While the military remained the principal agents of repression in Namibia during 1988 the authorities have made increasing use of the law and the courts against their opponents. Students, trade unionists, SWAPO activists and combatants were all targeted. A number of cases involved use of the Protection of Fundamental Rights Act, recently promulgated to outlaw school boycotts and worker stay-aways, but charges were also formulated under the common law as well as older South African legislation. The number and location of the trials is indicative of the truly national nature of Namibian resistance.
An urgent application to have the Protection of Fundamental Rights Act (No 16 of 1988) ruled invalid was heard in the Windhoek Supreme Court on 24 and 25 October. Judgment was reserved.
The initiator of the court action was the Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) whose general secretary Ignatius SHIHWAAMENI was the second applicant. Other applicants were the Mineworkers Union of Namibia, the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU), the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union and the Namibian Public Workers Union. The principal affidavit was made by Shihwaameni who has himself been charged under the Act.
The applicants challenged the vagueness of the new act which they felt would prohibit the legitimate discussions and activities of their organisations. They declared, furthermore, that it exceeded the authority of Proclamation R101 of 1985 which brought into being the present administration in Namibia and was in conflict with the administration's Bill of Rights.
While the result of the court challenge was awaited the number of people charged under the act continued to grow. Over 30 students detained with Shihwaameni on 17 August were due to appear for trial in the Windhoek Regional Court on 5 December. The number of defendants fell from 37 to 34 when one of those held, a German tourist, was deported and charges against two others were dropped on 15 September. The students were all on bail on tight conditions including compulsory attendance at all classes unless they could prove good cause for absence.
Joseph HENDRIKS (19), vice-chair of NANSO at the Andreas Shipena Secondary School in Windhoek, remained in custody on 20 October when his trial was postponed to 14 November. Hendriks, who has been expelled from school, was detained on 12 August. He is facing charges under the Protection of Fundamental Rights Act, and also under the Publications Act for possession of The Combatant the journal of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia. He is alleged to have persuaded others to disrupt or interrupt the functions or activities of his school.
Six students were picked up from Rundu Junior Secondary School in the Kavango bandutan and charged under the act at the beginning of September. Stephanus KANYETU and Martin KANDJIMI were arrested on 31 August while Petrus David KAVALAKA, Pius MUKOYA, Gondof KANYINGA and THEOPHILUS KAKONDA were held on the following day. The State alleged that they sold T-shirts produced by SWAPO and encouraged students not to attend classes.
Kanyetu was tortured with electric shocks and forced to make a statement implicating Martin KUTENDA, the headboy at Rundu Senior Secondary School who was detained under Proclamation AG 9 and faced charges of public violence. The six were granted bail of R300 and ordered to appear again on 6 October. At the beginning of September it was also reported that at least five other students faced charges under the act, two in Uis and three in Karasburg.
Caroline DANIEL, a student at a school in Windhoek run by the Council of Churches, was arrested in Luderitz on 24 August two days after addressing a meeting in the town at which local students resolved to boycott classes. After spending a week in custody she was granted bail of R500 and told to appear in court on 21 September to face charges under the Protection of Fundamental Rights Act. Two other students, Mariane JOHANNES and Profilio THOMAS, were reportedly due to appear on the same day. Paulina MAHARERO, a NAFAU official, was briefly detained in Luderitz on 23 August and accused of encouraging students to boycott.
During the height of the nationwide school boycott many school buildings were damaged or gutted by fire in mysterious circumstances. The authorities blamed NANSO but observers remained sceptical, saying that forces keen to discredit the organisation had more to gain from such actions. Few people appear to have been arrested and those cases that have been brought to trial have raised further questions.
Five SWAPO members charged with arson following a fire at Okakarara High School at the end of July had the charges against them withdrawn on 29 September. They had been held for almost two weeks before being released on 11 August after bail was reduced from R4,000 to R500. The first defendant to be detained was Sakarias TJIRANGE, housemaster at the school hostel. He was alleged to have handed over keys to enable Richard UJAHA, Weita VEKUUA, Immanuel SHEEHAMA and Theophilus SHANIKA to set fire to the school hall. Tjirange was kept blindfolded with a hood, assaulted and tortured with electric shocks until he made a statement admitting guilt and implicating the others. He repudiated the statement before a magistrate and on his release. He has instituted a civil claim for damages against the South African-appointed administration as a result of his treatment.
The five said they were questioned about SWAPO activities and that posters and pamphlets in their possession were confiscated. They were unaware of any reason for their arrest. Lawyers for the men criticised a prejudicial report in an Afrikaans daily paper and a state radio broadcast concerning their arrest.
After another fire, this time at Karunda Primary School, Orwetoveni, seven pupils were convicted of arson. According to evidence in the Otjiwarongo Magistrates' Court they burnt down the office complex at the school at the request of a teacher, who offered them R50 each. Five of the accused were under 18 years old and were given corporal punishment. Elifas MASATU and Conrad SHIRORA (both 19), were each sentenced to three years' imprisonment of which 18 months was conditionally suspended.
It was alleged that the teacher, named as Alois Josef OXURUB, provided them with money to buy petrol and gave them instructions on how to carry out the attack. There was no indication that he had been charged.
In an earlier case, eight pupils from the Petrus Ganeb Senior Secondary School appeared in the Uis Magistrates' Court at the end of July on charges of housebreaking and theft. Laurentia HORASES (21), Martha JACOBS (18), Athile GENGOS (17), Siegfried GEISEB (21), Hendrik GAROGAB (18), Michael CLAASSEN (18), Petrus HORASEB (18) and Jonas UBAGAEB (21) were each granted R100 bail to appear on 10 August. When the students were detained 500 of their fellow pupils staged a one-day school boycott on 22 July. A more prolonged stay-away was initiated to demand the withdrawal of the charges and this led to the expulsion of all pupils from the school hostel.
Opposition to local authority elections in South Africa extended to the Namibian port of Walvis Bay which is administered as part of the Cape Province. A number of activists were arrested after a wall in Kuisebmond was painted with the slogan 'No municipal elections'. They were Lukas JOHANNES (21), Ismael LUANDA (16), Joseph LUANDA (19), Zebedeus LUANDA (24) and Andreas SHIPANGA (23).
A meeting convened by the SWAPO Acting-President Immanuel Maxuiliili to report back on the Kabwe conference was interrupted by armed police.
In the week leading up to polling on 26 October, four activists were detained under South Africa's emergency regulations: Christian HAIKALI, Jacki MANALE, Jacob SILVANUS and Gabriel THOMAS.
In another action thought to be connected with the elections, Reverend Michael YATES, a local Anglican priest, was charged with possessing and distributing banned literature. The material was confiscated from him in late 1987 and Yates described the delayed prosecution as 'nothing more than harassment'.
