NAMIBIAN CURFEW CHALLENGED
An application by the Lutheran, Catholic and Anglican bishops of Namibia to invalidate the dusk-to-dawn curfew in the Ovambo bantustan was rejected by the Windhoek Supreme Court on 16 January.
The respondents were the MPC administration, Namibia's Administrator-General and the South African Minister of Defence. The bishops contended that the Administrator-General had no power to promulgate Section 3 of Proclamation AG9 of 1977 (which authorised the curfew) and that he had not acted in good faith. They noted that the area of the Ovambo bantustan was not divided in the way required for the operation of the curfew. Anglican Bishop James Kauluma stated: 'I submit that there is accordingly no substantial case of certainty whereby either the enforcers of the curfew, or those at whom it is directed, are able to ascertain the precise ambit of the purported curfew.'
The application also maintained that the curfew was in conflict with the Bill of Rights appended to Proclamation R101 which set up the client MPC administration in June 1985. However, on 5 December, a full bench of the Windhoek Supreme Court dismissed this challenge, stating that under Section 34 of Proclamation R101 all previous legislation, including laws proclaimed by the Administrator-General, would continue in force until repealed or amended by a competent authority. This applied even if the legislation conflicted with the Bill of Rights. The Bill, therefore, is only binding on future legislation introduced by the 'National Assembly' set up by the South African regime.
The court, under Judge President Justice Hans Berker, said that there was a provision for legislation to be examined and reviewed in the light of the Bill of Rights by a standing committee of the National Assembly. However, this procedure no longer covers South African laws extended to Namibia since an amendment by President Botha in September 1986.
Judgement on the Bill of Rights issue was given first because other similar cases were pending. Judgement on the rest of the application was delayed until January when Judge President Berker ruled that the curfew should remain, saying the regulations were 'clear and certain and in the circumstances...not unreasonable.' However, he called on the 'relevant parties' to seek ways of alleviating the difficulties suffered by people due to the regulations.
DETAINEE FREED
The release of a detainee held under Proclamation AG 26 has thrown some light on the secret detention practices of the military in Namibia. The recently published Van Dyk Commission into Security Legislation noted that not all detentions by the military were reported to sector headquarters. In this case the detainee's release was confirmed by an official of the Multi-Party Conference administration in Windhoek even though it contradicted an earlier statement that no prisoners were being held under AG 26.
Mattheus SHIKONGO (27) was freed from Windhoek Prison on 11 December after the threat of court action to challenge his detention. News of his detention became public in late May when he was brought before a press conference and asked to denounce SWAPO. This he refused to do. Since June lawyers had been pressing the MPC administration for information about him, without success.
Shikongo's lawyer gave some details of his capture in spite of restrictions imposed by the Defence Act. He was taken prisoner in Angola on 15 May by members of the SADF who were 'wearing SWAPO uniforms and using AK-47s'. A military spokesman said he was not aware that the SADF operated in this way which was 'against military regulations'.
After his abduction from Angola, Shikongo was detained at Ondangwa air force base by the Reconnaissance Unit. Other SWAPO fighters were being held at Oshakati he said.
Even when held in Windhoek prison, Shikongo was approached by the armed forces who offered him his freedom if he 'worked for them.' Shikongo has now instructed his lawyer to institute a court action for unlawful arrest and detention. Shikongo was taken to the north of the country before his release even though his family live in Katutura.
COURT RULING
A court action concerning the detention of Josef KATOFA under Proclamation AG 9 reached the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein in November 1986. Katofa was freed by the Windhoek Supreme Court in September 1985 after 16 months in custody. A full bench of five South African judges dismissed the appeal against this by the MPC administration on the grounds that an affidavit by David Bezuidenhout, the MPC official then responsible for detentions, did not state that Katofa was 'a person as referred to in Section 2 of Proclamation AG26' but only that his release was 'not advisable' at the time. Under Section 2 the Administrator-General (now the MPC administration) may detain a person if satisfied that he or she 'committed or attempted to commit or in any manner promotes or promoted the commission of... violence or intimidation' aimed at obstructing, hindering or threatening the 'peaceful and orderly constitutional development of South West Africa.'
EDUCATION STRUGGLES SPREAD
Schools and colleges in Namibia were the focus of increased resistance in the second half of 1986. Activities took place against the background of a further deterioration in educational standards, as revealed in newly released statistics. At the same time the MPC Administration failed to implement its declared policy of integrating schools.
In the Nyangana and Andora areas of the Kavango bantustan, 14 local schools had been closed in the two years prior to July, reportedly because the Kavango Administration was unable to get teachers' pay cheques to them. Officials stated that the schools had been closed for 'security reasons'. In other areas of Namibia, schools in outlying areas have been closed and education centralised to remove pupils from areas of SWAPO activity. Partly as a result of this disruption, matriculation results worsened. At Rundu High School only two out of the 43 students passed. Teachers in the area were also subjected to harassment and in some cases detained by Koevoet police.
The 1986/87 budget continued to discriminate between black and white schools. An amount of R1,165 was allocated to each white child, while under the Ovambo bantustan administration the allocation for each pupil was only R318. There were also no noticeable changes in the educational level of teachers in black schools. Under three-quarters of teachers had not matriculated (completed secondary school). One-fifth had not passed Standard 8 (three years of secondary schooling). Pass rates also remained low. It is calculated that only four per cent of black school children reach senior secondary level and the matric failure rate remained high in 1986. While the pass rate for white schools was 90 per cent, at black schools falling under the Department of National Education it was only 35 per cent.
Plans by the MPC Administration to open schools in Namibia to pupils of all population groups were not implemented after they were blocked by the Administration for Whites and the party controlling the Rehoboth bantustan, the Rehoboth Free Democrats. The National Party, which controls the Legislative Assembly for Whites, is opposed to the integration of schools even though rules for admission of African pupils to White and Coloured schools have been hedged in by loosely defined restrictions such as 'educational qualifications', 'home background'. Proclamation AG8 allows individual administrations to regulate admission to their 'own' educational facilities and it would require a change in the constitution for the 'cabinet' to overrule the Administration for Whites and Rehoboths.
SCHOOL PROTESTS
Against this background there was resistance at several schools and colleges:
- Black schools remained open in Namibia on 29 August, which the interim government had declared a public holiday to commemorate its first anniversary. Earlier NANSO had condemned the holiday because 'this so called interim government is illegal and unrepresentative'. The organisation called on students to boycott it.
- Teachers at three schools in Arandis went on strike in November over the poor housing and overcrowded conditions in which they were forced to live. The strike was suspended when the authorities agreed to take steps to improve facilities.
- Chief ANKAMA, a former teacher at the Ongwediva Training Centre, was transferred to Okatana following a boycott of classes at the centre while he was working there. He was briefly detained by police in Oshakati and questioned about his activities in SWAPO and NANSO. He was placed under pressure to become a police informer and later fled from the area because he feared for his life.
- The struggle for a new SRC constitution at the Academy for Tertiary Education in Windhoek was still unresolved at the end of the year.
