A recent attempt by three South African men to set up an alternative to military service in Namibia resulted in their deportation from the territory.
Professor Paul Hare, Mr Richard Steele and Mr Will Martin are members of a pacifist committee which was established near Cape Town in late 1978. They planned to spend a month in the north of Namibia to set up an ambulance service to be manned by conscientious objectors. The service was to operate from Rundu hospital. However, the Kavango Secretary for Health and Welfare refused an application to put the scheme into practice, ostensibly for administrative reasons. The three men were stopped by security police on the Kavango border and their truck was impounded. After being taken to Windhoek they were deported to South Africa under Proclamation AG9.
Mr Steele was due to report for military service in January 1980 but instead reported to detention barracks, stating that he refused to take part in any war or training for war. He was found guilty at a court martial in Pretoria on 25.2.80 of refusing to do national service and sentenced to 18 months detention, with six months of the sentence suspended for three years on condition that he is not convicted of the same offence again.
