Pauline Frannzisca Dempers (born 28 April 1962 in Aranos, Hardap Region) is a Namibian human rights activist and politician. In 1996, Dempers became national coordinator for

Breaking the Wall of Silence Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It is named after Siegfried Groth book ''Namibia. The Wall of Silence'', and was formed at the occasion of the book's release in 1996. ...

(BWS), a group which advocates for the rights of those detained by

SWAPO 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 ...

during the

Namibian War of Independence The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angola ...

. Dempers was active with the

Congress of Democrats The Congress of Democrats (CoD) is a Namibian opposition party without representation in the National Assembly and led by Ben Ulenga. It was established in 1999, prior to that year's general elections, and started off with a number of notabl ...

Career

Dempers was a prominent anti-apartheid activist in southern

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 e ...

prior to fleeing into exile in 1983 to join SWAPO. She was arrested by SWAPO in 1986 while living in a refugee camp near Lubango in southern Angola. Along with hundreds of other Namibian exiles, Dempers was accused of having turned against the liberation movement, and of spying on behalf of the oppressors. They were tortured and held in the 'dungeons' of Lubango in the final years of the

. She was released in March 1989 and repatriated to Namibia following the moves towards independence which culminated in March 1990.Pauline Dempers
Namibia Institute for Democracy, 2008 Dempers became national coordinator for

(BWS) in 1999, three years after its formation. BWS is a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

named after Siegfried Groth book ''Namibia. The Wall of Silence'' that exposed the atrocities at Lubango. At that time she had quit SWAPO and joined the opposition party

(CoD). In 2007, Dempers was part of a controversy as a member of the CoD's central committee. She and other committee members were expelled by a faction of the party led by

Ben Ulenga Benjamin Ulenga (born Benjamin Uulenga Uulenga on June 22, 1952

. She joined up with the faction led by Ignatius Shixwameni and formed an 'interim national committee'. In March 2008, close friend and fellow detainee Kalla Gertze died from an asthma attack. In eulogising Gertze, Dempers called for members of 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 rep ...

to open the debate on the Lubango detainees.

References

Notes

Literature

External links

Interview with Pauline Dempers, BWS national coordinator
Advocacy Net, 28 July 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dempers, Pauline 1962 births Living people People from Hardap Region Members of SWAPO Congress of Democrats politicians South West African anti-apartheid activists Namibian activists Namibian women activists Women civil rights activists