Mburumba Kerina

Mburumba Kerina (born William Eric Getzen; 6 June 1932 – 14 June 2021) was a Namibian politician and academic. He was a co-founder of

Both OPO and SWANU soon realised that a broader group would serve the nationalist interests better. SWANU founder Fanuel Kozonguizi and OPO leader Sam Nujoma discussed whether a merger of OPO and SWANU would achieve that result but Kerina's suggestion to expand OPO into the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was implemented in 1960, mainly because SWANU did not have the full support of the Herero Chiefs' Council. Kerina became one of SWAPO's co-founders, and is the person to have suggested the name.^[7][11]

Fallout with SWAPO

The difference in preferred methods to lead the country to independence soon led to different factions within SWAPO. Kerina was on the moderate side and disliked violence. He was expelled in 1962 for publicly discussing the formation of a new party.^[12] Morgan Norval writes:^[13]

However, all was not well [...]. A growing rift was developing between the moderates and the hardliners. The hardliners, led by Nujoma, were insistent upon following the path of a war of liberation. They looked with disdain on those seeking a political solution to the independence question in Namibia.

In 1964 Kerina returned from the US for an unsuccessful attempt to enter Namibia. He stayed in

In 1966 Kerina broke with the Herero Chiefs' Council (and by extension, NUDO) again. That same year he established the South West Africa National United Front (SWANUF) in an attempt to unite SWANU and NUDO. The attempt was unsuccessful; the two parties remained partly adversarial. SWANUF ceased its activities at the end of the 1970s.^[2]

The

In the meantime, the white inhabitants of South West Africa and conservative black members of the population, including Kerina, tried to contain the violence and preserve the status quo. The South African government hoped that by means of small reforms and compromises a broad spectrum of the indigenous population would cease their support for armed resistance. This was the aim of the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference, a controversial conference held in Windhoek between 1975 and 1977 which was tasked with the development of a constitution for a self-governed Namibia under South African control. Sponsored by South African government, the Turnhalle Conference laid the framework for the government of South West Africa from 1977 to independence in 1989.^[16]

The Turnhalle conference was widely criticised for providing "pseudo-reforms",^[16] entrenching the racial segregation of Namibia's population, and indirectly reinforcing the economic and political power of the white population.^[17] Several black delegates, however, welcomed the start of institutionalised communication between the parties.^[18] Kerina did not attend the conference—he only returned from the US in 1976 after the plenary sessions—but supported its outcome. He wrote in 1977:^[19]

The Constitutional Conference [...] has created a tranquil atmosphere in which all the people of Namibia are re-examining [...] institutions of the Territory at a round-table conference of equals dedicated to mutual coexistence and survival. This historic development is in conformity with major resolutions of the United Nations, the Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice, and the Lusaka Manifesto.

He also criticised the UN General Assembly's 1972 decision to recognise SWAPO as the 'sole legitimate representative' of Namibia's people:^[20]

It is unfortunate, indeed, that the United Nations has been prematurely hoodwinked into the recognition of one Namibian tribal faction as 'the sole authentic representative' group of all Namibians at the expense of the majority of the people.

After the Turnhalle conference Kerina initiated a number of political movements in South West Africa. He founded the Namibia Patriotic Coalition (NPC) in 1978 which entered into an alliance with the Rehoboth Liberation Front (LF) and the Liberal Party. The NPC soon became defunct and was reestablished in 1982 under the name Namibia National Democratic Coalition (NNDC). In 1988 Kerina co-founded the Federal Convention of Namibia (FCN) with Hans Diergaardt, who became its president.^[2]

Independent Namibia

In the pre-independence

Between 1953 and Namibian independence in 1990, Kerina stayed in the United States but frequently visited Namibia for sustained periods. In the US he worked as an academic, holding both administrative and academic positions, often in parallel, at various institutions. Kerina held a lecturer position at New York City School of Visual Arts (1966–1968) and an assistant and later associate professor position at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (1968–1971). Between 1982 and 1992, he worked as a consultant.^[5]

Personal life and death

Kerina was married to Evelhardine Kapuuo-Kerina. On 5 May 2017, he married Naomi Kikii Zauana. She died only one month later on 5 June 2017, at the age of 54.^[23] Kerina lived in Windhoek's Katutura suburb.^[24]

In 2019, the City of Windhoek named former Bahnhof Street in the central business district after him in recognition of his role in the fight for Namibian independence.^[25]

Kerina died due to COVID-19 in Windhoek on 14 June 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia. He was 89.^[26]

References

Notes