WAR ZONE TERROR
In an attempt to defuse protests about atrocities carried out in the war zones by members of the armed forces, in April the South West African Territory Force (SWATF) issued what was referred to in a press report as a 'comprehensive list of transgressions'. The 'transgressions' in fact, were serious offences by members of the armed forces ranging from murder, attempted murder and culpable homicide to rape, assault, theft, robbery and crimen injura.
The list, however, was not comprehensive, as it covered only those incidents which resulted in prosecutions. The list detailed 68 cases between 1982 and 1984 of which 18 were still pending in June 1984. They involved 99 members of the Defence Force. Of the completed cases, 44 had resulted in convictions although the resulting sentence was sometimes only a reprimand or fine. The most severe was a prison term of 20 years.
As the following survey shows, those cases which reach the courts represent only a tiny fraction of the reported incidents of violence and abuse.
NEW DETENTIONS
Two members of a family from Olupumbu, in the Uukwambi district of northern Namibia were detained during March. Olupumbu lies twelve kilometres north of Oshakati, the main South African military base.
In mid-March, Napoleon UUOTONI was arrested by South African forces who gave no information to his family as to why or where he was being held. On 28 March, members of the armed forces, both SADF and Koevoet, raided the family home, allegedly in search of arms. Johannes UUOTONI, Napoleon's father, was arrested. His mother was severely beaten and suffered injuries to her head. His twelve year old sister was assaulted by two soldiers who held her by the legs and placed a plastic bag over her head.
The armed forces remained at the home for two days but found no guns. On 30 March they decided to demolish the house and plough the land. Neighbours managed to salvage some of the family's crops before the place was destroyed. Their personal possessions were removed by the SADF. A neighbour who complained of the damage caused to the adjoining properties was beaten.
Frans HANGO, a teacher at Ogongo Agricultural College and a youth worker with the Roman Catholic church, was detained on 29 January under Proclamation AG9 of 1977. He is in his early twenties.
On 10 March Jesaya ERIKSSON was detained for allegedly giving false information to members of the armed forces. The incident occurred at the cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELOK) in Oniipa, northern Namibia, where Eriksson is an usher. Three people assumed to be South African policemen came searching for the owner of a blue pick-up truck parked outside the cathedral.
Eriksson told them the owner was the local pastor, Vili-Heikki SHIVUTE, who was at a nearby school. The men, having failed to find Shivute returned later to the Cathedral. Eriksson, together with Bishop Kleopas DUMENI refused to allow them to interrupt the Holy Communion service at which Shivute was assisting. Dumeni confirmed that the owner of the vehicle was Shivute and not a certain 'Thomas' as they had been led to believe.
After the service the men spoke to Shivute and another pastor, Festus ASHIPALA. They had first said they were from Windhoek but when questioned by Bishop Dumeni, said they were from the SADF. They then took Eriksson away for giving them 'false information about the Thomas they were looking for.'
KILLINGS
On 9 April a ditch containing the bodies of at least seven men was discovered near Oshikuku. The bodies were found when the school at the nearby Oshikuku Roman Catholic mission reopened for the new term. The ditch was close to a temporary South African military camp which it was claimed had been set up to guard construction workers. Local residents alleged that people were taken to the camp and killed by members of Koevoet. The camp was evacuated at the end of March.
Brigadier Hans Dreyer, the officer commanding Koevoet, took responsibility for four bodies. He claimed that these were SWAPO guerillas killed in a clash with Koevoet in the Tsambi area. Their bodies, he claimed, were taken to Oshikuku for identification, after which they were buried. Dreyer claimed the bodies had not been 'ditched' but only badly buried in shallow graves.
Reports conflicted as to the circumstances in which the victims died. Some said that the men had been shot elsewhere and then dumped at Oshikuku. Others said villagers heard screams before discovering the bodies. Although the finding of the bodies was first reported to the authorities on 9 April, it was three days before any action was taken. A bulldozer was then sent to bury them. Families of people recently detained went to Oshikuku to try to identify the bodies but this was impossible because of decomposition and attacks by wild dogs and vultures. By 16 April, when news of the discovery was first published, none of the bodies had been identified.
The Roman Catholic church asked its lawyers to investigate the case. However, a solicitor instructed by them was refused a permit to enter the north. Entry to the bastustans of north and north-east Namibia has been by permit only since 11 March. A police spokesman said the attorney was refused an open permit for a year but was offered one for a limited period to be spent in the Ovambo bastustan. When the permit system was introduced police stated that permits would be valid for twelve months.
Junius HAIKALI was shot dead on 7 April while cycling near his home at Onaminda two kilometres from the Angolan border. Shots were heard at 10.30 am shortly after a South African army foot patrol had passed by. Haikali was a welder originally from Angola but living with his Namibian wife and family at Onaminda and working at Ondangua. Reports said he was on his way to the Anglican mission station at Odibo for the christening of one of his children.
The Anglican mission station at Odibo which once comprised a hospital, seminary, preparatory and secondary schools was recently described as a place with an 'awful sense of desolation.' The priest-in-charge, Phillip SHILONGO, has been detained three times. In 1980 the seminary buildings were fire-bombed, an action blamed on the SADF by the local population.
ASSAULT ADMITTED
In an out-of-court settlement on 16 April the Minister of Law and Order and the Administrator General paid R7,500 plus costs to three victims of Koevoet torture. The agreement was reached at a pre-trial conference hours before a hearing in the Windhoek Supreme Court. As with earlier settlements paid out in January, the regime avoided the publicity a full court hearing would have provided. This was criticised by the Vicar- General of the Roman Catholic Church in Namibia who released details of the settlement and called for a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of brutality and torture.
The three claimants, Adam KABONO (40), Magnus Hausiki MPASI (30) and Sebaldus SINONGE (39), were detained in the Kavango bastustan between July and October 1983. They were held until 5 October even though the Administrator-General had ordered their release on 29 September. In their claim the three listed the various ways in which they had been tortured: by electric shocks applied at the ears and thumbs; by being kept blindfolded and in solitary confinement for extensive periods; and by being beaten with spades, planks and a chain. During their detention they were deprived of exercise and medical attention. Their wounds broke open and festered — the scars of the wounds were still visible two years later as shown in photographic evidence. Two eminent doctors, one the former chief government pathologist for the Cape Province, provided medical evidence that the scars were consistent with the beatings they described.
The men had publicised details of their torture in a number of ways since their release: at a press conference and in affidavits to the Supreme Court.
Initially, the Minister of Law and Order and the Attorney-General denied the assault claim. However, on 16 April their legal representatives 'formally admitted that the claimants had been assaulted with planks and that they endured pain and suffering.'
