The entire northern portion of Namibia has now been sealed off by the South African regime and placed under martial law in the most drastic attempt to date to stem the rising tide of SWAPO guerilla activity. On 19 May, the three northern homelands of Ovamboland, Kavangoland and Caprivi, containing over 55% of the country's total population, were declared "security districts" and subjected to regulations calculated to compel local residents to co-operate with the security forces in hunting down guerillas and their supporters. The new measures entail a further massive reinforcement of South Africa's military presence in the country at a time when less than two months remain before the expiry of the UN Security Council's 31 August deadline for South Africa's withdrawal from Namibia.
The move came a few days after certain provisions of the Emergency Proclamation R17, which had been suspended at the time of its introduction to Ovamboland in 1972, were brought into operation. Under the regulations promulgated then and on 19 May, sweeping powers of search, seizure, arrest and interrogation, formerly vested only in the police in Ovamboland, have been extended to members of the Defence Force in all three "security districts."
- The Minister, or any person acting on his authority may, under the new provisions, order any particular area to be cleared of population, sealed off and systematically searched. Residents who are forcibly removed in this way are forbidden to return within a specified period. Schools, hospitals, shops and businesses can also be compelled to evacuate. * The minister is also empowered to declare any area bordering on a "security district" a specifically prohibited area or no-man's-land in which all movement, other than by the security forces, is forbidden. * The whole of the region has been placed under night curfew and no person, other than a government employee, is allowed to leave the homelands without a permit signed by a Native Commissioner. * Non-residents are, likewise, required to obtain a permit to enter the homelands, "non-resident" being defined in such a way as to specifically include persons who left the country as refugees or to join SWAPO. * All chiefs, headmen and other adults are now obliged to report the presence of any person known or suspected to be in the homelands unlawfully, to a Native Commissioner or the South African Police. Failure to do so has been made a criminal offence. * Any civilian, for example anyone suspected of withholding information about insurgents may be arrested without warrant and held incommunicado until such time as the authorities are "satisfied that he has answered all questions fully and truthfully", or in other words, indefinitely and without trial. Access to legal advice during this period is specifically forbidden unless official permission has been granted. Offenders tried and convicted are liable to a maximum fine of R600, imprisonment for up to 3 years, or both. * Persons, sites, buildings and vehicles may all be searched without warrant and "evidence" seized. * All firearms and ammunition were ordered to be handed in to the authorities within 48 hours of the gazetting of the new regulations.
The clampdown on political activity in force in Ovamboland since 1972 has likewise been extended to the other "security districts". Virtually all meetings are prohibited without prior consent in writing and any meeting may be dispersed by a Native Commissioner, an officer of the security forces, chief or headman. Even church services, funerals, sporting events, entertainments and concerts may be arbitrarily prohibited, and the only real exemptions are for meetings of the homeland administration and the judiciary.
Any individual may be forbidden to attend or address any meeting, while it is an offence to boycott any meeting organized by an official, chief or headman. Statements or acts "intended or likely to subvert or interfere "with the authority of the State, the SWA Administration or the tribal authorities are prohibited.
The new powers came on top of efforts to speed up the evacuation of a 1km deep strip of land - 18 metres of which is being totally denuded of vegetation - as a "free-fire" zone along the entire length of the northern Namibian border from the Kunene River through to the eastern tip of Caprivi. The creation of this no-man's land was begun in 1975, and according to a recent statement by the SWA Commissioner-General, will affect at least 3,000 people in Ovamboland alone. Movement across the Namibian-Angolan border has been restricted to a single civilian checkpoint at Oshikango, with a further crossing point at Ruacana-Calqueve reserved for the exclusive use of workers on the Ruacana Falls hydro-electric scheme.
