There are now over 20,000 South African troops in northern Namibia, backed up by a large support force. This army of occupation (for details see box) is not only clearing large tracts of the border zone, as described in previous issues of FOCUS. It is also terrorising the civilian population and establishing bases from which to launch incursions across the borders into Angola and Zambia. These attacks are intended both to eliminate SWAPO bases and to destabilize the governments of these countries (for details see next page).
Evidence of the torture and brutality used against the ordinary people in Ovamboland has now come to light from two white soldiers — national servicemen who earlier this year served with the SA Defence Force in northern Namibia. First published in the Guardian (London) at the end of August and later presented to the UN, this material confirms and elaborates what was previously known only to those on the spot and to a few well-informed outsiders.
Two operations, in particular, have now been exposed. Operation Cobra, in which Bill Anderson was involved, took place in Ovamboland in June. (Anderson, who was conscripted into the SA army and later fled to Europe, confirmed the main points of his testimony before the UN in September.) Operation Eagle-Ops took place in the same region between May and August, and was witnessed by another soldier (unnamed) whose evidence was reported in the Guardian.
OPERATION COBRA "My name is Bill Anderson. I was born in Cape Town in 1955 and I was called up into the 6th Battalion, South African Infantry (SAI) on July 2 1975. I did my basic training at Grahamstown. My number was 7153773 BA and I served on operations in a HQ platoon.
On November 22, we were sent 20 km north of the border with Angola where we guarded Cunene dam until mid-February 1976. We detained cattle thieves who were suspect MPLA/SWAPO agents. I saw three of them beaten by my battalion commander with his stick and I saw one of them subjected to water torture. A rag was placed on his face and water poured on continuously until he suffocated. My battalion commander was there and ordered this to be done. The men remained silent under the beatings but after the water torture they admitted to being cattle thieves.
One rifleman-driver of "A" company in my battalion --- (was) ordered to take the three suspects down to the river by the battalion commander and shoot them.
We were then moved back to a military camp at Sodoliet in South-West Africa, and stayed patrolling the border until mid-April when we were given one week's leave at home.
We were then sent up to Grootfontein, the main South African camp, and then to the north-east base at Ondongwa, the military centre for Ovamboland operations. We drove in convoy to a new base near the small village of Inahna, 12 km from the Angola border. For the first four weeks we were on battalion patrols with other battalions patrolling nearby. They were the 4th and 5th SAI, Witwatersrand, East Rand and Uitenhage regiments.
Our battalion covered about 200 square kilometres up to the border. We had helicopter support based with a paratroop battalion at Ondongwa. This was all known as Operation Cobra. Our patrols which were on foot, usually lasted about three days.
Torture began almost at once when the suspects were brought back. The first few were interrogated by a section of 10 South African police inside the tent of battalion HQ. I saw the troops beating the suspects with rifles and fists and kicks for two hours before they were taken into the tent. All the troops were welcome to join in the beating.
Whenever the torture was going on either in battalion HQ or in the open space behind, a crowd would gather to watch. I would not watch but every night I heard the screams.
[Anderson explains that there was a drinks tent, for the use of the regular soldiers only, mainly officers and NCOs, where beer and spirits were served. It closed at about 9 p.m.]
Torture would begin when the club closed. The screams would go on until well after midnight. Officers boasted in front of me of using field telephones for electric shock torture to genitals, nipples and ears. It was common knowledge that this was being done.
I saw two suspects given water torture at the camp near Inahna. Their heads were stuffed into an ordinary iron bucket full of water and they were held under until they ceased to struggle. It lasted a good minute. I saw one large suspect who struggled so that five men had to hold him into the bucket.
I often saw young boys being roughly manhandled and kicked. They were blindfolded. Some were about 13 and some were a little older.
All suspects were blindfolded and beaten when brought in. The conditions they were kept in were appalling. They were handcuffed to trees at night. Some were kept in pits. It was winter and very cold, approaching freezing point at night. Suspects were handcuffed to trees, dressed only in loincloths and drenched in cold water.
I was the cook and the only food I know they were given was scraps once a day which were piled into a big bin. On average, they were interrogated by our battalion for two days before being 'coptered back to Ondongwa.
Early in June the five battalions mounted a joint operation, sweeping in to the centre. My battalion swept down from near the border, while other battalions moved in from the flanks towards a stop battalion in the south. My battalion swept 100 sq km with one section per kilometre moving at 1 km a day. Every male over the age of puberty was brought in. The orders were to kill those who ran and arrest those who did not run. All arrested men were beaten, tortured and interrogated without exception. They were then taken to Ondongwa.
Our battalion captured between 200 and 300 men, and other battalions captured a similar number, I believe. Of the 1,000 or so detained men, we were later told that 40 were to be charged with terrorism offences. All went to Ondongwa where those not charged were ordered to fill sandbags endlessly while soldiers emptied them and ordered them to fill the bags again. They filled the bags with their bare hands." (GN 30.8.76)
EAGLE - OPS In this offensive, helicopter swoops were made on kraals in Ovamboland to check that the inhabitants had identity cards. Those who could not produce them were arrested and sent to the military camp at Oshakati, where there is a detention centre at which torture is used to extract information from those being held.
The soldier who reported these details also revealed the existence of white units called "recce" troops which are neither Citizen Force (conscript) nor Permanent Force personnel. They have been involved in raids such as that at Sialola (see next item), and act as military advisers to UNITA and FNLA in southern Angola. They fight with these groups disguised as guerillas, using black greasepaint and South African manufactured AK47 machine guns. (GN 31.8.76)
BORDER ATTACKS 1. ZAMBIA In June a Zambian soldier was killed when the truck he was travelling in hit a landmine in the Sesheke district of western Zambia close to the Namibian border. The Zambian authorities accused the South Africans of responsibility for this incident. Later it was reported that South African forces had shelled a Zambian village across the Zambezi river. (WA 18.6.76, 12.7.76)
Then on 11 July armed helicopters from South African bases in the Caprivi launched an early morning attack on Sialola, a SWAPO camp 28 km. inside Zambia, according to Zambian government statements. Some 24 people had been killed and others injured. The South African Defence Force denied the allegations. (WA 12.7.76)
2. ANGOLA On 8 September the Angolan government issued a list of 'border violations' committed by South Africa since the formal withdrawal of SA troops from Angola in March this year. The majority of these were overflying incidents, when SA planes violated Angolan airspace, presumably for reconnaissance purposes. One or two incidents took place at the border post on the main north-south road from Windhoek to Luanda. Early in July Angolan President Neto stated that SA troops had recently crossed the border and burned three villages. This was denied by the SADF.
