Security measures in force in the north of Namibia have been extended southwards as far as Windhoek by proclamation of the SWA Administrator General Mr. Justice M. Steyne. The magisterial districts of Windjoek, Tsumeb, Outjo, Okahandja, Otjiwarongo and Grootfontein have been declared security areas. In effect, approximately 50% of the territory's land area is now subject to a form of martial law.
The new regulations, announced on 10 May, give the military power to search people and premises without warrant, and to prohibit any public meeting without the permission of a magistrate. The security forces are now empowered to hold detainees for 30 days instead of 96 hours. The new regulations follow a number of murders of white farmers and others in the northern part of Namibia, all of which have been blamed on to SWAPO by the South African authorities.
The Ovambo bantustan has been under de facto martial law since the mass strike of Namibian contract workers at the end of 1971. Proclamation R17 of February 1972 imposed severe restrictions on political activity and freedom of speech in Ovamboland, at a time when units of the South African Defence Force were arriving in the north to supplement the South African Police. In May 1976, through Proclamation R89, the provisions of R17 were extended to the other northern bantustans of Kavango and Eastern Caprivi. In November 1977, the SWA Administrator General announced that R17 and R89 were to be repealed and replaced with immediate effect by Security Districts Proclamation AG9. The new measures, while less stringent in tone, still offered wide scope to the SA police and army to suppress political activity and applied through the northern bantustans. They were further tightened by the Administrator General in June 1978.
