In a statement issued at the New Year, SWAPO has reported that there are now 60,000 South African troops stationed in Namibia, and that reinforcements are being brought in on a daily basis (MS 3.1.79).
The December 1978 elections were preceded by numerous reports of this military expansion. In the second week of November, the Angolan government ordered a general mobilisation of the country's defence force — the first since October 1975 — in response to a build up of South African armoured and ground forces on the Namibian side of the border. SWAPO sources in Luanda further reported that the South African authorities had been carrying out a crash building programme at Ondangwa in northern Ovamboland, where a military airfield has been enlarged to accommodate Mirage jet fighters previously based further south at Grootfontein. On 10 November two bombs believed to have been planted by South African agents exploded in the southern Angolan city of Huambo, killing 40 people and injuring 100. (GN 8.11.78) There have been many instances of the violation of Angola's border by South African troops in recent months.
Voting took place in a climate of intense military and police activity throughout Namibia. Road blocks were installed and roads constantly patrolled. A "particularly heavy contingent" of police was despatched to Ovamboland to support existing police units, according to the SWAPO Police Commissioner. Three days before voting began, Major General Jannie Geldenhuys, the Commander of the SADF in Namibia, said that his task force in the border region was "alert and geared to meet any contingency". He also claimed that "insurgents" were now "resorting to penetration in civilian clothes and unarmed", a tactic which enabled them to "intimidate people with more ease while remaining incognito" — a statement which implies that virtually every black person in northern Namibia is now a potential guerilla suspect. Colonel de Swardt, meanwhile, confirmed that South African Air Force planes normally based in SA had been moved to Namibia for "training purposes". Impala jets were also doing photographic work in the Walvis Bay and Luderitz areas. (WO 2.12.78)
During the election week, it was reported that the military reinforcements sent to Namibia included paratroops and that low-level patrols of Mirage fighter bombers were sweeping the area from Caprivi to Kavango. A South African journalist who visited Ovamboland at this time commented that "every second army truck, with a white driver behind the wheel, gives the DTA sign when passing you". He was surprised to come across jet interceptors from the Air Force in central Ovamboland. (Tel 7.12.78; WO 9.12.78)
Many white employers appear to have played a major role in securing a high turn-out at the polls from 4–8 December. During the run-up to the elections, employers were reported to be pressurising their workers to register and refusing to give jobs without production of a registration card. The fear of losing one's job appears to have been one of the most crucial factors forcing black Namibians to vote. (WO 28.10.78, 18.11.78)
At Rössing itself, reports of the management's attitude during the election period were somewhat conflicting. According to one observer, "the big mining companies, De Beers and Rio Tinto-Zinc, left their employees to make their own minds up," (Obs. 10.12.78) The voting turn-out was reported to be "nearly low" at Rössing. (FT 28.12.78) Other sources, however, have reported that the Rössing supervisors threatened the workforce with dismissal if they did not register. ("South Africa's sham elections in Namibia", pamphlet published by the Namibia Support Committee and the London Co-op Political Committee, Jan 1979 p.10)
At the Consolidated Diamond Mines complex at Oranjemund, owned by De Beers, the position is clearer. The parent company has permitted SWAPO members to operate openly at the mine, and SWAPO meetings have been held in the black workers' compounds. At CDM there was an almost total boycott of the registration process — only 6% of the 5,200 black workers employed at the mine were reported to have registered to vote, while 40–50% of the white staff registered. (WA 5.12.78)
Events at CDM are in fact a striking pointer to what the election results might have been throughout Namibia, had conditions of genuine freedom existed.
