide important lessons for the upcoming process in South Africa, Joe Kapaanda told an Adelaide Politics in the Pub on May 12.
Kapaanda, who recently returned to Australia to study, was previously the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) representative for Asia and the Pacific. He returned to Namibia to assist prior to the 1989 elections, in which SWAPO won a majority, but not the 2/3 majority necessary in order to change the constitution.
Kapaanda told the meeting that returnees were subjected to harassment and intimidation from the South African military, who were helping with the demobilisation.
There were tremendous difficulties with voter registration because South African officials were apparently falsifying records. This was related partly to the high degree of illiteracy amongst SWAPO supporters. The regime also established another party with a name and symbols very similar to SWAPO which resulted in confusion.
As in South Africa, elections were something new, therefore requiring massive education and familiarisation campaigns. Much of the population lived in remote areas, which required long travel to reach polling stations, many of which then ran out of ballot papers.
Algernon van der Hoeven, ANC representative, concurred with many of Kapaanda's points and said that they would attempt to overcome some of the difficulties.
He said that the first steps will require the establishment of an independent media commission to counteract the current control of most radio and TV by the regime. He also stated that the military and police will need to be placed under an executive
committee.
"The regime is trying to portray the elections as a normal process", he said, "but it is actually to elect a constituent assembly which will draft a constitution, not elect a government".
Van der Hoeven reported that the regime spent 100 million rand ($A45 million) on the Namibian election and ore on the South African process. Clearly, the regime has no shortage of funds, which means that international support is crucial for the ANC.
He contrasted the constituencies of the ANC and the Nationalist Party. The ANC has 70% illiteracy amongst its supporters, the NP 100% literacy. The majority of ANC supporters are poor, the NP are primarily wealthy. The ANC needs to train 20,000 trainers who will then train 200,000 canvassers in order to target their potential of 20 million voters.
"We need a 2/3 majority to enshrine our ideals, our vision, in the new constitution and to eradicate apartheid", he said.
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