SWAPO members carrying out legal political activities are being systematically harassed by the South African armed forces, preventing them from freely travelling around the country or holding meetings. Three members of the SWAPO Youth League were arrested under Proclamation AG 9 on 29 March, a day before a planned fundraising event.
Ida HOFFMANN (33), Margareth Nelao KONDOMBOLO (24), and Rosalina NAMISES (27), all active members of the SWAPO Women's Council, were held for 12 days without charge. The security police refused to reveal their place of detention, or why they had been arrested.
After their release, Ida Hoffman said they had been extensively questioned by the security police about the identity of the organiser of the fundraising event. They had been held separately at Sees, Okahandja and Windhoek. Two of the three women, Ida Hoffman and Margareth Kondombolo, were sacked from their jobs following their detention.
A group of SWAPO members, including SWAPO's Vice President Pastor Hendrik Witbooi and Andimba (Herman) ja Toivo, were repeatedly stopped at road blocks and taken to a police station for questioning during a journey from Gibeon in southern Namibia to Windhoek. Roadblocks were reported to have been set up throughout the country in connection with the annual commemoration by SWAPO of Kassinga Day on 4 May.
The SWAPO members were stopped three times, and at the third roadblock were ordered out of their car and searched by policemen wearing camouflage uniforms. They were taken to Windhoek police station where security police inspected ja Toivo's possessions before they were allowed to leave.
