Turnhalle Constitutional Conference

SWAPO soon began an armed guerrilla war against South African forces, and for this purpose formed its military wing, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1962.

[5] In the meantime, the white inhabitants of South West Africa and conservative black members of the population tried to contain the violence and preserve the status quo.

The South African government hoped that by means of small reforms and compromises a broad spectrum of the indigenous population would cease their support for armed resistance.

One aim of the Turnhalle Conference was the initiation of such dialogue and "pseudo-reforms",[6] another was to cast in stone the separation of the Namibian ethnicities by making Namibia a confederation of bantustans.

[7] The Turnhalle Conference was attended by 134 members of 11 ethnic groups: Herero, Coloureds, Baster, Tswana, Damara, Ovambo, Lozi, Nama, Kavango, San, and Whites.

[9] Indeed, several talks between Mudge, acting leader of the local branch of the National Party (NP), and then-South African Prime Minister John Vorster formed the preparatory work for the conference.

The petition, which has been said to have been produced under great time pressure, contains a request to set up an interim government for the territory of South West Africa / Namibia, as well as a draft constitution for "a republican, democratic state".

[15] All three of these qualifiers have been questioned: The Turnhalle Constitution did not mandate any elections or other popular representation, something that would commonly be regarded a crucial component of both a democracy and a republic.

[17] As a result of the conference, many of the participating delegates agreed to aggregate their small, ethnically defined parties into one bigger body that was able to form a counterbalance to SWAPO.