Fundamental socio-political changes took place towards the end of the twentieth century in southern Africa with the mediated and controlled decolonisation processes of the previously settler-dominated societies. The spectre of prolonged civil war and the need to keep the economies running prompted policies of compromise. This came also as a result of pressure exercised by international actors on both the colonial powers and the liberation movements. Hence the transition to independence negotiated and implemented for Namibia under the initiative of the United Nations was a process of controlled change, which finally resulted in changed control. As a result of a negotiated settlement, the national liberation movement, SWAPO reconstituted itself as a political party composing the government, and took over state structures and subsequently exercised increasing control over the political sphere withinNamibian society. However, in so doing, SWAPO found itself inevitably engaged in compromise in that, although it formally acceded to power, it did so without securing adequate control over wide swathes of society and the economy. Instead, the structural legacy of settler colonialism remained alive. Consequently, the project of effecting social transformation was always going to be a long drawn out process at best. The same applies to profound changes of political culture towards the consolidation of democracy. Apart from the fact that there are lasting structural and psychological effects resulting from the colonial legacy (Melber 2000, 2001, 2002a), vested interests are re-established, and originally formulated goals of social transformation are either compromised or even totally abandoned in favour of the interests of a new elite mainly rooted in the sphere of a new nationalism and its power of definition. It is the complexity of these interrelated processes that this analysis seeks to document.