Up to 2400 people were arrested in June in a large scale police and security force operation in Windhoek's black township of Katatura. The arrests, which began before dawn and went on till midday on 26 June - South Africa Freedom Day - were described by the Police as a crime prevention measure with "no political implications". Township residents, however, said that police and troops were searching for members of SWAPO's armed wing who had infiltrated into the territory. Areas of the township were cor doned off in search of persons ostensibly illegally resident there and number of local people later said that security force members had told them they were looking for "terrorists". Those arrested were reported to include many people from the contract workers' hostel, including two SWAPO members Mr. Julius Ouseb and Mr. Gregorius Makgone.
The majority of those arrested were apparently held under the Security Districts Proclamation AG 9 introduced by the Administrator General in November 1977, screened, identified and eventually released. The security forces were also alleged to have confiscated certain items in the workers' hostel such as radios and blankets. It was later reported that residents were considering not returning to work.
Unconfirmed reports have also been received of up to 60 arrests in Luderitz, including a number of children.
(In the context of international negotiations for a constitutional settlement in Namibia, the South African government has repeatedly maintained that there are no SWAPO guerillas based permanently inside Namibia).
All the SWAPO members and officials arrested inside Namibia at the end of April and detained under Proclamation AG 26 are believed to be still in custody more than two months later. The detainees have been held incommunicado while lawyers both from overseas organizations and internally who have attempted to visit them have been refused. Communications between SWAPO's organization inside Namibia and the outside world have been seriously disrupted following a raid on the liberation movement's Windhoek office by, it is believed, the extremist White Resistance Movement. In the course of the raid on 5 May, telephone wires in the city centre office were cut and the typewriters damaged or destroyed by having correcting fluid poured into the keys. Mr. Daniel Tjongarero, SWAPO vice-chairman and the only national executive member inside Namibia and not in detention, subsequently announced that it had been decided to close the office completely as it was felt that new office personnel should not be subject to the threat of detention. He could no longer guarantee their safety. Loss of life and serious bodily injury could ensue if the movement continued operations and assassination was a "strong possibility". Asked why he thought the police had let him go free while detaining his colleagues Mr. Tjongarero said that "it is an attempt to drive a wedge of disunity into the ranks of the movement; it is to cause distrust and disagreement in SWAPO's ranks". The only other national executive member not to be detained, Mr. Mokganedi Thlabanello, Publicity and Information Secretary, left Namibia on an overseas mission shortly before the arrests began.
Many other SWAPO members throughout Namibia have been arrested since the end of April, and unconfirmed reports have been received of beatings and torture. On 25 June, a SWAPO radio broadcast from Angola referred to over 200 SWAPO officials and supporters currently detained without trial. Around 70-80 detainees from the southern part of Namibia are believed to be held in Gobabis; the fate of those arrested in the north is unknown.
The authorities' security crackdown has not been confined to SWAPO; on 16 May security police raided the offices of the Council of Churches in Namibia and removed books - including cooking and sewing publications and a copy of Oliver Twist - letters to donor agencies overseas, tape cassettes and posters. A church group spokesman Mr. Kelwyn Sole described the raid as seemingly "part of the campaign of intimidation". The head of the security police in Namibia Col. Koos Myburgh subsequently confirmed that the raid had been conducted in terms of new security legislation announced by the Administrator General on 10 May and empowering the security forces to search people and premises, make arrests and confiscate property, without warrant. This is the first known raid under this enlargement of martial law.
(Note: In FOCUS 22 p.14 it was stated that the SWAPO Administrator General's Proclamation AG 26, providing for indefinite detention without trial, was promulgated on 18 April 1979. This should have read 18 April 1978)
Martial law, extended to six major white magisterial districts including Windhoek on 10 May, affects 80% of Namibia's population. Through amendments to the Security Districts Proclamation AG 9 of 1977, it
- confers wide ranging powers on the security forces in security districts to arrest any person without warrant, search him or her, and to interrogate, if it is suspected that the person has committed or is planning to commit a crime, or has information about one.
- empowers the security forces to search any building, vehicle or property in a security district and to confiscate anything relevant found, without warrant.
- bans all meetings in the security districts unless at least 24 hours notice has been given to the magistrate(s) concerned and prior permission granted.
On 11 May the SWAPO Administrator General announced that the security forces were now empowered to detain people arrested in the security districts for up to 30 days without charge, rather than 96 hours as before.
On 28 June, AG 9 was further amended to ban all movement at night in the operational area in Ovambo. Provisions forbidding the movement of all motor vehicles at night have been extended to cover bicycles and pedestrians as well, meaning that no-one may move outside the property in which he or she normally lives between sunset and sunrise without a valid written permit. Offenders are liable to prosecution and fines of up to R600 and/or three years imprisonment. A statement from the Administrator General's office said that emergency permits would be issued strictly on merit at police stations and military bases. No permits would be issued allowing individuals to move about at night on a regular basis.
