Police actions against SWAPO office-bearers which took place during a period of intense political and labour mobilisation have been seen as an attempt to clamp down on SWAPO after calls from the South African Administrator-General for 'legal steps' to be taken against the movement. Six SWAPO leaders, including two trade unionists, were detained under the Terrorism Act in August and held in solitary confinement for more than three weeks. Security Police raided the homes of SWAPO supporters, the offices of trade unions and community organisations, independent schools and churches, searching premises and confiscating documents.
On the night of 19 August five SWAPO leaders were detained under the Terrorism Act. They included SWAPO Vice-President Hendrik WITBOOLI, Deputy Chairman Dan TJON-GARERO and Foreign Affairs Secretary Nico BESSINGER. The general secretary of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU), John PANDENI, and the treasurer of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), Anton LUBOWSKI, both leading SWAPO members, were also detained.
Simultaneously, homes and offices in at least a dozen centres in Namibia, as well as four private schools in the south of the country, were raided by armed police. Books, magazines, pamphlets and cassettes were seized. Among the homes searched was that of SWAPO Acting President Nathaniel MAXUILILI in Walvis Bay. Police also surrounded and searched the offices of the NUNW in Katutura, Windhoek, as well as those of the Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO). Three trade unionists – Barnabus TJIZU (NUNW chair), Macdonald KANTLABATHI (NAFAU chair) and Gabriel ITHETE (NAFAU organiser) – were detained under Proclamation AG9 but released after a few hours.
Nico Bessinger was able to issue a short statement before his arrest, while his home was being searched. He linked the crackdown to a strike at the Tsumeb Corporation copper mines and preparations SWAPO was making for a rally at the end of August to mark the 21st anniversary of the launch of the armed struggle.
The South African Administrator-General stated that the detentions were 'purely a criminal investigation' linked to a bomb blast in the Windhoek city centre in July. Two unnamed men were arrested soon after the blast. According to police, one of them was responsible, and the SWAPO leaders were detained because they were 'involved'. No further details about the two arrested men were made public.
Also detained on the grounds of involvement in the Windhoek blast was Asser KAPERE, Chairman of SWAPO's Western Region and an official of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN). He was detained in Arandis, near the Rossing uranium mine, prior to a SWAPO rally at the end of July, and was released with the other leaders in September. Rossing workers were reported to be discussing a protest strike over his detention.
A seventh SWAPO member, Ben UULENGA, was detained on 26 August at Windhoek airport, on his return from an overseas tour in his capacity as general secretary of the MUN. Uulenga was aware that the police intended detaining him, and was questioned when he passed through Jan Smuts airport in Johannesburg. He decided to return, declaring: 'There is no justification for my arrest whatsoever, for I have not committed any crime. Any infringement of my freedom can only be seen as an act of evil and unprovoked repression of the Namibian workers, especially the miners whom I represent.'
The detentions were widely condemned both inside Namibia and internationally. The UN Security Council, in a statement issued by its President, demanded the immediate release of the detainees and condemned their arrest as well as 'the repressive measures against student and labour organisations'.
The Security Council members also expressed 'their grave concern over the continuing deterioration of the situation in Namibia resulting from the ever-increasing repression of the Namibian people by South African occupation forces throughout the territory'.
Protests were also issued by the EEC and the UN Council for Namibia, as well as the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference and the Council of Churches in Namibia. The Society of Advocates in Namibia called on the authorities to charge or release the detainees.
Throughout their detention the seven were denied access to their families or lawyers and the authorities refused to disclose where they were being held. After their release, the men revealed that they had been held in solitary confinement in corrugated-iron 'cages' at the Osire detention centre 200 kilometres north of Windhoek.
During their detention Anton Lubowski and Dan Tjongarero were both admitted to Windhoek hospital. Relatives and a personal doctor were refused access even though Tjongarero was recently diagnosed as suffering from an extremely serious kidney disease requiring urgent specialist treatment.
On 10 September an urgent application for the release of the men was filed in the Windhoek Supreme Court by their wives. They stated that the detentions had been carried out for political reasons by the police, who resented the successful SWAPO rallies and public events organised over the past year. There was no basis for believing that the men were involved in the Windhoek bomb blast, or that they were withholding information as the police alleged.
The seven were released the following day, the judge ruling that the police could not have reasonably believed the men were withholding information as they had made no effort to question them before detaining them. The administration declared that it would appeal against the judgement.
Despite the detentions, SWAPO went ahead with a Namibia Day rally in Katutura on 30 August. An estimated 4,000 people attended the event.
Ten people were arrested before the rally, as police vans patrolled the area. Two of those detained later appeared in the Windhoek Magistrates' Court charged with possession of dangerous weapons. Also facing this charge at the end of the August was Shiimi SIMON, a senior SWAPO steward. The stewards, who are known as 'SWAPO police' keep order at rallies and public meetings. Simon was arrested with several other people at a SWAPO Youth League rally on 5 July, which was attacked by baton-wielding police.
Simon's defence lawyers pointed out in court that a number of SWAPO rallies had been attacked by police or troops in civilian clothes armed with knives, sticks and other weapons. Last year SWAPO leader Immanuel Shifidi was assassinated at a rally and the 'SWAPO police' were thus needed for protection.
In early August an amendment to the Police Act outlawed the 'SWAPO police' by introducing criminal penalties of up to five years' imprisonment for establishing an unofficial force.
