Four officials of the Namibia National Front, an umbrella organisation for various political groups inside Namibia which recently transformed itself into a political party, were detained for two hours at the end of March 1980. The officials were arrested at J.G. Strydom airport after returning from a visit to Botswana. The police confiscated documents, tape recorders and the constitution of the new party.
A Special Police task force raided the Ovambo hostel in Swakopmund at the beginning of April and arrested 450 people. According to residents at the hostel, police resorted to tough methods. The Windhoek Chief of Police described the raid as a "mopping up operation" to deal with crime. Those detainees who could pay R30 were released; the number that remain in detention is unknown. A similar raid reportedly took place two weeks previously at Grootfontein.
