WOMEN IN PRISON
IDA JIMMY (35), a SWAPO member sentenced to seven years imprisonment in October 1980 for calling for support for the liberation struggle at a SWAPO rally, gave birth to a boy on 17 December 1980. She is believed to be held in Windhoek Central Prison pending the outcome of an appeal and her possible removal to Kroonstaad Prison, South Africa. Ida Jimmy was previously detained without charge for a period in 1979.
GERTRUDE KANDANGA, who was arrested in January 1980 while trying to leave Namibia to attend the First Consultative Congress of the SWAPO Women's Council in Angola, is believed to be still in detention more than a year later. She has never been charged and it is feared that her health may have seriously deteriorated. She was elected the Deputy Secretary of the SWAPO Women's Council in her absence.
It is believed that many other women whose names are not known are held in detention without charge by the South African police and army, particularly under the 'martial law' regulations, Proclamation AG9. SWAPO's Administrative Secretary Axel Johannes told IDAF that the conditions under which they are held are similar to those for male detainees, but that women run the additional risk of being raped and abused by members of the SA security forces, operating singly or in groups.
A noticeable number of cases of rape by members of the SADF were brought before the courts in Namibia during 1980. The Windhoek Advertiser quoted the investigating officer from Ondangua as saying he was "tired" of cases of this kind.
KAINO KOVANEN
Despite being cleared of any involvement in the death of a senior Ovambo headman at Nakayala mission hospital in October 1980, Ms. Kaino KOVANEN was expected to be issued with a further expulsion order in January. The order, due to be served on her by the Ovambo tribal administration, would have given her 48 hours to leave Namibia. The Ovambo authorities were further reported to have requested the central government Department of Civic Affairs and Manpower to withdraw Ms. Kovanen's work permit.
Ms. Kovanen, a Finnish nursing sister resident in Namibia since 1954 and employed at the Nakayale mission hospital by the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOC), was first ordered to leave Namibia in November 1980. The order, issued by the Ovambo administration, followed an incident at the hospital on 31 October 1980 in which a patient, Lisias Shaus Aluuma, a member of the Ovamboland Legislative Council, was assassinated in his hospital bed by two unidentified gunmen. It was alleged that the murder occurred after Ms. Kovanen had had a special Ovambo police guard removed from the hospital. At least one member of the Ovambo tribal administration publicly called for her to be removed from her post.
Despite the evident desire of the Ovambo tribal administration to have Ms. Kovanen departed, the SWA Administrator General concluded at the end of December 1980 that she had not in any way been involved in the incident. His finding overruled the Ovambo authorities and the first expulsion order against Ms. Kovanen therefore did not take effect.
KASSINGA DETAINEES ESCAPE
Nine detainees being held in a special camp near Mariental in the south of Namibia managed to escape from custody on 1 December 1980. The nine are believed to form part of the group of 118 or more SWAPO members abducted by the SADF from the Kassinga refugee settlement in Angola in May 1978.
The SADF stated following the escapes that the detainees were in civilian clothes and were not armed. Members of the public were requested to report to the nearest police station, military base or post on seeing any suspicious-looking person or activities.
Three of the nine escapees – all of whom were men – were recaptured within 24 hours, and a further five over the following week. Four were found in Tsumis Park, west of Windhoek, three near Twilight station and another near Aranos in the south. In a combined communique the Defence Force and Police thanked the public for assisting in the recapture of the eight men, but gave no further details of the operation. An extensive manhunt was reported to be still under way for the remaining prisoner.
The Second-in-Command of the SWA Territorial Force, Brigadier W. Meyer, announced that a Board of Inquiry had been instituted to investigate the escape.
The escapees, together with the remaining Kassinga detainees, have been held under the 'martial law' Proclamation AG9. Under AG9 (enacted in November 1977 with subsequent amendments) the security forces are empowered to arrest persons in the course of operations "for the prevention or suppression of terrorism, or for any other purpose in terms of the Defence Act", and detain them for up to 30 days without charge and without access to legal counsel.
The Kassinga detainees have in fact been detained incommunicado for nearly three years, first at Oshakati and later – it is believed – at Hardap Dam near Mariental.
CHURCH PRINTING PRESS DESTROYED
International appeals have been launched to rebuild the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church's printing plant in Ondangua, northern Namibia, following its destruction in a bomb attack on 19 November 1980. A substantial rebuilding grant was endorsed by the Lutheran World Federation's Community Development service, meeting in Geneva in December.
The Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOC) is the second largest in Namibia, with some 280,000 adherents. With other denominations with which it is linked through the Namibia Council of Churches, it has been a consistent critic of South Africa's apartheid policies in Namibia. Its monthly newspaper, Omukwetu, is the only non-government publication in the Ovambo language available to residents of the northern region.
In May 1973, the ELOC printing press, situated at the Oniipa mission, Ondangua, was destroyed in a bomb blast. Although the attack was blamed on SWAPO by the South Africa government at the time, it is widely believed that members of the SA security forces were responsible. The press was rebuilt in 1975 with international assistance.
At 00.15 hrs on 19 November 1980, the printing plant was once again totally destroyed in an explosion which also caused extensive damage to a book store and surrounding offices. A church spokesman said that a bomb appeared to have been placed under a printing press in the three-unit complex. The whole building collapsed and the machines were completely destroyed. Damage was estimated at about R350,000.
In a statement issued immediately after the attack, the Bishop of ELOC, the Rt. Rev. Kleopas Dumeni, said that the identity of those responsible, and their motives, were unknown. "But it is true and clear that he is an enemy of the church and community", Bishop Dumeni said.
Bishop Dumeni went on to point out that although the attack was reported to the police via the Oshakati hospital radio at 01.30 hrs, no policemen arrived until 10.00 hrs on 19 November. On the basis of information given to him "in a confidential spirit" by persons who were not prepared to reveal their names for security reasons, Bishop Dumeni described movements in the vicinity on the evening of 18 November, by South African army vehicles, soldiers and other unidentified persons, at least some of whom were armed. At about midnight, 15 minutes before the blast, some people were seen walking from the direction of the printing shop.
The Oniipa mission is in a curfew area and ordinary residents are confined to their homes from sunset to sunrise. Only the military are permitted to move about at night.
A senior South African Police spokesman stated after the blast that the police were conducting a full investigation. The Administrator General has also been requested by Church bodies to launch a full inquiry. A statement issued by the Lutheran World Federation Information Service in Geneva, however, remarked that "it is evident that the South African Police does not intend to press for an early investigation of this act".
OMUKWETU
It was reported that the ELOC newspaper Omukwetu had been planning to publish the "true facts" about the assassination at Nakayala hospital, shortly before the bomb blast which destroyed the church printing press.
EDITOR FLEES
The former editor of Omukwetu, AMBROSIUS AMUTENJA, fled to Angola earlier in 1980, apparently with the assistance of a small group of SWAPO combatants.
SECURITY DISTRICTS
An amendment to the Security Districts Proclamation AG9 of 1977 (the 'martial law' Proclamation) requires any person in a security district who gives medical assistance to persons wounded or injured in suspicious circumstances to report the matter without delay to the security forces.
