1960 | Namibia has 11 163 telephone lines
(3 500 lines ten years ago) including 2 413 farm line connections. During the year 17 325
067 telephone calls are counted. King Omukwaniilwa Mwaala gwa Nashilongo dies. His successor is the 12th Uukwaluudhi King Hosea Shikongo Taapopi Shitaatala (since 20.09.1960). He resides at Tsandi. Josephat Kambazembi dies. He has no direct successor. |
January | The Hall Commission of Inquiry,
which commences on 11.01. and which includes the Judge President, is appointed to
investigate the unrest. Sam Nujoma, Uatja Kaukuetu and Zedekia Ngavirue represent the Old
Location community. OPO hires the law company Tambo and Mandela from Johannesburg. On the
request of the Chief Native Commissioner Bruwer Blignaut, Tambo is deported back to South
Africa. Consequently OPO is defended by Advocate van Niekerk. However, the deeds of the SA
Police are completely exonerated. Inspired by the 1959 Windhoek uprising, student unrest erupts at the Augustineum Teachers Training College at Okahandja. Hidipo Hamutenya takes part. Having to flee the country, he goes to Dar-Es-Salaam. The Augustineum is later moved to Windhoek. The African Improvement Society (AIS) dissolves. The Ovambanderu (Mbanderu Council) of Epukiro and Aminuis manage to obtain SAs recognition of their leader, Munjuku Nguvauva II, in the place of Stephanus Hoveka and later Gerson Hoveka whose forefather, Nikanor Hoveka, was appointed by the German authorities as Chief of the Epukiro Reserve (this position is later confirmed by SA). This is the cause of a long dispute over the Ovambanderu chieftaincy. Supporters of Hosea Kutako accuse SWANU of trying to fragment the Ovaherero. Due to Kutakos age it is decided that he should be assisted by a deputy chief, and Clemence Kapuuo is elected despite strong opposition from SWANU and the Ovambanderu (Mbanderu Council). The Mbanderu Council later supports SWAPO but only formally aligns itself with SWAPO in 1988 during a Consultative Conference in Kabwe, Zambia, attended by SWAPO leaders and "progressive Namibians" invited by SWAPO. The South West Africa United National Independence Organisation (SWAUNIO) is formed by David Gertze to oppose SAs "homeland policy". Reverend Markus Kooper from Hoachanas represents SWAUNIO as a petitioner at the UN (again in 1965 and 1967). Immanuel Gottlieb Nathaniel "Maxuilili" becomes SWAPOs Acting President inside SWA. Aaron Mushimba joins SWAPO in the early 1960s, and later becomes the partys National Organiser. Reverend Markus Kooper of Hoachanas: Petitioner at the United
Nations for Namibia: 1960s: Hardap Region: April 2003 David Hoveka Meroro joins SWANU. |
25./30.01. | The All-African Peoples Conference in Tunis condemns SAs apartheid policy in SWA. It calls for the immediate realisation of the "Mandate Agreement" and for boycotts of all goods produced in the Union of South Africa if that country does not comply. |
26.02. | At the request of the Herero Chiefs Council and OPO, it is decided that Sam Nujoma should join Jariretundu Kozonguizi, Mburumba Kerina and Michael Scott in their petitioning at the UN. Nujoma meets Hosea Kutako for the last time. Kutako gives Nujoma his blessing and tells him that he must be prepared to stay away for a long time and if necessary not to return until SWA has won genuine freedom and independence. |
29.02. | Sam Nujoma goes into exile to Ghana via Botswana and Tanzania, with the assistance of Hosea Kutako, Clemence Kapuuo, Johannes Karuaihe and Elifas Tjingaete. He is supported by Ovambanderu Chief Munjuku Nguvauva II on his way to Botswana. He travels via Maun and Francistown to Bulawayo together with Daniel Munamava, who assists Nujoma to buy a plane ticket to fly to Mbeya in Tanzania via Salisbury (Harare) and Ndola. From Ndola he crosses with the assistance of a member of the Northern Rhodesian United National Independence Party (UNIP), Fines Bulawayo, into the Katanga Province of Belgian Congo. There Nujoma meets Moice Tshombe from the Conakat Party. Crossing back over the border to Ndola he boards a flight to Mbeya. In Mbeya he is treated for malaria and escapes from the hospital after being threatened with arrest by the British authorities. From Mbeya, Nujoma travels with the assistance of officials of the Tanganyikan African National Union (TANU) via Njombe, Iringa and Dodoma to Dar-Es-Salaam. With the assistance of Julius Nyerere (then President of TANU and a member of the Legislative Council of Tanganyika) he receives a passport. |
March | The first sites are available for "coloured" residents in Khomasdal. It is not clear whether the name "Khomasdal" is chosen by the Municipality of Windhoek or one of the many "coloured" organisations. |
End March | Seventy-six General Electric Class 32-000 diesel locomotives are in service. |
April | Sam Nujoma travels from Tanganyika
to Khartoum in Sudan and from there to Accra in Ghana, where he meets Jariretundu
Kozonguizi and Michael Scott. In Accra he also meets African leaders such as Kwame
Nkruhma, Patrice Lumumba, Josef Kasavubu and Frantz Fanon, representing the Algerian
National Liberation Front (FNL). From there Nujoma travels to Liberia, which is presenting
the SWA case to the ICJ. With Kwame Nkruhmas assistance he travels with Kozonguizi
via Ghana to the USA. Karl Friedrich Lempp from the Allgemeine Zeitung is replaced by S Thale. |
19.04. | After breaking away from SWANU,
the OPO reconstitutes itself as the South West Africa Peoples Organisation ( SWAPO)
in New York, with Nujoma as President. SWAPO becomes a national liberation movement. Hosea
Kutako and the Herero Chiefs Council welcome this development (The link between
SWAPO and the Chiefs Council remains until 1963. The break between the two
organisations can be related to SWAPOs discovery of far more powerful allies
abroad). The major difference between SWAPO and SWANU is that SWAPO relies chiefly on
petitioning the UN, while SWANU argues that the people of the territory should organise
themselves to realise their socio-political aspirations (with support of the People's
Republic of China). The difference between SWAPO and SWANU is related more to political
style than to policy. The OPOs reconstitution as SWAPO is triggered by national leaders such as Sam Nujoma, Mburumba Kerina, Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo, Jacob Kuhangua, Solomon Mifima, Paul Helmuth, Andreas Shipanga, Erasmus Erastus Mbumba, Emil Appolus, Maxton Joseph Mutongulume and Carlos Hamatui. SA immediately labels SWAPO a "communist" organisation, but in terms of its policy objectives and conduct, SWAPO can in truth only be labelled a "nationalist movement". Kozonguizi secures SWANUs membership of the South African United Front (SAUF), the All-African Peoples Conference and the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization (AAPSO). |
26.04. | The new High Court building in Windhoek is opened. |
June | Nujoma petitions before the Sub Committee of the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly of the UN for the first time. |
15./24.06. | The Second Conference of Independent African States in Addis Ababa concludes that the ICJ should adjudicate in determining the international obligations of SA concerning SWA, and that the Governments of Ethiopia and Liberia should institute such proceedings. |
05.07. | Nujoma appears before the UN Permanent Committee on SWA in New York, where he also meets Kerina. |
14.07. |
The new broad- gauge railway line reaches Tsumeb. All railway station buildings constructed during the German colonial era, except for the Usakos and Kalkfeld stations, are demolished. |
August | Jacob Kuhangua, who was deported to the north after the Windhoek Uprising, goes into exile via Angola, Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. He reaches New York and joins Nujoma, Kozonguizi, Kerina and Scott. |
12.08. | The UN Permanent Committee on SWA drafts a resolution for the General Assembly which expresses "deep regret at the action taken by the police and soldiers" in SWA. |
01.09. | S Thale from the Allgemeine Zeitung is replaced by Kurt Dahlmann (until 1978). |
08./18.09. | The second All-Africa Lutheran Conference takes place in Antsirabe, Madagascar. Leonard Auala from ELOK participates in the conference. In view of the occurrences in Sharpeville, South Africa, in March 1960, the conference takes a strong standpoint against racialism and South African apartheid as an un-Christian practice. |
23.09. | The Ondonga King Kambonde kaNamene dies. His successor is the 14th Ondonga King, Martin (Nambala) Ashikoto (1960-1967). |
02./08.10. | Under the leadership of Preses Diehl, a Missionary Conference takes place in Swakopmund. During this conference it is inter alia discussed whether "black" pastors should be allowed to eat in "white" missionary houses. |
November | Nujoma returns to Dar-Es-Salaam, where he sets up SWAPOs provisional headquarters. There he meets Meekulu Putuse Appolus, wife of Emil Appolus (since 1952). She later plays a great role in SWAPO and leads the SWAPO Womens Council (SWC) which she establishes in 1969. |
04.11. | Liberia and Ethiopia, former
members of the League of Nations, demand a binding ICJ judgement against SA for violating
mandate regulations. Nangolo Leonard Auala becomes the first moderator of the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOK). |
28.11. | The broad-gauge railway line from Kranzberg to Tsumeb/Grootfontein/Outjo is completed. |
14.12. | The General Assembly of the UN adopts UNGA Resolution 1514 (XV) which declares the Independence of Colonial Countries and Peoples. This declaration boosts SWAPO's morale. It forges ahead with the struggle for SWAs liberation by initiating tactics other than merely petitioning the United Nations. |
Sam Nujoma (right) with Bishop Colin Winter and Shapua
Kaukungua, 1960s
Namibia State Archive