In the war itself, his Swapo was known for his harsh treatment of dissent. In 1976, Andreas Shipanga, the group’s information director, was arrested and accused of living with radical young Namibians who believed the Nujoma leader was uninspired and hidden. The crisis led to a vicious purge of the party’s ranks, with hundreds of young, probable freedom fighters detained in camps in Angola and Zambia, allegedly beaten, tortured and killed, often facing unfounded charges of surveillance for South Africa .
Abusive behavior is not limited to insurgents. South Africa-sponsored police department called Koevoet (Afrikaans for Crowbar), hunted down Swapo Guerrillas, showing bodies such as hunting trophys in the mud of its armored trucks.
On May 4, 1978, in Cassinga, no event encapsulated a relative view of the Namibian war, but a bloody South African airborne invasion, May 4, 1978 160 miles north of Angola’s Namibian border. As a national holiday, Kasinga Day.
South Africa said its troops attacked the military command, control and training center and successfully hired Cuban troops stationed nearby. Swapo said South Africans attacked a refugee transit camp and supported its claims with horrible photos of large-scale graves. In most cases, Mr. Nujoma won the battle of perception, which gave him widespread international sympathy.
As early as the 1970s, Swapo won the recognition of the United Nations as the “single and true representative” of the Namibian people, supporting its claim on legitimacy. Mr. Nuimma, with his career as his spokesperson, has taken the world across the globe, gaining support from different sources such as the Soviet Union, which provides weapons and training, and the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, provide humanitarianism. Aid for politeness.
