SWAPO founder member Herman TOIVO JA TOIVO has been actively engaged in political work on behalf of the Namibian freedom struggle since his unexpected release at the end of February.
The first public statements made by ja Toivo, who served more than 16 years on Robben Island on charges under South Africa's Terrorism Act, confirmed his unshaken loyalty to the liberation movement and the fight for a genuinely independent Namibia. Following his release in Windhoek and acquisition of a passport, he travelled to Zambia to meet the SWAPO president, Sam Nujoma, and subsequently accompanied the presidential delegation to a number of African countries.
The South African Minister of Justice stated at the time of ja Toivo's transfer to Windhoek that steps would 'in due course' be taken to transfer other Namibian prisoners from South African prisons to prisons in Namibia. Subsequent events have tended to confirm, however, that the release of ja Toivo does not in itself imply any further reduction in South African repression in Namibia, still less any concrete steps towards South Africa's implementation of the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 435.
Ja Toivo's unexpected freedom prompted considerable speculation, both within SWAPO and internationally, that South Africa hoped his presence would throw the SWAPO leadership into disarray and promote dissension, while at the same time enhancing the role and credentials of 'internal parties' in Namibia who had previously attracted publicity by calling for his release. Any such ambitions on the part of the South African government, however, appear to have been thwarted by ja Toivo's statements and actions as a free man.
Ja Toivo was at first unwilling to accept release from the South African authorities. He cast doubt on the sincerity of South Africa's motives and stressed his wish to avoid being used as a propaganda tool.
The first indication of his impending freedom was his sudden transfer, together with four other Namibian prisoners, from Robben Island to Windhoek prison. Ja Toivo, a co-founder of SWAPO, was 'Accused No. 24' in the 1967-8 Pretoria Terrorism Trial. Nineteen of the 37 Namibian defendants received life terms on 9 February 1968, while ja Toivo and eight others were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He had previously spent two years under house arrest in Namibia and in prison awaiting trial.
On 29 February 1984, with just less than four years of his sentence still to run, ja Toivo was unexpectedly told to pack his few belongings. He and his four colleagues were held in isolation overnight and then, on the morning of 1 March, chained with leg irons and taken to the Robben Island air strip. They were flown by army helicopter to the Ysterplaat military base in Cape Town, and from there to Windhoek prison.
In the course of 1 March, ja Toivo's reprieval order was signed by the Administrator General, and his elderly mother, Elizabeth Malima, and his sister, Ester Shikongo, were escorted to Windhoek Prison by a SWAPO branch member Jeremiah Nambinga. Aware 'This is not my freedom. I will not be free until the people I left behind are free. I went to jail for the freedom of my people, I went to jail for the freedom of my country. I will not be free until they are free' - the first public statement by Herman Toivo ja Toivo on his release on 1 March.
