The Namibian government wants to dam one of Africa’s=20 last wild rivers. You’ll have to shoot us first say the=20 people who live there, reports Phillip van Niekerk
THE Epupa Falls are a stunning relief after hundreds of=20 kilometres by four-wheel drive over rugged, arid=20 terrain. The Cunene River thunders through narrow=20 gorges, past bewitched-looking baobabs clinging to the=20 ledges. Swallows dip and dive through the spray. The=20 banks of this noisy oasis on Namibia’s northern border=20 with Angola are fringed by tall palms, hundreds of=20 years old.
In the shade of one palm two young Himba girls sit on=20 the ground, their possessions wrapped in blankets. They=20 have a natural earthy chic, with their long plaited=20 hair, elaborate beadwork and ochre-smeared bodies. They=20 have brought their goats to graze on the mustard bush=20 and Acacia pods at the riverside.
This is a special Africa, an old Africa. But it is=20 threatened by a new Africa that wants to build a 250- square kilometre hydroelectric dam at Epupa that will=20 not only destroy the falls and the pristine ecology of=20 one of Africa’s last wild rivers, but end the way of=20 life of the Himba people.
The Namibian government is about to award a contract to=20 a Norwegian-Swedish engineering consortium to conduct a=20 two-year R20-million feasibility study into the dam.=20 President Sam Nujoma is an enthusiastic advocate of the=20 plan, which will cost at least R2-billion and is=20 intended to make Namibia self-sufficient in=20
All that stands in the way of the project are the local=20 Himba people, who have inhabited this remote, wild=20 region for centuries with few concessions to=20 Westernisation. “They will have to shoot all the Himbas=20 before they build the dam,” says Hikuminue Kapika,=20 headman in the Epupa area, pointing his finger=20 emphatically in the air. “Without our co-operation they=20 will never build this dam.”
Kapika and his people feel sore at being duped. They=20 initially welcomed the dam, believing what they were=20 told — that it would be for their livestock. Then, a=20 letter setting out the scope of the project arrived in=20 English — a language they don’t understand. A=20 “consultative” meeting was held at the falls last June,=20 but it was dominated by shopkeepers and businessmen=20 from Opuwo, a town 170km from the falls, who are in=20 favour of the project because they stand to prosper=20 from increased business.
The scheme is the brainchild of Polla Brand, chairman=20 of the Namibian electricity utility, Swawek, who blames=20 the opposition on the Himba being bribed by=20 environmentalists and tour operators. “It’s the same=20 crowd who are squealing about the seal culling,” he=20 said at his office in Windhoek. “The Himbas don’t want=20 to stay like baboons. They also want televisions and=20 lights in their homes.”
Nujoma has said the Himba people must “upgrade”=20 themselves, and not just remain a tourist attraction.=20 Prime Minister Hage Geingob has asked the=20 environmentalists: “Why are you so interested in these=20 primitive people with their bare breasts?”
But, far from living like baboons, the Himba are well=20 adapted to one of the harshest climates on earth. The=20 government should know that. An environmental impact=20 assessment that accompanied its own pre-feasibility=20 study found that the resilience of traditional=20 practices — the dress, adornment and huts — reflected=20 not the primitivism, but the economic independence of=20 the Himba.
They are semi-nomadic, moving with their livestock to=20 the river during the dry season and back into the bush=20 after the rains.
“At Epupa, there is food that our cattle eat during the=20 drought,” said Kapika, wearing a brown sports jacket=20 that blended with his animal skins and other=20 adornments, including a sword in an immaculately carved=20 wooden scabbard. He explained that during the dry times=20 his cattle feed on the vegetation exposed in the river=20 when the water level drops. This will be lost.
Most importantly, the graveyards of the ancestors,=20 piles of rocks on both the Angolan and Namibian banks,=20 will fall under the dam’s floodwaters. There are up to=20 100 burial sites around Epupa, among them the site=20 where Kapika’s grandfather is buried. Ancestors are=20 used as intermediaries between the living and the=20 Supreme Being, called Njambi Kar-unga or Mukuru.
“The centre of Himba religious and cultural life is the=20 sacred fire which passes from father to senior son,”=20 said the pre-feasibility study. “No social, cultural or=20 economic activity of any significance can take place=20 without the ancestors being called to bear witness at=20 the sacred fire.” Many of the ceremonial grave and=20 fire sites will go under the dam.
The report has already spelt out the fate of the Himba:=20 “It is likely the centuries-old patterns that form the=20 basis of the local Himba social economy will break down=20 … The loss of economic independence will give rise to=20 a community largely dependent on government for their=20
Amos Bendura, who keeps his herd of goats near the=20 river, does not need a costly academic study to tell=20 him what he knows already. “We don’t live off the=20 government. We live off our goats,” he says. “If they=20 build this dam, where will we live?”
One official, asked how the Himba would actually=20 benefit from the dam, shrugged his shoulders and gave a=20 blank smile. The dam will be well stocked with fish,=20 but the Himba don’t eat fish. With no formal education=20 and no interest in sedentary work, the jobs on the dam=20 will go to outsiders.
The impact report notes that development will bring=20 bilharzia, Aids, African river blindness, hepatitis and=20 tubercolosis, and enhance malaria. Also severely=20 affected will be a rich estuary downriver at the sea, a=20 breeding home for fish and turtles, a sanctuary for=20 migratory birds and a wilderness area still abounding=20 in elephants and a number of wild species, including=20 black rhinoceros.
No one denies that the Himba way of life and the=20 wildness is already threatened, though the government=20 has repeatedly turned down plans to conserve the area.=20 Ten years ago you could still hear the roar of a lion=20 at night on the falls. South African soldiers came in=20 1983 and shot out most of the big game.
Tourists are starting to visit the area. In growing=20 Opuwo, where a brand-new church stands opposite a=20 brand-new store, Video Heaven, once-proud Himba women=20 approach motorists offering them the right to take=20 their pictures in exchange for a few rands.
The feasibility study will itself have an impact on the=20 environment. Roads and the airstrip will be upgraded.=20 Drilling will start in the river. All with aid money=20 that a small country like Namibia could well have spent=20 on schools or clinics.
The government insists that the interests of some 10=20 000 Himbas cannot impede the national interest. But it=20 is questionable whether the project is in the national=20
“We’re running out of power,” explained Brand. “A=20 country should be self-sufficient as far as energy is=20 concerned. Without energy, there can be no=20
Namibia buys almost half its energy needs from Eskom.=20 Brand says Eskom is too expensive, but this is denied=20 by Eskom’s assistant planning manager, Pierre Rubbers.=20 He says they sat down with their Namibian counterparts=20 and calculated that imports from Eskom will be cheaper=20 than energy from Epupa, after its completion and=20 forgetting the accumulation of an enormous foreign=20 debt. Besides, in a time of closer regional co- operation, the notion of self-sufficiency is=20
The debate in Namibia has been inhibited by the=20 government. There is much dissatisfaction amongst civil=20 servants, but Nujoma warned that anyone opposing the=20 plan will be fired. Michaela Hubschle, Swapo’s former=20 deputy whip in parliament, found herself left off the=20 candidate’s list for last year’s election after she=20 spoke up against the scheme.
The big question now is whether Swapo, with its=20 overwhelming two-thirds majority in parliament, will=20 respect human rights, or emulate their former colonial=20 rulers, apartheid South Africa, and trample over the=20 local, relatively powerless people.
The Himba think they know the answer already. Mampubara=20 Katjire, a blind 81-year-old Himba headmen, asked=20 rhetorically: “In the past, the Himbas never benefited=20 from the colonial government. Now after independence=20 they are still neglected. Where will the Himbas be=20 taken? Will we still live as Himbas if we are taken=20 from Epupa?”
Phillip van Niekerk is the Southern Africa=20 correspondent of the Observer