Werner Mamugwe

Mamugwe was born of 7 February 1936, in Windhoek, and grew up in Old Location.^[1][2] As a young man, he trained boxing.^[3] Mamugwe was one of very few African matriculants in South West Africa at the time.^[4] He became involved in nationalist politics, and in 1957 he joined the South West Africa Progressive Association (SWAPA).^[1] He became a member of the SWAPA leadership.^[1] He led protests in Old Location against the forced relocation of the community to Katutura.^[1][3] When the South African authorities initially refused Andimba Toivo ya Toivo permission to stay overnight at Old Location, Mamugwe convinced the pass officer to issue a temporary pass.^[3] Mamugwe helped edit the newspaper South West News - Suidwes Nuus, and was a frequent contributor to Contact and New Age.^[5][4]

Mamugwe took part in the founding of the South West African National Union (SWANU) in 1959.^[1][2] He served as acting SWANU chairman.^[1][6] Mamugwe functioned as a liaison between the exiled SWANU External Council in Francistown (Bechuanaland) and the SWANU organization inside South West Africa.^[1][3] In 1962 he was banned from re-entering Bechuanaland due to his political activities.^[1]

He went into exile in May 1965, settling in Lusaka.^[1] From Lusaka he journeyed to Israel to study at the Afro-Asian Institute for Cooperative and Labour Studies, an institution set up by the Histadrut in Tel-Aviv in 1960. While there, he received military training.^[1][7] In August 1966 he attempted to re-enter South West Africa through the Caprivi strip, but was arrested.^[1] He was held and interrogated on Impalila Island for four days, then taken to Katima Mulilo where he was held in solitary confinement for three weeks.^[3] On 7 September 1966, he was transferred to Pretoria Central Prison.^[1] He was held for seven months without trial.^[3]

Then, without explanation, the South African authorities transported Mamugwe and Kuaima Riruako to the Caprivi Strip, and left both in the wilderness to fend for themselves.^[3] After three days they were rescued by Zambian fishermen.^[3] Mamugwe shifted to Lusaka, where he attended college.^[3] He later moved to Dar-es-Salaam, and then shifted to Uganda where he enrolled at the Makerere University.^[3] His studies at Makerere University were cut short by the internal turmoil in Uganda, and he shifted to Nairobi where he was eventually granted asylum status.^[3] He served as the SWANU Representative in Central and East Africa, and addressed many international forums such as the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid.^[3] He returned to his home country in 1977.^[3]

On 1 May 1989, Mamugwe, Attie Beukes and Erica Beukes launched the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) at a meeting in the Khomasdal Community Hall.^[2][8] Soon thereafter the WRP joined the Socialist Alliance of Namibia (SAN), with Mamugwe becoming one of two SAN acting secretaries alongside Rirua Karihangana.^[9] But in August 1989 WRP joined the United Democratic Front (UDF) ahead of the 1989 Namibian parliamentary election, leaving SAN in limbo.^[9]

Mamugwe died on 25 May 1998.^[1] He was buried in Windhoek.^[3] After Mamugwe's death Hewat Beukes took over the role as WRP political secretary.^[8]