A number of SWAPO members have been arrested and held under the Terrorism Act in recent months. One of these, Mr. Festus Thomas (35), has revealed details of his brutal treatment at the hands of the security police following his arrest on 10 April 1978. He was held without charge for a total of 74 days, including a brief period in hospital and more than a month in regular police custody. At the time of his arrest Mr. Thomas acted as a driver for SWAPO and a salesman of membership cards and T-shirts.
When interviewed in Windhoek three days after being released Mr. Thomas stated that during the first 12 days of his detention he was given electric shocks on his genitals and anus, beaten frequently and hung off the ground with his hands manacled behind his back. On 21 April four members of the security police, one of them an African, took him handcuffed from their headquarters. He was blindfolded and driven in the boot of a car to a dried-up river bed 30 km. outside Windhoek. There he was forced to dig his own grave and lie down in it, stones were piled on him and then sand, with an airhole left for him to breathe. He was left buried for 30 minutes and then dug out, stones and shovels being rammed into his body as he was excavated.
He was buried alive in the same manner a second time, during which he lost consciousness.
Next, some sort of grenade was exploded near his body. Mr. Thomas stated that he was then made to stand on a rock, while a sergeant fired a pistol sending chippings into his legs. Finally, stones were thrown at him.
At the time of his interview Mr. Thomas' legs and body were covered in scars. The day after his ordeal, on 22 April, he was admitted to Ward Four in the hospital in Katutura, Windhoek's black township. When SWAPO officials learned of his whereabouts and began making inquiries, however, he was immediately moved back to regular police-cells after being given x-rays, injections and pain-killing tablets. His medical records were removed from the hospital.
Four days later he was again collected by the security police, taken to a river on the Okahandja road, severely beaten and held under water until he lost consciousness.
Mr. Thomas stated that while in prison he had complained three times about his torture to a visiting magistrate, but no action was taken by the authorities. After more than a month in regular police custody during which most of his wounds healed, he was released.
