AARON MUCHIMBA and HENDRICK SHIKONGO, the 2 SWAPO members sentenced to death under the Terrorism Act, together with ANNA NGAIHON-DJWA and RAUNA NAMBINGA, the 2 nurses sentenced with them to prison terms, have been granted leave to appeal. No date has yet been set for the hearing by the Appellate Division in Bloemfontein. The decision to allow an appeal follows the granting of an application by the defence for a special entry to be made on the record of the trial in Swakopmund Supreme Court. Evidence was produced by the legal firm of Lorenz and Bone, who had acted as defence attorneys in the Swakopmund trial, that confidential information relating to the accused had been extracted from their files, and passed to the Windhoek Security Police by informers working in Lorenz and Bone's own offices.
The Supreme Court in Windhoek, in granting the application, ruled that there had been "irregular and/or illegal departures from and infringement of legal formalities, rules and principles required for a fair trial - which had resulted in a failure of justice." Mr. Justice Hart, summing up the case, said that the privileged relationship between attorney and client had been "seriously breached." He pointed out that the initial refusal to grant the accused leave to appeal was "a unique matter in South African legal history and must be rare in the legal systems of other countries."
An application by two other SWAPO members, VICTOR NKANDI and AXEL JOHANNES, for leave to appeal against 12 month prison sentences imposed for refusing to testify against the accused in the Swakopmund trial has, however, been turned down. Both men were arrested in 1975 and detained incommunicado for more than 5 months before being called as state witnesses. Victor Nkandi was one of several witnesses to present the Swakopmund Supreme Court with evidence of extensive torture and police brutality. It later emerged that while under detention in November or December 1975, he had been taken by Lt. Dipenaar, the police investigating officer in the case, to meet the State prosecutor, Mr. Chris Jansen, in the Windhoek Grand Hotel. Mr. Jansen, giving evidence to the Windhoek Supreme Court during the hearing of the defence's application for a special entry, said that he had planned to entertain Nkandi to a meal in an "expansive atmosphere" where he could gain the detainee's confidence. If this attempt had been successful, Nkandi would have been his most important State witness.
Axel Johannes, SWAPO's Regional Secretary in Windhoek, who spent 5 months in solitary confinement in 1974, is also believed to have been tortured.
TERRORISM ACT TRIAL
Seven people were due to appear in the Keetmanshoop Supreme Court on 30 August for summary trial under the Terrorism Act. SACHARIA NASHANDI, RISTO NAKANYALA, (34), MARIUS ISAK (24, also referred to as Marius Melchior), KAREL NAMPALA (26), SOLOMON MBANGO (21), GABRIEL WILLEM (20) and FILEMON NANGOLO (25) were all arrested for their alleged involvement in the "Kalkhugel" and "Okatjiho" murders in December 1975 and February 1976, in which 4 white people were killed, and the shooting of a black policeman in Katutura in April 1976. Nangolo, who was wounded and captured in the last incident, was still in hospital recuperating at the end of July.
Charges against a further 2 men and a woman, ALBEUS HEINRICH (23), JOHANNES AMUTENGA (46) and RAGEL SHIFOTOLA (34) were withdrawn by the State when the accused appeared in Windhoek Magistrate's Court on 25 June. No details of the eventual charges were released, no evidence was led and the accused were not required to plead.
KANISIUS HENELESHI, who was cornered with Nangolo in Katutura in April but managed to escape, was reported to be still at large more than 3 months later. At least 2 people have been shot and wounded by police in the course of the subsequent man-hunt.
In July, Mr. J. Kruger, the South African Minister of Police, confirmed that an "armed infiltrator" who had been wounded and captured in northern Namibia during counter-insurgency operations, was being held under section 6 of the Terrorism Act.
SWAPO OFFICIALS FINED
3 SWAPO leaders were fined R50 each by the Rehoboth Magistrates Court in July for being in the Rehoboth district without permits. OTTHNIEL KAAKUNGA, SWAPO vice-secretary-general, RICHARD UJAHA, chairman of SWAPO's youth movement, and SILAS EMULA, were arrested at a political meeting in one of the district's communal halls by a group of plainclothes white policemen.
