Teach history warts and all

But maybe memory is what young people need to be taught before they can be taught actual history.

Oldest coloured owned business in Namibia

Johannes Wilhelm Krabbenhoeft was the son of Friedrich Wilhelm Krabbenhoeft who established the trading house Krabbenhoeft and Lampe at Lüderitz, and his wife Lucie Krabbenhoeft née Forbes. He was born on 20.09.1882 at Keetmanshoop. Due to the fact that his mother was a "coloured" woman from the Cape Colony in South Africa, he had later difficulties in the Schutztruppe during the German colonial period.

Present Day (2010)

What am I doing by writing about this?
The sociology of race and of ethnic relations is the area of the discipline that studies the social, political, and economic relations between races and ethnicities at all levels of society. This area encompasses the study of racism, residential segregation, and other complex social processes between different racial and ethnic groups. The sociological analysis of race and ethnicity frequently interacts with other areas of sociology such as stratification and social psychology, as well as with postcolonial theory.
At the level of political policy, ethnic relations is discussed in terms of either assimilationism or multiculturalism. Anti-racism forms another style of policy, particularly popular in the 1960s and 70s.
On Wikipedia

‘The overall sense one has regarding Coloured identity in the new South Africa is one of fragmentation, uncertainty and confusion. For the greater part of its existence, Coloured identity was accepted as given by its bearers, and in the latter phases of the apartheid era, the emergence of a rejectionist movement created a schism between those who accepted and those who eschewed it. But the new South Africa has witnessed the emergence of a wide spectrum of positions on the nature of Colourness and a plethora of initiatives to change or influence the ways in which it is expressed. Such attempts have thus far failed to have much of a popular impact because they lack resonance with the Coloured masses and are driven by small groups of intellectuals and community activists with limited influence. The evidence indicates that many people who have gone beyond simply accepting racial categories as given are wrestling with questions about the extent to which they should express their identity as black, as African, as South African, as Khoisan, as descendants of slaves or whether they should take a stand on the principle of nonracism. There is often confusion about whether Colouredness is inherent or imposed from outside, whether it is something negative to be discarded or something positive to be embraced and affirmed. Today, Coloured identity remains in flux and is experiencing a degree of change unparalleled since its emergence in the late nineteenth century'

Aiming morality at the youth

If students are to be encouraged to be active citizens, they have to be engaged as they are, where they are, find out what their aspirations are and make space for their cares within our agendas. Morality is not going to suddenly become appealing through a document that binds you to “obey the laws of our country, ensure that others do so as well, and contribute in every possible way to making South Africa a great country”. Morality is not easily made attractive, but its cause is not helped by a disregard for the voices of young people to whom we’re preaching active citizenship

http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2011-03-27-finding-an-anthem-for-a-doomed-youth

The way things are ... in Africa

http://www.namibiansun.com/story/way-things-are-africa

Pashu Shuudi writes:


ALTHOUGH hard to swallow, us black people despise everything that looks like us. To prove my point, not so long ago fellow blacks who run away from atrocities in their African countries were beaten, burned and some even killed by fellow blacks in South Africa. In Namibia, black supporters of the ruling party SWAPO and the opposition parties clashed in 2009 and we are still hearing of such quarrels or violence just in the name of politics.

Through history, I have come to learn that we actually disliked one another before colonialism, hence fierce tribal fights during those years. Colonialism united us all in the fight against a common enemy. After colonialism, we saw the rebirth of what we thought was buried long time ago, tribalism, regionalism, favouritism, etc. Although we do not like others from other tribes, we all love things that we do not produce. We love fine branded clothes, (Polo, Paris Hilton, Luis Vuiton, Nike, Adidas, Lacoste, Timberland) from Europe, we love American and German-made cars, we love expensive wine, we like Jameson whisky, Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, Red Label, Bell’s, Scottish brandy, the beer. Yet no African person brews any of them.

All we own, unfortunately, are thousands of shebeens where we drink ourselves to death, stab each other with knives/bottles, infect each other with the HIV virus, make lots of unwanted babies and then blame others for our miseries. We love all sorts of expensive foreign made items and show them off. Yet we look down at our indigenous products that we fail to commercialise.

As blacks, we know very little about investments, whether in stocks, or in properties. All we know is how to invest our money in things that depreciates or evaporate the fastest - like clothes, cars, alcohol, and when we are at it, we want the whole world to see us. I know some brothers driving BMWs, yet they sleep on the floors, no beds because nobody will see them anyway. This is what we love doing and this is the black life, a life of showing off for those who have. A black millionaire ‘tenderpreneur’ living in Ludwig’s Dorf, Kleine Kuppe, Olympias, in Windhoek will drive to the notorious Eveline Street in Katutura for a beer where he will show off his expensive car and look down on others. We sell our natural resources to Europe for processing, and then buy them back in finished products.

What makes us so inferior in our thinking that we only pride ourselves when we have something made by others?

What compels us to show off things that we don’t manufacture?
Is it the poverty that we allow ourselves to be in? Is it our navigated consciousness, our culture or just a low self-esteem possessing us?
For how long are we going to be consumers or users of things we do not produce?
Do we like the easy way out, such that we only use and consume things made by others?
Do designer clothes, expensive wine or changing our names to sound more European make us more confident in ourselves?
Our leaders scream at us how bad the Europeans are, yet they steal our public money and hide it in European banks. We know how Europeans ransacked Africa but we are scandalously quiet when our own leaders loot our countries and run with briefcases under their arms full of our riches to Europe.

The Europeans took our riches to Europe but our African leaders are again taking our riches to Europe. Mubarak of Egypt, Gadaffi of Libya, Mobutu Sese Seko of the then Zaire, all had their assets allegedly frozen in Europe. Why do our African leaders who claim to love us run to invest ‘their’ money in Europe?

Again, when they get sick they are quick to be flown to Europe for treatment yet our relatives die in hospital queues. Don’t our leaders trust the health systems they have created for us all? Why are we so subservient, so obedient to corruption when committed by our very own people?

Nobody can disagree with me in this country that we are like pets trained to obey the instructions of their masters. I am sure we look down when we think of our broken lives, but what do we see when our thoughts are down? I wonder if we realise how we sell our dreams to our leaders for corruption, miseries, poverty, unemployment, underdevelopment and all other social evils affecting us.

How long are we going to let our manipulated minds mislead us, from womb to tomb?

Replays - Social Entrepreneur Empowerment Series

Replays - Social Entrepreneur Empowerment Series

Interviews with some of the best social entrepreneurs around

What is a social entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.

Visit the Ashoka Website for more information:
What is a social entrepreneur

A Crown For Your Brow, And a Key For Your Hand

on Namibia's 21st birthday, 21 March 2011

This morning once more my country awakes
This day is no normal day though,
No, today my country has come of age,
It is no longer a child,
But an adult member of the world.

I remember its birth many sunrises ago
When I was chosen to raise our new flag,
Looking out from that first maternity ward
Over the rolling hills of our capital Windhoek
The skyline created by the colonialists.

Today, my country receives its key,
The key to unlock things before hidden,
Things that were forbidden to do,
Now maturity must lend a hand
And help in the choices it makes.

During its teenage years,
I became worried as it flirted,
Its political alliances changing shape
Hard words being exchanged during puberty
Crying tears of unanswered love.

As my country becomes more self-assured
Exerting its own will and wants
It is time to step quietly aside,
Assuring it of my undying, continued love
While letting it achieve its own greatness.

Smile, my beloved land on your crown birthday,
You have overcome many a fall or scrape
Some of the scars will remain as proof
All of it part of growing up and learning
Preparing for your role in life

Do not care about your past
The bitted words of things you cannot change
Mould yourself into a strong unified character
Reconciliation will always be your guide
Making every citizen a part of the motherland

From Today, as always, make us proud.

What happened to multicultural identity?

What happened to multicultural identity?: "A few years ago, the Harvard Committee on African Studies asked me to address them on some of the challenges facing our new democracy."


Political institutions structured around identity is a recipe for disaster.

The current provinces deepen ethnic identities and identity interests around being coloured or Indian or Zulu or Xhosa or Pedi.

They should be abolished.

A common South African identity will remain elusive for as long as we do not have a much more cosmopolitan view of space.

Gauteng is an example of the kind of geographical cosmopolitanism I have in mind.

There is no ethnic group that can claim exclusive ownership of the geographic space given the multiple origins and identities of the people who live there. This principle needs to be elevated to the national level.

African People's Organisation / first coloured pressure group in Namibia

The African People's Organisation (APO), originally the African Political Organisation, was formed in Cape Town in 1902 and was initially the most prominent "coloured" pressure group in South Africa. Its interest in SWA/Namibia goes back to at least 1918 when it opposed the transfer of the former German colony to the South Africa Authority. The first SWA branch of the APO was established in Windhoek in February 1923. In informing the colonial authorities of the establishment of the branch, the leaders stated that the aims of the organisation were to defend "the Social Political and Civil Rights of the Cape Coloured Community throughout the SW Protectorate. Another political organisation which devoted itself to representing the Coloured community in SWA, the African National Bond, was also launched in Windhoek in 1925.

The APO, although it recruited its members from the relatively small group of educated and economically comfortably off Coloureds, was to become the most influential political organisation for Coloureds for almost forty years. Although it collapsed as an organisation in the early 1940s, having to give way to more radical organisations, the APO shaped black political thought and culture for decades after its demise.

Consumers International Blog: Financial service providers must go back to their roots

Consumers International Blog: Financial service providers must go back to their roots

William Jordan (1849-1886), Coloured settler in Namibia

Coloureds in Namibia since 1884:

William Worthington Jordan, was a "coloured" man from the Cape Colony in South Africa. His father was British and his mother cape coloured. He was a hunter and trader in Botswana, Namibia and Angola.

On 21.04.1884 Jordan obtained a land and minerals concession of 50,000 kilometres around Otavi and Grootfontein from Ondonga King Kambonde kaMpingana, king of the Ondongas in the interior of Namibia. Kambonde hoped to strengthen his position against his main rival for control of the Ongonda chiefdom, Nehale Mpingana.

Jordan had traded with the Dorsland Trekkers and a group of trekboers on their way back from Angola were invited to stay on this concession he called the "Republic Upingtonia" - that on 20 Oct 1885 was founded as a settler polity with Grootfontein as its capital. He purchased the area on payment of 300 English pounds, 25 rifles, a slated horse and a barrel of brandy.

Subsequently the name is changed to Lijdensrust(Lydenrust)in 1886 and accepts German protection. The first, and only President, George Diederik P. Prinsloo (b. 1820 - d. 1888), presided from 20 Oct 1885 - June 1887.


Flag of Upingtonia

Jordan's killing on the orders of Ondonga King Nehale lyaMpingana on 30.06.1886 marked the end of the "Republic Upingtonia", and most of the Boers trekked back to Angola. Jordan's concession was auctioned in Cape Town after his death, and formed the basis for the South West Africa Company.

(By August 1892, Cecil Rhodes had come to dominate the SWAC which had the sole rights to operate railway lines between Sandwich Harbour and the Kunene River.The "Otavi Minen- und Eisenbahngesellschaft (OMEG)" was founded in Berlin on 6 April1900. The major shareholders were the German Disconto-Gesellschaft and the South West Africa Company (SWAC). The mining rights of Jordan were now held in this company which was in later years to become Tsumeb Corporation Limited.)

Following this, the German government at Windhoek asserted control over the region and ended Lijdenrust's independence.

It would be a stretch, but in essence the first coloured settler created a settler colony in 1885. He was killed in the fight between two Ondonga brothers to take over as Chief. Upon his death,the Germans took control of this territory. Thus, the first coloured settlement in Namibia had ended.

Sources:
Max Du Preez in his book, Of Tricksters, Tyrants and Turncoats (Zebra Press Cape Town 2008) refers to him in a chapter entitled “The Darkie Boer”.

Chronology Of Namibian History
Author: Klaus Dierks
Published 1999 – Namibia Scientific Society

RACISM, COLOURED PEOPLE AND BLACK NATIONALISM

I WAS shocked by the article ‘Manuel slams ANC spokesman on ‘coloureds’ remarks’ (The Namibian, 3 March) for being such a racist article itself! While addressing a racist incident in South Africa, the journalist made some disturbing racist statements:

1) The article refers to ‘… a mixed-race group of people.’ This is the language of the mentally-challenged apartheid ideologues and the fascists with their delusions about ‘racial purity.’ Some of the recent incidents in Windhoek show how mentally challenged the racists are. The question of racism remains relevant to us in Namibia since we are dealing with the same kinds of issues here.

2) ‘Coloureds – descendants of the British, Portuguese, African tribes and others – were forcibly concentrated in the western region…’ The coloured people were subjected to the Group Areas Act, but were never ‘forcibly concentrated’ as they have always lived in that region. It would seem that this racially-challenged article was written by some journalist who clearly does not understand the history of southern Africa. The historical fact is that most coloured people originate from the Khoi-San, while the descendants of Malay slaves make up the second biggest group in this tribal/ethnic category. The tribal label ‘coloureds’ was invented by British imperialism (to cover up its mineral theft) and perpetuated by apartheid (to continue the looting).

3) ‘…coloureds have helped the opposition Democratic Alliance take control of local government.’ In a democratic society, people can vote for whoever they prefer. Only an autocratic mindset expects coloured people to only vote for one political party. The coloured people in the Western Cape are split right down the centre in that the middle class support the ANC and the working class does not. It is primarily a social class issue in the context of high unemployment in that region.

The ANC’s secret economic negotiations with the apartheid regime agreed on downgrading the secondary industries (especially clothing) and this led to massive job losses in the Western Cape.

The coloured working class has not forgiven the ANC for this betrayal. In any case, the Western Cape has a long history of modern left-wing politics (since 1934) and the people there have never been impressed with black nationalism. So, the insinuation in the article that coloured people in the Western Cape are racist for not voting for the ANC is far-fetched. Since when does black nationalism represent real liberation when it seems to be only interested in going on with the plundering? Perhaps black nationalism is so invested in these tribal categories to cover up its own looting.

For the record, it is mainly due to the voting of ‘white’ South Africans in the Western Cape that the right-wing DA is in power there and it is interesting to speculate about how come the media focus on coloured people. Is it easier to scapegoat a small group perceived to be politically and economically weaker? In the Northern and Eastern Cape, the coloured people vote for the ANC because of different political dynamics. So, maybe one cannot generalize about this issue.

We should also say to Jimmy Manyi and all the black nationalists of southern Africa: there is an ‘over-supply’ (like commodities?) of coloured people in the Western Cape because their ancestors have lived in southern Africa for 15 000 years! We want black nationalists to get rid of their oppressive idea that they are the only true Africans.

Jimmy Manyi, as an example of a black nationalist, does not grapple with the real causes of unemployment and ends up making racist remarks. Besides dehumanizing and degrading coloured people, Manyi promotes a divisive and potentially violent discourse. His statements reveal the disastrous nature of racial affirmative action instead of social-class affirmative action. Black nationalism does not have the answers and represents a danger to progress with its social conservatism.

With regards to the title of this questionable article, it might also be noted that Manyi is not an ANC spokesman, but a South African government spokesperson. ‘Spokesman’ is such a sexist word. Besides being sloppy journalism, this article is factually incorrect and outright racist.
What a pity that the name of the journalist was not printed.

Finally, we should say again that our refusal to accept tribal/ethnic labels is part of the ongoing struggle for social justice in southern Africa. We should build anti-racism. Non-racialism remains our great contribution to humanity.
J B Cloete
Windhoek

Manuel slams ANC spokesman on ‘coloureds’ remarks

JOHANNESBURG – A powerful member of the African National Congress yesterday accused the new government spokesman of making racially insensitive comments that echoed the injustices of the apartheid era.
The fallout could hurt President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress who are facing local elections in May.
Economic Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, the former finance minister, said spokesman Jimmy Manyi brought shame to the dreams of Nelson Mandela and tarnished the non-racial policies of the ANC by making disparaging remarks in a television interview about a mixed-race group of people classified as ‘coloureds’.
“I know who Nelson Mandela was talking about when he said from the dock that he had fought against white domination and he had fought against black domination,” Manuel, himself coloured, said in an open letter quoted by the Star newspaper.
“Jimmy, he was talking about fighting against people like you,” the letter said.
Manuel was not available for comment and Manyi told the Sapa news agency he would not comment. His remarks were made in 2010 but sparked a national outcry after they were posted on YouTube last week.
The ANC has called Manyi’s comments, made before he was appointed government spokesman last month but while he was a leading official in the Labour Ministry, “unacceptable” but has not asked him to step down.
Manyi, appointed to help Zuma’s government prepare for the polls and push expensive job creation programmes, said in the television interview that there were too many coloureds in the Western Cape - the area that includes Cape Town.
Manyi, speaking in his capacity as a government official and the president of the Black Management Forum, an organisation created to help non-white managers, said coloureds should “spread in the rest of the country ... so they must stop this over-concentration situation because they are in over-supply where they are”.
He then said the concentration in the Western Cape “is not working out for them”.
Coloureds - descendants of the British, Portuguese, African tribes and others - were forcibly concentrated in the western region under apartheid and have mostly remained there 17 years after the end of the racially oppressive system.
The ANC controls all of South Africa’s nine provinces except the Western Cape, where coloureds have helped the opposition Democratic Alliance take control of local government.
Coloured South Africans constitute about three million of the country’s 50 million population made up mostly of blacks. Whites make up around five million.
In his letter Manuel, respected for his role in the fight against apartheid, said Manyi, a black, had “the same mind that operated under apartheid”.– Nampa-Reuters

Press release: Outright discrimination against Coloured community nothing new

The coloured community of South Africa has recently been in the spotlight as a result of some inflammatory and exceptionally offensive statements by prominent ruling party representatives and journalists (Jimmy Many, Kuli Roberts). One can be forgiven for thinking these pejorative and demeaning perceptions of the Coloured community in South Africa could not possibly hold any real currency in the public sector, however, local non-profit organisation SAME (the South African Movement for Equality) says otherwise...and the group says it has conclusive and damning proof. SAME has in its possession conclusive and damning proof which shows that the institutional and disdainful disregard of the coloured community of South Africa is nothing new and is instead an entrenched and systemic malaise that extends deep within South Africa's public institutions, most notably, the SABC (the South African Broadcast Corporation). “Since 2008, SAME has been involved in discussions with the SABC at the highest level over the continued and outright exclusion of coloured South Africans from enjoying equal access to public broadcaster facilities. The coloured community of South Africa, a legal and census defined population group which accounts for 9% of the South African population, is the only census defined group for which the SABC continues to provide absolutely no specific and targeted public broadcaster radio services to, as is the case with every other census defined group. The constitution speaks of equal access to state resources, yet the SABC still does not provide a national radio platform for the coloured group” says SAME chairman, Ronald Dyers. “This media exclusion fuels the feelings of disenfranchisement and gives tangible credence to the coloured community's claims of exclusion and discrimination by the ruling party”.

“In October 2008, SAME entered into discussions with SABC management at the highest level and while a signed undertaking and course of action was agreed upon to remedy the media exclusion of the coloured community from state broadcast facilities, the coloured community still does not have any national radio station and very little in the way of targeted television programming” says Mr Dyers.

“Is it any surprise then that the coloured community in South Africa continues to feel excluded and shut off from the mainstream while even the public broadcaster is guilty of exercising the most pernicious and blatantly visible form of discrimination against a highly vulnerable and irrefutably disadvantaged minority group in South Africa?” says Dyers.

“Government may try to do damage control by distancing itself from the deeply hurtful statements of Jimmy Manyi and the subsequent response by Trevor Manuel, however, it is clear that the anti-Coloured sentiment within government extends to the highest echelons of state apparatus and is a seemingly accepted modus operandi for state bodies, particularly the SABC”.

“SAME would like to call on all progressive and equality loving South Africans who wish to build a more integrated and representative South Africa, to join SAME in its pursuit of equal access to state media for the coloured community and to bring an end to the SABC and the ANC government's hurtful and extremely prejudicial exclusion of the Coloured community from enjoying the edifying fruits of state media facilities. We have a responsibility to uphold our constitution and to empower the youth within our communities to ensure that government does not pay lip service to its espoused ethos of non-racialism on the one hand, while on the other hand, continuing to practise a most vile and regressive form of discrimination against one of South Africa's most vulnerable minority groups. Clearly, it seems that in South Africa, in the ANC government, some groups are more equal than others”

http://www.same.org.za/component/content/article/1-latest-news/49-press-release-outright-discrimination-against-coloured-community-nothing-new

Women in civil society in Africa continue to face major hurdles

Women in civil society in Africa are particularly prone to intimidation and harassment says a new report released today by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. CIVICUS calls on African governments, regional bodies, the international community and civil society to do much more to protect women human rights defenders on the continent.

Released to coincide with International Women’s Day, the report outlines the major challenges faced by women in civil society in Africa. These include deeply entrenched patriarchal norms and an increased risk of sexual harassment and violence due to the nature of their work.

The report argues that the overall environment for women in civil society in Africa is particularly challenging. “Even in countries with ratified laws and protocols on the protection of women’s rights, there are clear instances where government officials and security forces have shown lack of understanding of these laws, and in some situations, blatant disregard for them,” says Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS Policy Manager and one of the co-authors of the report.

Women human rights defenders (WHRD) are more prone to intimidation and harassment due to the nature of their work as compared to their male counterparts, CIVICUS said. Civil society groups working exclusively on women’s rights, have to negotiate around additional sets of challenges and hurdles.

The report, which contains compelling testimonies from activists, points out that rather than engaging with the critical voices from civil society, governments have frequently chosen to silence them, often through harassment, intimidation, threats of closure, arrests and worse.

For African women activists and women’s organisations, these threats are magnified. Defending women’s human rights is often seen by state authorities, and even by communities and family members, as a challenge to their culture, tradition and way of life. On-going armed conflicts on the continent place women activists at even further risk of violence.

“The report is a testament to the courage of hundreds of women civil society activists who carry out their work amid attacks on their reputations, threats to their families and their own personal safety” says Tiwana.

The report found that often WHRDs are viewed with distrust and vilified as women of loose morals, traitors or spies because they do not conform to societal norms.

In Kenya, Tunisia and Egypt, they reported on-going intimidation by dissenters who labelled them “loose women” and their respective organisations “training grounds for lesbians”.

The report cites Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone as countries where WHRDs continually confront sexual harassment and assault with only minimal response from their respective governments.

The report contains this statement from a WHRD in the DRC: “They finally got me when they threatened my children - I couldn’t focus any more. They called and told me, ‘we have your daughter, and we are raping her now’.”

In stamping out the gender abuse of WHRDs in Africa, the report highlights the need for space for the voices of WHRDs to be heard and for civil society to work on strategies to protect women activists. In addition, governments need to be implementing human rights instruments with a gender lens.

“The absence of strong accountability institutions and widespread impunity has left the door open for human rights violations to go unpunished,” Tiwana said. “In many countries independent safe watch dog bodies to protect WHRDs do not exist and in other places they have been co-opted and made redundant by politicians.”

CIVICUS produced the report The challenges faced by women in civil society in Africa with support from the African Women Development Fund and Trust Africa. It is available for downloading from the CIVICUS website: http://www.civicus.org/images/stories/ civicus/Challenges_Faced_by_Women_in_Civil_Society_in_Africa.pdf.

Namibia, Etosha NP