St Mary’s School at Odibo played an important role in resisting apartheid during South Africa’s administration of Namibia during the 1970s and the 1980s. And it was at this remote Anglican mission station where Namibia’s fifth president and the country’s first female president began her journey to the highest office in the land.
Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi went to the Anglican Mission Church boarding school at Odibo at the age of 14. She joined Swapo soon afterwards and was elected as chairperson of the SWAPO Youth League in Owamboland in 1970. Her political activism soon attracted the attention of the South African security organs and she and other activists were arrested and detained for several months before their case, in which she appeared as Accused Number One, was heard. Netumbo Nandi went into exile in 1974 and continued her struggle for an independent Namibia for 52 years to become the country’s fifth president.
Established in 1924, the Odibo mission station frequently faced intimidation and harassment by the South African authorities. St Mary’s School was the only secondary school in the north that offered instruction in English to Aawambo learners. This displeased the South African authorities immensely as the law applicable at the time prescribed mother-tongue instruction.
The relationship between the South African administration and the Anglican Church deteriorated steadily as South Africa tightened its grip militarily over northern Namibia in the 1970s. Church officials at Odibo were routinely harassed and expelled, permits for doctors, nurses and other staff were turned down and the hospital was refused permission to train nurses beyond the level of ward orderlies.
The South West African Administration (SWAA) announced that it was withdrawing its subsidy for the basic medical costs of the hospital in September 1974. The reason given was a “lack of financial control” and the 50-bed hospital closed on 1 October 1974.
The school was threatened with closure the same year on the grounds that “the standard of teaching at St Mary’s was poor”. The SWAA demanded reasons why its registration should not be withdrawn – this despite the fact that it was not subsidised by the administration. The school was finally closed and relocated to an Anglican mission school at Onekwaya in 1979.
Even the church did not escape harassment by the South African military. They went as far as removing the church bells in the belief that they were being used to relay coded messages to SWAPO supporters. The mission station was completely isolated from the rest of the world when the telephone lines were cut in 1976.
A group of about 206 learners from Odibo accompanied by People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) fighters crossed into Angola on the night of 20 February 1978. When the SWAA accused PLAN of abducting the learners, SWAPO’s administrative secretary in Lusaka, Moses IIGaroëb, responded by saying the learners had left the school of their own accord and that SWAPO had merely "provided security”.
The mission station was rocked by a massive explosion, which destroyed the seminary complex including the chapel, classroom, dormitories, library and office, on the morning of 18 June 1981. Explosives and a flammable liquid were used. The Police were called to investigate the attack, but arrived only hours later with heavily armed soldiers and harassed the vicar general, Reverend Morrow, priests and teachers at the mission. The foundation stone of the seminary was incorporated into the northern wall of the church when it was renovated.
St Mary’s School stood abandoned for just over two decades and was only reopened in 1990 after extensive repairs. The school also counts several other luminaries amongst its learners –the renowned artist John Muafangejo, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Bishop James Kauluma and the Reverend Theophilus Hamutumbangela.
Padlangs extends its sincere congratulations to Namibia’s fifth president and our first female president. You have been an example of courage and determination to all Namibians!
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