Proceedings in the inquest courts provide some evidence of the level of violence in the war zones. Statistics regarding the number of inquests are rarely reported, but in 1982 there were over 500 inquests in the north of Namibia alone.
Inquests have been criticised for the manner in which they are conducted. Court records are reportedly hand-written rather than typed and contradictions in details of the case are left uncorrected. Certainly recent reports in the press lacked such details as the place and date of the death and carried conflicting descriptions of the people involved.
The majority of the inquests are of two kinds: death from land mine explosion or by unidentified gunmen who come to the victim's home at night. In the latter type the courts have attempted to identify the killers as SWAPO guerillas by their clothes or weapons. Evidence led in a recent court case, however, stated that members of the police counter-insurgency unit Koevoet are issued with Soviet-made weapons. On rare occasions witnesses have been able to identify the killers as members of the South African army, as in March 1982 when ten people were massacred at Oshikuku. Usually, however, after evidence from survivors and relatives of the victim a verdict of death by 'unknown insurgents' is recorded.
In addition to the organised violence against the population which is revealed at inquests, the general level of violence is increased by the policy of arming the military and police at all times, even when off-duty. A number of recent cases testify to the readiness with which they use their weapons, often with fatal results. Punishment for those who are brought to court is usually lenient.
In early October Barnabus Thomas, a special constable with the SWA Police, was sentenced to an effective three year prison term. Thomas was convicted of culpable homicide following the shooting of two children at a baptism party in April 1984. The state prosecutor acknowledged the danger facing the people from such 'reckless killings'.
Later the same month Simon Venongwe, a warrant-officer with Koevoet, was sentenced to an effective two years imprisonment for the killing of a woman who had begged from him outside a shop in Oshakati in June 1984. Venongwe, who reportedly commanded a but the court reduced the charge to one of culpable homicide. Witnesses told how Cornelia Simon was shot dead after she tugged at Venongwe's back pocket. On 31 October Venongwe, who reportedly commanded a section of ten men, was 'reprimanded' for his 'extreme reaction' in firing his weapon.
Another side of the military presence in northern Namibia was exposed in the trial of SADF soldiers charged with the multiple rape of a young woman in Kavango. Six were originally charged, but three failed to stand trial. For those convicted the reported sentences were characteristically light. One soldier was sentenced to an effective two and a half years, while another received a wholly suspended sentence.
