For many weeks now plans have been under way to mobilise permanent tribal regiments under the aegis of the Ovambo and Kavango 'homeland' (Bantustan) authorities. The militarisation of the homelands is a significant development in South Africa's overall strategy for the region of northern Namibia and southern Angola, which since August 1975 has been under the most intensive security. The main occupying force, however, remains the troops of the SA Defence Force.
The first confirmation that the Ovambo and Kavango tribal authorities possessed forces other than tribal police came at the end of January when the SA Defence Minister disclosed that the black soldiers fighting in the Namibian border zone were "members of the border area authorities." A Defence spokesman had a few days previously indicated that the newly formed Ovambo and Kavango battalions were already taking part in operational duties. (There was even press speculation in October 1975 that the 'English-speaking Africans' reportedly included in the South African-led mercenary column that invaded Angola at that time from Namibia might have been Ovambos from within Namibia itself).
The South Africans claim that the tribal armies are being built up at the request of the homeland authorities themselves. In Kavango 82 recruits who began training under SA army instructors last November have now completed their courses and are moving on to weapons instruction. They are housed in a temporary base outside the town of Rundu on the Angola border. With continued recruiting the Kavango battalion is expected to have 600 men by 1980. From adjoining Ovamboland, to the west, an initial group of recruits have completed a course of instruction in their own territory and are now undergoing further training in South Africa at Lenz military base 30 km from Johannesburg. They are instructed in Afrikaans and wear exactly the same SA army uniforms as the black recruits from the Transkei and other South African Bantustans who are also trained at Lenz.
Meanwhile, within the homeland, the possibility of issuing selected Ovambo citizens with firearms to protect themselves and their families from "terrorist attacks" has been raised at high level.
