The leading of evidence in the inquiry into the disappearance of missing detainee Johannes KAKUVA came to an end in May, in what has become one of the most protracted and expensive court cases in Namibia's history. From 17 May, Justice Chris Mouton was due to hear argument from the parties, after which he was expected to reserve judgement (WO 14.5.83). Meanwhile, a message from relatives of the missing man has become available, in which they appeal for the widest possible publicity abroad for the case.
Johannes Kakuva, a stock farmer in Kaokoland, disappeared after being arrested in August 1980 in the village of Okavare. He was taken for questioning by the police together with 24 other male detainees. Nothing was ever heard of him again, and his family eventually applied for a presumption of his death. While the police maintained that Kakuva had either absconded to join SWAPO after agreeing to act as a police informer, or had been killed by SWAPO guerillas, other evidence pointed to the conclusion that he had died in police custody as a result of beating and torture. The testimony of witnesses in the ensuing court hearing ran to more than 3,000 typed folio pages (see FOCUS 46 pp.3-4, 39 p.2).
The three month court hearing generated considerable information on the circumstances in which suspects are arrested and detained in northern Namibia, and the methods used by the armed forces to destroy the infrastructure of civilian support for SWAPO combatants, as well as evidence on the fate of Johannes Kakuva himself (see FOCUS op cit for the latter).
'NORMAL PROCEDURES'
In sworn affidavits, the police described what they referred to as the 'normal' procedure followed in detaining and questioning villagers about alleged aid to SWAPO's armed wing. It became clear during the hearing that the South African armed forces were extremely concerned about the turn of events in the Kaokoland, particularly the growing support enjoyed by SWAPO guerillas. Brigadier J V van der Merwe, the head of the security police in Namibia, told the court that guerillas operating in the Ovambo-speaking region 'had such a network of helpers . . . that at one stage it was virtually impossible to cope with the situation'. In Kaokoland, he went on, 'SWAPO attempted to create the same conditions and his Branch had been geared to curb this sort of thing as far as possible' (WO 7.5.83).
Since the beginning of 1980, the Brigadier said, SWAPO had been stepping up its guerilla activities in the Kaokoland, including distributing 'propaganda documents' to local people. In May, discussions had been held between the security police, the SADF and the SAP at which it had been decided to take 'drastic steps' to 'get the conditions in Kaokoland under control'. These included printing pamphlets to counter SWAPO's own publicity material, and offering rewards of R2,000, or ten head of cattle, for information which could lead to the arrest or death of an insurgent (WO 7.5.83).
It was 'imperative' that 'those people co-operating with the infiltrators be removed from the community' and it was in this context that Kakuva and his fellow detainees had been arrested. It was also 'imperative', and normal practice, for such detainees to be blindfolded so that they would not know each other's identity, the Brigadier said. (Descriptions of the rooms and buildings in which detainees were held in Opuwo had been given to the court earlier in the hearing - see FOCUS 46 p.4).
The Brigadier revealed, inter alia, that no cell registers were kept on detainees by the security police, in contrast to ordinary police practice. Instead, information was placed in secret files, each of which contained an investigation diary (WA 4.5.83; WO 7.5.83). An application by the defence to have these secret documents released for inspection by the court was refused on the grounds that state security would be endangered (WA 20.4.83).
Earlier in the hearing, Captain Pat King, a senior officer of the security police, had also testified to the lack of co-operation between local people and the security forces in the
