Now that he was to be released, ja Toivo refused for three hours to leave the prison, saying that he suspected the South African government of 'devious tricks'. He later told supporters in Katutura that 'I am not glad to be here because I left my comrades behind... I had no choice but to come out'.
Another visitor to Windhoek Prison in the course of 1 March, but one whom ja Toivo refused to receive, was Andreas Shipanga, a former colleague of ja Toivo but now associated with the SWAPO-Democrats party inside Namibia. On realising the identity of his visitor, ja Toivo turned his back and later commented that 'if he is an enemy of SWAPO, then he is no friend of mine'.
The Director of the Administrator General's office in Namibia, confirming that ja Toivo had at first refused to be released because of the large numbers of his colleagues still in prison and detention, said that 'I told him that in the process of achieving a peaceful process leading to independence, attention would be given to the release of all prisoners on all sides of the conflict'.
The chant of 'Toivo is free! Toivo is free!' was taken up by the exuberant crowds who greeted ja Toivo on his eventual return to Katutura on the evening of 1 March. Cars hooted and residents ran out into the streets with clenched fists, ululating. Impromptu meetings of SWAPO supporters formed wherever he travelled in the course of the next few days.
In Katutura, ja Toivo gave an immediate press conference and was reunited with SWAPO officials, relatives and friends. Answering press questions, he said that he would not negotiate with South Africa until all SWAPO prisoners, whom he gave as 38-40 on Robben Island and about 140 in Mariental (Hardap Dam), were released. 'I am still a strong SWAPO member and am convinced that SWAPO will win' he added.
In an interview with Gwen Lister of the Windhoek Observer, ja Toivo stressed that 'As far as I am concerned my mission is to liberate Namibia, but even if Namibia is free of the oppression of the South African government, and free of apartheid, we will not be free as long as our brothers and sisters are living in oppression in South Africa'.
His message to the people of Namibia was that they should stand together and not be shifted by the multi-party conference' now in progress in Namibia under South African auspices, by other South African government actions or by the policies of the Reagan administration. Only the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 435 could lead to true independence, he said.
On the question of his position in SWAPO and media speculation about a possible challenge to the leadership, ja Toivo told a press conference that 'I am a servant of SWAPO. Whatever decisions are taken about my future by SWAPO, I will abide by. If I am asked to fulfil a particular duty, I will do it.' Following his meeting with the SWAPO president, Sam Nujoma, whom ja Toivo had not personally known before, he commented that 'our organisation takes collective decisions and has elected a leader capable of leading us to a better society'.
The appalling conditions on Robben Island, where most Namibian political prisoners are serving their sentences, were described by Herman ja Toivo in an exclusive interview with the Windhoek Observer. Medical facilities were poor, he said, although there had been a slight improvement recently. In most cases, doctors did what they were told to do by the prison warders. Prisoners had to pay for spectacles and dentures, even if these were issued by the government and supposedly free of charge. When an order had been given that Robben Island prisoners be given spectacles through the Red Cross, this had been done for South African prisoners but not for Namibian prisoners.
Ja Toivo described how he and 27 others had been beaten by prison guards in 1971 after protesting about ordinary prisoners being beaten and forced to walk with their legs and hands chained. He himself had hit back at a guard who had beaten him, and was then assaulted by eight guards with batons. In another incident, when he had been beaten once again, he had seriously considered laying charges against one guard. In June 1971, he had been placed in isolation until 1972, with only a bible and an English pocket dictionary to read. Throughout his 16 years in prison, he had refused to accept the classification system whereby certain category prisoners received some privileges. He had remained a category 'D' prisoner, which entitled him to receive only one letter a month, and write two. He was also allowed to receive one visit a month.
He described conditions on Robben Island as bad, and said that there was apartheid in prison. When asked by journalists after his release how he had been treated in jail, he replied: 'Jail is jail, and what can you expect from a South African jail?'. The Namibian prisoners on Robben Island had made constant appeals through the International Committee of the Red Cross to be transferred to Namibia, but had received no response.
Ja Toivo had close contact on Robben Island with the jailed ANC leaders, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and others. 'We lived as one family and shared our difficulties', he said. 'I am very pleased to have known people of such calibre.' It was the inspiration of such people that had helped carry him through his long incarceration.
On 9 March, having been given a 30-day temporary travel document valid for Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, ja Toivo left Namibia for Zambia, together with SWAPO's Vice-President, Hendrik Witbooi, and three other senior SWAPO officials. The delegation travelled via South Africa, where they were greeted during a stop-over by representatives of the South African United Democratic Front (UDF). The UDF had previously sent a bouquet of flowers to Windhoek to greet ja Toivo on his release, bearing the message 'Strength and best wishes from the United Democratic Front'.
Two SWAPO officials who were due to accompany Herman ja Toivo abroad were refused travel documents. Philip Tjerije, SWAPO's Publicity and Information Secretary, has been under a restriction order since his release from detention in 1980. Frans Kambangula, SWAPO's Secretary for Transport, has apparently been trying unsuccessfully for years to obtain a travel document.
