Ben Ulenga is well-placed to speak about both NUNW and SWAPO. In 1974, at the age of 21, he left Namibia to become a SWAPO cadre. After an eventful odyssey through Angola, Zaire and Zambia, he spent a year receiving military training in the Soviet Union. He was captured in 1976, after being seriously wounded in an encounter with security forces inside Namibia. Charged with terrorism, he was sentenced to 15 years on Robben Island. However, in 1985, after just under 10 years in prison, he was released along with a number of other Namibian prisoners as part of a movement by South Africa toward negotiation. He is now the general secretary of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN). Dianne Hubbard put some questions to Ben Ulenga. This interview was first published in Cross Times.
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