ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the trajectory of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) from former liberation movement to being the sole government since independence, thereby exploring the 'limits to liberation' in the political sphere. A new political elite operating from the commanding heights of the state induced a dominant public discourse about postcolonial Namibian society. It cultivated selective narratives and memories related to the anti-colonial struggle to establish an exclusive legitimacy under the sole authority of one particular set of social forces. The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) emerged as the temporary substitute in 2007 as a result of an earlier internal SWAPO power struggle over the succession to Sam Nujoma as presidential candidate. The Congress of Democrats (CoD) and the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) were new parties formed by SWAPO dissidents. The United Democratic Front (UDF) is an ethnic-regional party mainly drawing on support from the Damara-speaking community.
