Further deterioration in the social and physical conditions of life for Namibians is clearly apparent in the latest reports of South African military activity in the war zones. In the short term, lives, health and welfare are threatened by the spread of epidemic diseases, impoverished and unhygienic living conditions and the almost total breakdown of medical services - in addition to the physical dangers of intense military activity, the curfew and other counter-insurgency measures. In the long term, the country faces the prospect of widespread and possibly irreversible damage to its rich flora and fauna and their natural habitat.
MILITARY TAKEOVER
It was announced in October 1983 that the army was to take over control of all hospitals and medical services in the Ovambo region, on the grounds that this was the only way to restore falling standards of medical care. The plan, which caused anger and consternation in many quarters, particularly among nursing staff, was nevertheless reported at the end of October to have already been implemented.
The proposal was presented to the 'second tier' (bantustan) authorities in Ovambo on 11 October, in the form of a memorandum from the Administrator General, Dr Willie van Niekerk. It apparently threatened to cut off funds to the Administration for Ovambos, thereby relieving them of effective second-tier control of medical services, if they failed to agree to the plan.
On 26 October, the Director of Government Liaison for the Administrator General, Fanuel Kozonguizi, told a meeting of the Namibia Education Forum that the army takeover had already been put into effect. He explained that 'the AG had to use the army as an agent because they are the only available machinery'.
The South African Defence Force has in practice been deeply involved in running the health services in Namibia for a number of years, originally as part of its 'hearts and minds' public relations programme. The Broeksma Commission, whose official report into Namibia's health services was released in August 1983, noted that half the country's 180 doctors were now from the army. Many of the remainder are serving with churches and missions.
The October announcement of a formal army takeover nevertheless fuelled fears that the work of the various church denominations in providing medical care was to be made even more difficult and that missionaries might be forced out of the Ovambo region altogether. The plan was also seen as a security measure by the SADF to prevent any possibility of hospitals and clinics treating wounded SWAPO combatants.
SPREAD OF DISEASE
Bubonic plague, malaria, tuberculosis, various forms of venereal disease and, in some areas, typhoid, have all been reported as having reached 'epidemic' proportions in Namibia. Of these, the spread of bubonic plague has, not surprisingly, caused the greatest alarm inside the country.
Bubonic plague - also known as the 'Black Death' in the European context - almost invariably causes death if antibiotic treatment is not started immediately after the appearance of symptoms. No inoculation against the disease is available. In the war-torn circumstances of northern Namibia, where hospitals and clinics are few and far between and travel made even more difficult by the enforcement of military curfews, this means that the actual casualty rate may be much higher than the official figures suggest.
Between November 1982 and the end of September 1983, 536 cases of bubonic plague were reported to the authorities in northern Namibia. Of these, 353 occurred in the six months from April - September 1983. Five of these people died. During the previous year, from March 1982 to April 1982, 166 cases were reported.
In a statement issued in September and clearly designed to alleviate anxiety among the families of national servicemen and the population at large, the Administrator General blamed the increase in plague on the current drought. 'As is well known', he said, 'a certain restricted area in Ovambo was identified by the World Health Organisation as an endemic plague reported every year in the dry season'. Pointing out that the plague was carried by infected fleas which had been in contact with plague-infested rodents, he continued that 'the present drought, which has persisted for a number of years, has forced the rodents to look for food closer to human habitation, and this resulted in the increase of bubonic plague cases reported'.
Other commentators have pointed out, however, that the area most affected by bubonic plague - the 30 km-wide strip between the towns of Oshakati and Ondangua - now accommodates nearly 250,000 people, or approximately half the population of the Ovambo region. While the drought and economic recession have contributed to this situation, the main pressures on civilians to move from their homes to be nearer to urban areas and military bases arise from the war - notably the curfew and other security measures, and the efforts by the South African Defence Force to create 'free-fire' cleared zones in which SWAPO combatants will find it impossible or extremely difficult to operate.
The squatter settlements and shanty towns which house the refugees from the war zones have no waterborne sewage or lavatory facilities. The strip between Oshakati and Ondangua, in particular, has been pinpointed by the head of environmental health in Namibia as a breeding ground for bubonic plague and other illnesses.
DEFOLIATION PROGRAMME
Chemical defoliants have reportedly been used in both the Kavango and the Ovambo regions as part of the army's counter-insurgency measures. Ecologists in Namibia have expressed fears that the bush-clearing and poisoning programme may be causing irreparable damage to the environment.
Starting in October 1983, an extensive bush-clearing operation has been under way along the main tarred road leading from the borders of the southern Kavango region to the administrative capital of Rundu on the Angolan border. All vegetation, including thousands of mature trees, is being stripped off with bulldozers to a width of 250-300 m on both sides of the road. Then, according to press reports, the ground is being soaked with a powerful poison to prevent the bush from reestablishing itself.
A total of 110 km of the highway is due to be treated in this way, with the aim of making it more difficult for SWAPO guerillas to ambush security force vehicles. A similar defoliation programme was undertaken in the Ovambo war zone some three years ago according to reports. The vegetation is less thick in Ovambo and the main tarred road between the Oshivello stock control point and Oshakati is cleared to a width of about 100 m. The tarred roads in the war zones are built of double thickness tar as a precaution against landmines.
A further precaution being taken in Ovambo is the erection of a large electrified fence along the border of the Etosha Pan Game Park, stretching from Oshivello into the Andoni Plains. Wildlife displaced from its natural habitat by the movements of the armed forces and military construction projects has been seeking refuge in the Etosha Park.
At the end of October 1983 it was reported that other stretches along the Ondangua-Grootfontein highway and between Grootfontein and the Kavango district boundary were due to be cleared.
In a statement released on 25 October, the Namibia Wildlife Trust warned that the bush clearing was doing 'irreparable damage' to the ecology. 'It appears that a hasty decision was made and that the public had not been adequately informed', the Trust said. Wind erosion was already causing further destruction in the cleared strips, it noted.
The South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) denied that poison was being used in combination with mechanical defoliation, and said that a forestry specialist was consulted to ensure that 'damage to the ecology was kept to a minimum'. Some trees would be left intact and the cleared strips would be levelled and planted with grass.
A cleared strip has also been created around the parts of Rundu housing the white population, government offices, the ethnic radio system and other public institutions, businesses and warehouses. An 11 km long double security fence has been set up and the 200 m strip between the two fences cleaned of all bush and shrub. Armed troops of 202 Battalion guard all crossing points.
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
An official Commission of Enquiry into Namibia's health services, appointed by the Administrator General in 1981, concluded that the existing ethnically fragmented system of administration had led to 'dissipation and inefficiency'. The Broeksma Commission, whose report was only released by the Administrator General in August 1983, recommended that responsibility for health services should be taken away from the ethnic 'second tier' (bantustan) authorities and consolidated under the central government of Namibia.
The provision that health services for each ethnic or 'population group' should be the responsibility of the corresponding second tier authority is contained in Proclamation AG8, a crucial piece of legislation in what has come to be known as South Africa's 'internal settlement' for Namibia. Proclamation AG8, enacted in April 1980, sets out the powers and responsibilities of the 11 'Representative Authorities'. Its implementation, as far as the health services are concerned, means that in theory each ethnic group in any particular town or region should have its own hospital and medical facilities. The irrationality and wastefulness of such a system have been widely criticised.
