In the months after SWAPO's election victory residents of northern Namibia continued to be harassed, attacked and killed in incidents attributed to former members of the army and Koevoet. Demobilised soldiers and Koevoet members appeared to be grouping in an organised way and senior South African officers were involved in orchestrating their activities. They were still being paid, apparently until the end of March, and it was reported that many of them had joined UNITA.
The SWA Police (SWAPOL), still responsible under the UN Plan for maintaining law and order, were criticised for not acting against the perpetrators of armed assaults. Between the elections in November and the end of the year 25 people, mostly SWAPO supporters, were reportedly killed.
There were a number of reports indicating Koevoet had not been properly demobilised. It seemed also that some former Koevoet and 101 Battalion soldiers had joined UNITA although SWAPOL refused to confirm this. UNITA were held responsible for numerous incidents of cattle rustling and looting as well as assaults in the Ovambo and Kavango bantustans bordering Angola and in January the UNTAG force on the border was increased in strength.
In early December, some Koevoet members were seen at Oshakati, apparently collecting their salaries, while others were told to be patient and 'await their transfer to Jamba', UNITA's headquarters in southern Angola. At the end of January, when monthly wages were again paid out at Oshakati, it was estimated that between three and four thousand members of 101 Battalion remained on the army payroll. Those who had joined UNITA were reportedly brought back from Angola in order to collect their money. The Namibian newspaper was told that former 101 Battalion and Koevoet forces had established a base on the Namibian-Angolan border, near UNITA's bases at Oshindombe and Onanghwe.
On 18 December 300 members of the two units went on the rampage in Oshakati after demanding weapons and pensions at the police station. They assaulted hawkers and threw a hand grenade after being barred from SWAPO's offices.
SWAPO drew attention to the role of former Koevoet commanders in directing much of the terror in the north. General Hans Dreyer, Koevoet's founder, remained in the country meeting with ex-members of the force, even after being officially promoted and transferred to Pretoria. He was seen in Oshakati as late as 24 January, along with Captain J V Vorster who had been implicated in violence against SWAPO supporters.
The easy access former soldiers have to weapons was highlighted by a number of incidents, including one in which the Okave Koevoet base was left unguarded over a weekend with ammunition, hand grenades, mortars and mortar shells, assault rifles and other military equipment all available. In January SWAPOL personnel were discovered moving a large quantity of arms to a site near Windhoek in violation of UN Resolution 435, which stipulates that this should only be done under UNTAG supervision. Another huge cache was discovered by villagers near Ondangwa. Attempts by UNTAG to form a reconciliation committee in the far north were sabotaged when former Koevoet and SWATF members withdrew.
By January there had been peace moves in two other areas, Kaokoland and Kavango. Faced with violent attacks by DTA supporters in Opuwo, in one of which a two-month-old child was badly injured, SWAPO joined with the National Patriotic Front to convene a meeting of ten local leaders. They decided on a total ban on carrying weapons in public, whether firearms, knives or bow-and-arrows. Abisai Shejavali, general secretary of the Council of Churches in Namibia, welcomed the move and regretted only that the police were 'reluctant to co-operate with the initiative'.
Problems in the Kavango bantustan were exacerbated by the presence of UNITA. After SWAPO had won the elections DTA vigilantes had taken revenge with apparent impunity and in one instance a DTA member of the Constituent Assembly was accused of beating up two women. In mid-January a meeting was convened under the auspices of UNTAG. Former PLAN combatants and SWAPO representatives sat down with ex-Koevoet and South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) fighters as well as United Democratic Front and DTA officials. They adopted the Rundu Plan of Action to 'work together for a common destiny'.
In the eastern Caprivi bantustan former members of SWATF and Koevoet grouped themselves into a pseudo-cultural organisation, Kopano ya Tou, under the leadership of a former army chaplain. Incidents in the region included attacks on individuals and a spate of arson attacks in Katima Mulilo. Local residents accused demobilised soldiers from 701 Battalion of setting alight the thatched-roof homes of SWAPO supporters.
Information was leaked to the press about two secret meetings, in November and January, involving the DTA vice-president Mishake Muyongo. This indicated that he not only condoned the violence but was encouraging it. The second meeting was reportedly attended by former Koevoet members 'currently banded in what is today known as Kopano ya Tou'. Muyongo was said to have pledged to arm and train former members of the armed forces 'for the fight against SWAPO' and to be planning to cut the eastern Caprivi off from the rest of Namibia.
Further speculation about Kopano ya Tou was aroused when the local SWABC radio station broadcast a mysterious advertisement on its behalf inviting former soldiers to collect uniforms from the Mpacha air base in Katima Mulilo.
Two detainees arrested in December in connection with the killing of a police-man in Katima Mulilo reported being tortured while in custody. Shadrack MWILIMA, who returned to Namibia under the UN resettlement plan, told his family of being beaten, suspended from a tree and given electric shock torture when police interrogated him about the murder weapon. They noted fresh scars on his body. Mwilima was due to appear in court, with Damien TONCHI who was also tortured, on 18 January.
