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South West Africa 1981, Put down your Crowbar, and we will throw out the Cubans

Formerly German South West Africa was given to South Africa by a League of Nations Mandate. It was governed as a de facto extra province by Apartheid South Africa. The arrival of Cubans backing up African desires to rid the area of white colonialism complicated an ever more complicated situation. Gosh with a overstretched draftee army, this could turn into another Vietnam for South Africa. We better Vietnamize, err Namibianize, err localize, the fighting. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

As a de facto extra province, you might expect the area to use South African stamps. The earlier stamps very much resemble South African issues. By the eighties though the stamps were less political with more animals and plants with a smattering of remembrances of very old German achievements in the area. Very much the colony on the way to independence.

Todays stamp is issue A98, a 20 Cent stamp issued by the by then no longer UN recognized South African administration of South West Africa on August 14th, 1981. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations showing local variations of the aloe plant. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents whether used or unused. There was a functional postal service, which keeps this stamp from being fake. The UN withdrew recognition of the South African administration of now Namibia in 1966.

The Germans arrived in the area in the late 19th century with large numbers of colonists. The Germans discovered diamonds there in 1908. I did a German colonial stamp from that period here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/05/german-sw-africa-the-hottentot-captain-can-disappear-into-the-grass-but-shoot-him-at-the-water-hole/   . During World War I, the South Africans marched in unopposed. Germans and Dutch heritage South African Boers were simpatico. The League of Nations mandated South Africa to rule in 1920. Africans were not involved in any of this and there numbers were greatly reduced after bloody insurrections against the Germans.

The 1950s and 1960s had seen African colonies gain independence and black rule. In 1960 the Belgians gave up in Congo and things went very poorly for Belgian settlers there. Many were killed and robbed based on their race in the first days after independence. Countries south of Congo often had many such white colonists and they resolved to hold onto power to avoid the same fate. Colonial powers like Britain and Portugal did not support this and the new black nations pressed the UN to recognize local black groups as the legitimate government. In 1966 the UN claimed the right to administer South West Africa with an eye toward turning it over to the black organization called Swapo that fielded would be politicians and a guerilla army attacking South African targets.

South Africa fielded a small draftee army inducted from the minority white population. A counter insurgency war in South West Africa was a great strain especially after Portuguese Angola fell to Cuban/Soviet backed communist blacks. The Cubans were mostly black and well armed and made things much more difficult for South Africa. Taking a page from the American book of failure in Vietnam, South Africa attempted to localize the fighting. All black areas were organized into tribal black homelands. They formed a local unit called the Crowbar with South African officers and black soldiers recruited from The African homeland state of Ovamboland. The force was heavily armed and fought in the counter insurgency style of Swapo. The leader was a Rhodesian who had experience in the bush war there. Both sides took to attempting to get the other sides fighters in their family homes off duty. This kept the fighting between blacks.

A Crowbar memorial at an Afrikaner heritage site in South Africa. It seems to still stand.

Cubans meant that South Africa still had to maintain forces there and there were clashes with Cubans in neighboring Angola. This gave the UN an opening to try to get it’s mandate regarding South West Africa recognized. A deal was offered that Cubans would be withdrawn from Angola in return for South Africa withdrawing its Army from South West Africa. This was agreed but then Swapo jumped the gun and sent their army marching into South West Africa. Them and the UN had forgotten about Crowbar. Crowbar pounced on an in the open Swapo and massacred their army. The UN was left begging both sides to put down their arms. Remember Swapo had agreed to come in unarmed but reneged. Being the UN there was no consequence for this and after this last mission Crowbar was disbanded. The first election Swapo won but without sufficient numbers to make a Congo like outcome. Nobody will be surprised that with South Africa and the UN gone now Namibia reverted to a one party state. Swapo’s leader Sam Nujoma, a former train cleaner, was President and received peace prizes in the name of ever peaceful Lenin and Ho Chi Minh. His son Zacky was implicated in corruption as part of the Panama Papers scandal. Of course there were no consequences. With South Africa’s change in government there were no longer any protectors for the black veterans of Crowbar. A truth and reconciliation commission there declared Crowbar to blame for all those hurt in the war in Namibia.

Well my drink is empty. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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South West Africa, With long distances, we should find a way to keep in touch

This stamp celebrates 100 years since the first post office. The stamp hints though at an earlier history, when Missionary developed a regular communication to look out for each other. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip if your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

In keeping with the 100 year post office theme, the stamp dates the mail carrying camel crossing the Kalahari desert to 1904. By then there was a long history of it. Spread out colonial outposts had to stay in touch even if the technology did not yet make it easy. Think of how treacherous these necessary and regularly scheduled treks were.

Todays stamp is issue A128, a 50 Cent stamp issued by South West Africa, on July 7th, 1988. It was from the last days of the South African administration before the area became Namibia. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations mistakingly dating the start of the postal service to the construction of the first village post offices during the German period of the area. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

The coast of South West Africa was first spotted by the Portuguese at a time when it was very sparsely populated by nomads who the British called Bushmen and the Germans called Hottentots. Nam seems to be the current boring term for them. The British were first with a permanent settlement on the coast at Walvis Bay and the Germans followed further south at Luderitz. The postal service on camel dates to 1814 and was a regular messenger service between Christian Missionary camps in the interior. Again there was British and Germans involved with Congregationalists of the London Missionary Society and German Lutherans of the Rhenish Missionary Society.

South West Africa began to change with the arrival of a former tobacco trading German named Adolf Luderitz. He had worked in America and Mexico in failed tobacco ventures. Back in Germany, he married a rich heiress and was ready anew to seek his fortune. He was very concerned at the number of young Germans that were setting out to America as he had. He felt that they were loosing his Germanness. He thought an area of just Germans in Africa could be a better outlet for Germans seeking a fresh start.  The newly united Germany was very weary of African commitments but Bismarck was convinced to grant Luderitz’s area German protection. Luderitz had expanded his area of control by trading rifles for land with the African tribes. With official German support, a deal was struck that gave South West Africa a strip of land called the Caprivi strip that connected the colony to the Zambezi River and by extension to German colonies in east Africa. Keeping connections being so important so far from home. Adolf Luderitz desperately sought to find the mineral wealth that might justify all the work he put in. During one of his missions his boat on the Orange River was lost showing how treacherous it all was.  As he was checking in nightly, it is at least known what day he was lost. The Hottentot chief who took the rifles for the land later claimed he did not understand the magnitude of the land he was giving up. He then filed a complaint with the Germans demanding money.

Adolf Luderitz

Namibia Post Offices still function though the camels have been retired. A private company NamPost took charge of the postal system in 1992 and claims to have 135 post offices and 743 employees. The Caprivi strip still officially belongs to Namibia though it attempted to break away under the African name Itenge around the year 2000. Perhaps a private profit seeking postal service is not ideal to keep solid connections. The town in Namibia retains Luderitz’s name post independence as it attracts tourists but many of the streets named for him in German cities are being renamed one by one.

Though lacking camels, NamPost delivers more.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the adventurers who travel far whether for profit or God. It sure beats standing around with your hand out. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting