The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the
United Democratic Front, it formed the official opposition in Parliament until the
parliamentary elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
in 2009. The party currently holds 16 seats in the
Namibian National Assembly and one seat in the
Namibian National Council and is the official opposition.
McHenry Venaani
McHenry Venaani (born 8 September 1977) is a Namibian politician and the president of the Popular Democratic Movement, a party with sixteen seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Council of Namibia. Venaani has be ...
is president of the PDM.
The PDM is an associate member of the
International Democrat Union
The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries. It is chaired by Stephen Harper, ...
, a transnational grouping of national political parties generally identified with political
conservatism
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
, and a member of the
Democrat Union of Africa
The Democrat Union of Africa is an alliance of centre-right political parties in Africa. Founded in Dakar, Senegal, in 1997, it is affiliated with the global International Democrat Union. It aims to bring together parties with similar aims and po ...
, which was relaunched in
Accra
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
in February 2019. The president of the party, McHenry Venaani, is the current chairperson of the Democrat Union of Africa.
History
The party was formed as the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) on 5 November 1977 as a result of the
Turnhalle Constitutional Conference
The Turnhalle Constitutional Conference was a conference held in Windhoek between 1975 and 1977, tasked with the development of a constitution for a self-governed Namibia under South African control. Sponsored by the South African government, th ...
held in
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
from 1975 to 1977 as a counterbalance and main opposition to the
South West Africa People's Organization
The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
(SWAPO).
Participants of the Constitutional Conference walked out of the Constitutional Committee over the
National Party's insistence on retaining
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
legislation in the new constitution. Both the conference and DTA were named after the
Turnhalle building (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
for ''old
Turners
Turners (german: Turner) are members of German-American gymnastic clubs called Turnvereine. They promoted German culture, physical culture, and liberal politics. Turners, especially Francis Lieber, 1798–1872, were the leading sponsors of gy ...
hall'') in Windhoek where the conference was held.
The DTA won the
1978 South West African legislative election by a landslide, claiming 41 of the 50 seats. This was largely due to "widespread intimidation" and the presence of South African troops, particularly in the north of the territory. The subsequent interim government, consisting of a National Assembly and a Council of Ministers, lasted until 18 January 1983 when, due to continued interference by the South African Administrator-General the Council of Ministers resigned. On 18 January 1983,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
accepted the dissolution of both the legislative and the executive body without elections being scheduled, and again assumed full administrative authority over South West Africa. This void lasted until 17 June 1985 when the
Transitional Government of National Unity
The Transitional Government of National Unity (''Gouvernement d'Union Nationale de Transition'' or GUNT) was the coalition government of armed groups that nominally ruled Chad from 1979 to 1982, during the most chaotic phase of the long-running ci ...
(TGNU) was installed by the South African Administrator-General. Its legislative and executive actions were subject to South African approval,
with newly appointed administrator-general
Louis Pienaar
Louis Alexander Pienaar (23 June 1926 – 5 November 2012) was a South African lawyer and diplomat. He was the last white Administrator of South-West Africa, from 1985 through Namibian independence in 1990. Pienaar later served as a minister in ...
having the veto right on all legislation to be passed. The TGNU was widely perceived as a largely powerless body that sought moderate reform but was unable to secure recognition by the United Nations.
[DTA ‘Down but Not Out’]
RehobothBasters.org
The DTA dominated this government, too, albeit not with absolute majority: In the 62-seat National Assembly the DTA occupied 22, and five smaller parties got 8 seats each. On 1 March 1989, the TGNU was suspended along the terms of
United Nations Security Council Resolution 435
United Nations Security Council Resolution 435, adopted on September 29, 1978, put forward proposals for a cease-fire and UN-supervised elections in South African-controlled South West Africa which ultimately led to the independence of Namibia. ...
for it to give way to an independent government, determined by the
November 1989 parliamentary elections. SWAPO won the elections, the DTA came distant second.
After
Namibian independence the DTA lost several of its former affiliates. The
Republican Party, the
National Unity Democratic Organisation
The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) is a political party in Namibia. It has been represented in the National Assembly of Namibia and in the National Council of Namibia since it split from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (now PDM ...
(NUDO), and the
Action for Democratic Change all left the alliance in 2003, citing various grievances. The DTA's past affiliation with the apartheid government before
Namibian independence continues to affect its public image.
On 4 November 2017, one day before its 40th anniversary, the party was renamed the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) in order to facilitate modernisation and to shed its "colonial" name.
The party did well in
2019 election, scoring 16.65% (their best performance since 1989) and winning 16 seats in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
.
Leadership
Upon its foundation,
Clemens Kapuuo
Clemens Kapuuo (16 March 1923 – 27 March 1978) was a Namibian school teacher, shopkeeper, president of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), now called Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), and chief of the Herero people of Namibia. Kapuuo w ...
became the first president of the party, and
Dirk Mudge
Dirk Frederik Mudge (16 January 192826 August 2020) was a Namibian politician. He served in several high-ranking positions in the South African administration of South West Africa, was the chairman of the 1975–1977 Turnhalle Constitutional Con ...
served as chairman.
[ After Kapuuo's assassination in 1978 Cornelius Ndjoba became president on 3 July. The position of the vice-president was established on that day with Ben Africa as first incumbent.]
Mishake Muyongo
Albert Mishake Muyongo (born 28 April 1944) is a Namibian politician and former Member of Parliament who is living in exile in Denmark.
Muyongo was born into Mafwe Royal House in Linyanti, South West Africa. He received education at the Roman ...
led the party through the early years of independence, and in the 1994 presidential election he placed second, behind President Sam Nujoma
Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, (; born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first ...
, with 23.08% of the vote. After Muyongo expressed support for Caprivi secession in 1998, he and the party he represented in the alliance, the United Democratic Party, was suspended from the DTA in August 1998 at an extraordinary meeting of the party's executive committee. Muyongo fled Namibia and was replaced as DTA President by Katuutire Kaura, who called for Muyongo to be brought back and put on trial. Kaura served for three elective terms. In September 2013, he was defeated by McHenry Venaani.
Member parties of the PDM
Founding members
The following parties participated at the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference and subsequently formed the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance:[
* Bushman Alliance (BA)
* ]Christian Democratic Party
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
(CDP), itself a merger of a Christian Democrat Union (CDU, Coloured
Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
) breakaway faction, the Progressive People's Party, and the Namibia Volksparty
* National Democratic Unity Party (NDUP), composed of conference members from Kavango[
* Caprivi delegation
* ]Namibia Democratic Turnhalle Party
Namibia Democratic Turnhalle Party was a political party in Namibia. It was led by Daniël Luipert. NDTP was a party supported by the Nama people of Namibia and evolved from the ''Nama Alliance'', the name was chosen in reference to the Turnhalle ...
(NDTP)
* National Democratic Party (NDP)
* National Unity Democratic Organization
The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) is a political party in Namibia. It has been represented in the National Assembly of Namibia and in the National Council of Namibia since it split from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (now PDM) ...
(NUDO), withdrawn from DTA in September 2003
* Rehoboth DTA Party Rehoboth may refer to:
*Rehoboth (Bible), the name of three Biblical places
Places Namibia
*Rehoboth, Namibia
*Rehoboth Ratepayers' Association
*Rehoboth (homeland), a Baster territory in South West Africa (present-day Namibia)
United States
*Re ...
(RDTAP), formerly the Rehoboth Baster Association (RBA)
* Republican Party (RP)
* Tswana Alliance, later Seoposengwe Party (Tswana
Tswana may refer to:
* Tswana people, the Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions
* Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people
* Bophuthatswana, the former ba ...
)
* South West African Labour Party
* South West Africa People's Democratic United Front
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
(SWAP-DUF), a breakaway faction of the Damara Council The Damara Council was a political party in Damaraland, a Bantustan in South West Africa (now Namibia). In 1977 a breakaway faction joined the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), while in 1989, the remainder of the DC was one of 8 political parties ...
[
]
Later changes of membership
* United Democratic Party (UDP), member of the DTA since UDP's foundation in 1985, expelled from DTA in 1998 due to its support of the secession of the Caprivi.
* In September 2003, the National Unity Democratic Organization (NUDO) withdrew from the DTA, accusing the party of failing to work for Herero
Herero may refer to:
* Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today
* Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group)
* Herero and Namaqua Genocide
* Herero chat, a species of b ...
interests.
Electoral history
Presidential elections
National Assembly elections
National Council elections
References
Notes
Literature
*
External links
DTA of Namibia
Official Web Site
''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', 19 November 1989.
{{Authority control
1977 establishments in South West Africa
Anti-communist parties
Apartheid in South West Africa
International Democrat Union member parties
Organisations associated with apartheid
Political parties in Namibia
Politics and race
Political parties established in 1977
Political party alliances in Namibia