CHURCHES CHALLENGE CURFEW
Three Namibian bishops and the major churches in Namibia have taken legal action to end the dusk-to-dawn curfew which has been imposed on northern Namibia for the past nine years. Bishop James Kauluma of the Anglican Church and head of the Council of Churches, Bishop Kleopas Dumeni of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and Bishop Bonifatius Haushiku of the Roman Catholic Church have applied to the Supreme Court in Windhoek for an order setting aside the curfew regulations. The bishops have also sought to invalidate Proclamation AG26 which provides for detention without trial.
The curfew regulations have been issued in terms of Section 3 of Proclamation AG9 (the Security Districts Proclamation). Two notices were issued by the authorities in 1978 and 1979, the first imposing a ban on night driving, the second prohibiting people from leaving the confines of their homes (defined as 'a stand, lot or site, or other place intended for human habitation') after dark. In recent court cases, police and soldiers have testified that they are under orders to 'shoot anything that moves' after sunset. (See FOCUS 66 p.11; NCC 12.9.86)
Bishop Kauluma stated in the application that the curfew had disrupted the family life, worship and ordinary social intercourse of half the population of Namibia. According to official figures, over half a million people lived under curfew regulations. He said that people were obliged to break the curfew to seek medical assistance in times of emergencies and during births. They took their lives in their hands every time they ventured out of their houses. Even a visit to the toilet could result in breaking the curfew, as in many homesteads the toilets were some distance away in the bush. The traditional way of cooking around a communal fire had been made illegal and certain events in the church calendar, such as the Christmas eve Midnight Mass, had been disrupted.
'THREAT TO LIFE'
Although a permit system had been introduced whereby people could be exempted from the curfew for specific reasons, in practice police and troops shot first and asked questions later. They had opened fire on vehicles in motion, and on one occasion a military aircraft had strafed people breaking the curfew. Furthermore, local people were not sure when they were breaking the curfew, as it was unclear where the borders of homesteads ended in the communal farming areas. The bishops cited a number of cases where people had been killed by troops or police for allegedly being outside their homes at night. 'The curfew is a threat to life', they stated, presenting over 200 affidavits from residents of the north. (Nam 12.9.86; WO 13.9.86)
The application was brought on the grounds that the curfew and Proclamation AG26 violated a Bill of Rights which was included in the South African legislation establishing the client Multi-Party Conference (MPC) administration in Windhoek last year.
A full bench of the Windhoek Supreme Court was convened to hear the bishops' application against the curfew regulations, and to decide on the extent to which existing legislation and regulations could be tested against the Bill of Rights. (Nam 31.10.86)
The bishops' application was opposed by the MPC administration, which argued that the curfew was 'necessary for the safety of the State'. Their counsel stated that the Bill of Rights had only restricted application and could not be relied upon by the ordinary person in Namibia. It was not a 'manifesto for governing', he stated. Judgement was reserved. (Nam 31.10.86; WA 3.11.86)
In July and August two separate applications were brought to have Section 9 of the Residence of Certain Persons in South West Africa Act set aside. The act was introduced in 1985 by the MPC administration to empower it to deport or prohibit the entry of people not born in Namibia. In a case brought by Ulrich EINS, a Windhoek businessman, Justice Hendler of the Windhoek Supreme Court ruled that Section 9 of the Act was unconstitutional. However, in the other case, brought by Frank CHIKANE, a patron of the South African United Democratic Front, the MPC administration declared its intention to take the matter to the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein after an order was issued setting aside an MPC ban on Chikane's entry to Namibia. (See FOCUS 66 p.12; Nam 18.7.86, 14.11.86; WA 29.8.86; DD 13.11.86)
