The report says the stadium of Windhoek, Namibia's capital, was packed with cheering Namibians and perhaps four thousand dignitaries and representatives or nongovernmental organizations from all over the world, as the South African flag was slowly lowered just after midnight on March 21 and the new Namibian flag majestically raised; it was a moment or triumph and great emotion for the people or Namibia who had endured 106 years or colonial domination, exploitation and struggle, as President Sam Nujoma said in his inaugural address; tears of joy were streaming down many cheeks; it was the penultimate moment, when Africa's last colony, for so long under German rule and then the League of Nations...
The report says the stadium of Windhoek, Namibia's capital, was packed with cheering Namibians and perhaps four thousand dignitaries and representatives or nongovernmental organizations from all over the world, as the South African flag was slowly lowered just after midnight on March 21 and the new Namibian flag majestically raised; it was a moment or triumph and great emotion for the people or Namibia who had endured 106 years or colonial domination, exploitation and struggle, as President Sam Nujoma said in his inaugural address; tears of joy were streaming down many cheeks; it was the penultimate moment, when Africa's last colony, for so long under German rule and then the League of Nations mandated rule by South Africa, became the newest independent country of Africa. The report says the flag, in the first moments of independence, lay limp, for although there had been wind and rain earlier in, the last hours of Namibia's colonial status, the night was calm; only later as a soft breeze blew could one see the unfurled flag with its vivid blue surrounding a golden sun, the diagonal red band, the stripes of white, and the green lower segment. The report says the moments leading up to the climactic seconds of independence had their drama as President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa with a rather subdued but sympathetic demeanor announced "the season of violence has passed for Namibia and for the whole of Southern Africa...A new mandate for peace has come about. The sun rises over a new Namibia as part of a new Southern Africa." The report says Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations, spoke of the implementation of Security Council Resolution 435 under which elections had been held supervised by the UN, the choosing of the Constituent Assembly which adopted a Constitution unanimously for a free Namibia; it was the UN Secretary General, not South Africa's President, who administered the oath of office to Sam Nujoma. The report says during the proceedings, South Africa's recently released political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, arrived on the grand stand to a flurry of excitement; one of Namibia's religious leaders later remarked that, other than Sam Nujoma, who as President of SWAPO had led the struggle for independence, the hero of the independence celebration was Mandela; perhaps he was here, the representative of the Council of Churches of the Netherlands said, as a dress rehearsal for what might happen in South Africa soon. The report says the churches played a prominent role in the independence celebration as they had in the struggle for freedom; under the auspices of the Council of Churches in Namibia. which combines the strength of seven major denominations an ecumenical service of thanksgiving was held the day after independence with thousands in attendance at the stadium; Archbishop Desmond Tutu of the South African Anglican Church, made one of the most moving statements. The report says the independence celebration was the culmination of more than a century of struggle and suffering for the people of Namibia - first against German imperialism which ended with Germany's defeat in World War I; then followed 71 years of South African exploitation under first the mandate system of the old League of Nations and later during South Africa's defiance of the United Nations by in refusing to withdraw its illegal occupying army from the territory; for the last 23 years, SWAPO led an armed struggle against South African rule, with untold thousands of lives lost; finally after a decade of South African intransigence and international wrangling, UN Resolution 435 was implemented, allowing the United Nations Transition Group (UNTAG) to come and supervise the elections which led to the adoption of Namibia's Constitution in an Assembly in which SWAPO had a clear majority; the constitution is a model of a democracy, establishing Namibia as a unitary state with a multi-party system, separate executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, freedom of religion, speech and press, with discrimination outlawed and the death penalty forbidden. The report says in his inaugural address, Sam Nujoma squarely outlined some of the problems, particularly economic, that lie ahead - two-thirds of the people in poverty and high unemployment; the economy has great potential based primarily on mineral resources - a fourth of the gem diamonds of the world, the richest uranium mine in the world, most potential for fishing off the Atlantic coast; but with all this, the economy is tied to South Africa's in the classical colonial manner; production and resources are sent to South Africa for processing. Investment is dominated by South African and Western multinational companies, equipment and power installations are predominantly from South Africa and the one seaport at Walvis Bay remains in South African hands. [Note: It is not known where this report was written. The author lived in New York but may have written this before he returned from Namibia.]
