The trial of Victor Nkandi (29) a prominent SWAPO member, has been further postponed in the Windhoek Supreme Court to 4 May 1978. Nkandi, who is charged under the Terrorism Act with complicity in the assassination of the Ovamboland Chief Minister in August 1975, was due to appear in court on 1 March. He has been held in solitary confinement in Windhoek since the adjournment of the trial in December 1977, although permitted to see his lawyer and visitors. During the total of 30 months that he has been in South African police custody, Nkandi is believed to have been assaulted and given electric shock torture.
A white member of SWAPO, Peter Manning (31), is believed to have been charged under South Africa's Official Secrets Act after being held in detention for two months. He is due to appear in court in Windhoek on 11 April.
Manning, a South African citizen who has been employed on a voluntary basis in the SWAPO Publicity Department in Windhoek for the past two years, was arrested outside his home in the city by security police on 9 January. The police then searched the house for about seven hours and took away a number of papers and documents. Manning was detained for interrogation under Section Six of the Terrorism Act.
