South African police used dogs to disperse a crowd of about 200 demonstrators outside the Supreme Court in Swakopmund, when the trial of six SWAPO supporters under the Terrorism Act resumed under strict security on 16 February.
AARON MUCHIMBA (SWAPO National Treasurer and Organising Secretary), ANDREAS NANGOLO, HENDRIK SHIKONGO, RAUNA NAMBINGA, NAIMI NOMBOWA and ANNA NGAI-HONDJWA are all charged with taking part in "terrorist activities aimed at overthrowing the lawful administration of South West Africa". The six accused who have already been held in prison, incommunicado and in solitary confinement, since August 1975 will probably have to endure a protracted trial. They face a minimum sentence of 5 years' imprisonment, and a maximum of death.
During the morning of the trial, a peaceful demonstration gathered outside the court, singing SWAPO songs and shouting "SWAPO" and "Free Namibia". At lunchtime the police attempted to disperse the demonstrators before the Judge, Mr Justice J.J. Strydom, left the court room. When they refused, police with dogs stormed the crowd and they were scattered in all directions. According to SWAPO, several people were arrested.
The charges against the six are allegedly connected with the assassination of Filemon Elifas, the Chief Minister of Ovamboland, in August last year, but only those against Hendrik Shikongo bear any obvious relation to the circumstances of the Chief's death. Elifas was killed at a liquor store near Oshakati in northern Namibia, on the evening of 16 August 1975. According to his brother, who submitted evidence on 17 February, Shikongo entered the store, paid for a bottle of whisky for the Chief and chatted to him, shortly before the latter's death. It was alleged that Shikongo's purpose was "to make observations".
Festus Shanika, businessman and storeowner in Odibo and Oshataki who was arrested and detained in August last year has also been called as a witness. By the end of the first week of the trial however, no specific evidence against the other five accused had been reported.
A South African journalist, Mr Eric Abrahams, who was covering the SWAPO trial for the BBC World Service, has since laid a charge of assault against the police. He alleges that while taking photographs of the breakup of the demonstration outside the courtroom, a policeman jumped on his back. Besides injuring his back, he received a gash on the face.
Mr Abrahams is the International Coordinator of the Southern African News Agency (SANA), a loose association of freelance journalists based in Cape Town. SANA was set up to provide in-depth information on events in Southern Africa for the international press, but has already attracted the attention of the security police. In November 1975 Abrahams had his South African passport confiscated as he was about to leave Cape Town for an extended business trip to Europe, via Namibia. He was stopped by security police at the entrance to the D.F. Malan airport and warned that the withdrawal took immediate effect. He is not now permitted to leave the territories of South Africa and Namibia under any circumstances.
Eric Abrahams (21) is a member of the Sociology Department at the University of Cape Town. In 1973/74 he was the international co-ordinator of the Amnesty International Campaign for the Abolition of Torture, based in London.
