One third of all criminal cases now being brought before Namibia's courts involve members of the armed forces – and a significant proportion of these concern acts of rape and assault on black women by soldiers drawn from all racial groups.
The consequences of a combination of racial and sexual discrimination with military occupation by a foreign army were particularly clearly illustrated by an incident at the Miershoop military base near Ondangwa, in March 1982. The case, which was brought to court in October, concerned a 27-year-old female detainee held for interrogation. She was stripped and chained to a pole by a white South African army sergeant, Deon le Roux (23), who then pressed her down on her back and invited two black soldiers, Tobias Stephanus (22) and Fillemon Martin (18), to rape her. The two soldiers initially refused to comply, the court heard, but later raped the woman in turns after one had been threatened with dismissal.
Counsel for the defence claimed that the woman was stripped and chained not to be raped, but to prevent her from escaping. She did not suffer any injuries either physically or mentally, it was said. Advocate George Coetzee added that the war in Namibia 'influences soldiers to act "in peculiar ways" and this should be taken into consideration'.
Le Roux, Stephanus and Martin were each sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Windhoek Supreme Court.
In another case involving a white soldier, former national serviceman Robin Derrick du Plessis (22) said that boredom and frustration with army life had prompted him to rape a black woman, use police and army vehicles without permission, steal cigarettes, alcohol and other property, and commit arson.
Du Plessis, who came from Pretoria, was sentenced to a total of ten and a half years imprisonment by the Windhoek Supreme Court, five years of which was on conviction of raping Wilhelmina Jacob near the Eenhana military base, in July 1981. He forced Jacob, who was three months pregnant at the time, into a police vehicle that he had taken from the base without authorisation, and drove her into the veld to commit the rape. When she resisted he threatened to shoot her.
Du Plessis told the court that he had completed his two years national service, and that the army had retained him longer than needed.
Four Baster members of the SWA Territory Force (SWATF) who were convicted of raping a Baster woman in 1981, were warned by the Judge President that they could face the death penalty for this offence. They nevertheless were successful in having their seven year sentences reduced on appeal.
The four SWATF members had taken the woman into the veld, tied a scarf around her mouth to muffle her screams and raped her in turn.
Many other cases, not necessarily involving army personnel, illustrate the endemic violence in Namibian society – violence which is exacerbated where both sex and race come into play. Katrina Hansen, for example, a 20-year-old black girl believed to be suffering from tuberculosis, paid with her life when, in July 1982, she unintentionally aroused the anger of three white youths.
Hansen, apparently under the influence of liquor at the time and looking for shelter from the cold, had crawled into the back seat of a car parked in a Windhoek street. The owner, Christian Liebenberg (19), discovered her on returning and realised that she had urinated on the seat. Apparently overwhelmed with fury, he attacked Hansen savagely, assisted by two other youths. She was struck with clenched fists, kicked while lying on the ground and beaten with a wooden spar. She was then dumped at a spot in the hills outside the city, where she froze to death.
Photographs of Hansen's mutilated body were presented as evidence when the case was brought to court in January 1983. Liebenberg, the son of a well-known farmer and politician, was convicted of serious assault. He was sentenced to a fine of R250 (or 50 days) with a further 100 days imprisonment conditionally suspended for three years. The two other youths who took part in the attack were not even charged.
Rising unemployment, poverty and the pervading climate of war, have all contributed to economic hardship and insecurity for women. In the Katutura single quarters for example, prostitution is on the increase, together with slum conditions, overcrowding and violence in general. Hundreds of jobless women flock to the shebeens, or illegal drinking parlours, seeking to work as prostitutes as the only available means to support themselves and their children. One resident described how many such women were beaten up by the men at such shebeens. 'It was a degrading sight to see them, bruised and battered ... with children clinging to their skirts', he said.
Many women end up in prison because they have no identity documents, as a result of frequent police raids. Their children, meanwhile, are left to 'wander around and forage for themselves'.
The consequences of this kind of situation include, in turn, the growth of child prostitution, often combined with other social problems such as drug and alcohol abuse. Poproos, for example, a 12-year-old girl whose story was told by a South African journalist, works as a prostitute in Windhoek. She is also a glue-sniffer and a scavenger, living on the streets with the city's other abandoned children.
Some of the children are even younger. They may have been sent to Windhoek by parents living in the tribal reserves, presumably unable to provide for them and hopeful that somehow the city will. There is not enough room in children's homes in Windhoek to take such children, while homes in South Africa, which used to accept Namibians, no longer do so.
