Mrs Erica Beukes, wife of Hewat Beukes, one of the SWAPO supporters and members held under Proclamation AG 26, (see FOCUS 22, p.14) has made an application challenging the legality of her husband's detention and demanding his release. Notices of motion have been served on the SWA Administrator General Dr Viljoen, the government of South Africa and the officer commanding Gobabis prison, where Hewat Beukes is held. The application is to be heard by a full bench of the Windhoek Supreme Court.
In a sworn affidavit which forms part of the notices served on the respondents, Mrs Beukes maintains that her husband's arrest and detention were unlawful because Proclamation AG 26 was invalid and of no effect anymore. "My ground for this is that the power of the Administrator-General to issue Proclamation AG 26 is derived from Proclamation 181 of 1977 which proclamation is itself invalid by reason of the fact that the South African government, in granting to the Administrator General the powers specified in Proclamation 181 of 1977, acted beyond the powers conferred on the A-G by Act 39 of 1968", she states. (The office of A-G was created by South Africa in September 1977, to govern Namibia during an interim period leading up to the holding of internationally supervised elections. The A-G was given powers to make, amend, or repeal all laws in Namibia by Proclamation. The post replaced those of the SWA Administrator and of the Commissioner General for the Indigenous Peoples of SWA. see FOCUS 13, p.14) Mrs Beukes adds that even if the A-G had the power in law to have issued Proclamation AG 26, such a proclamation could only have become effective if approved by the South African government. Such approval was never given, she claims. She also states that whereas Proclamation AG 26 contains a provision for a review committee to which a detainee may make representations, she has been unable to establish whether such a committee has been appointed. The A-G's office failed to provide her attorney with the names of members of such a committee.
Mrs Beukes has visited her husband in detention once, after a written application had been filed by the detainee's father to the Chief Director of the A-G's office.
The case brought by Mrs Beukes to have her husband released is a test case challenging the powers of the Administrator General. If she fails, another case may be brought. (WO 1.9.79)
