Nujoma rejects calls for truth commission

By: * CHRISTOF MALETSKY

SWAPO President Sam Nujoma says Namibia does not need a truth and reconciliation commission to settle the latest discovery of mass graves or other deaths that occurred during the war before Independence.

Nujoma said the reconciliation policy adopted at Independence was

enough to help those with information on the mass graves to come

forward and reveal such information.

"Namibia is different from other countries.

 

We adopted national reconciliation here.

 

The Koevoet and former SWATF (South West African Territory

Force) are considered part and parcel of the Namibian society and

protected by our laws.

 

Some are even employed in our Defence Force and Police," Nujoma

told a media briefing last week.

 

He said Namibia will "never be a rubberstamp of any country" and

thus rejected any inquiry along the lines of the South African

Truth Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

 

The TRC was set up in South Africa to help people deal with the

atrocities committed by the apartheid SA regime and also revealed a

host of information about killings and torture in Namibia.

 

It blamed former the South African army chief, Lieutenant

General Constand Viljoen, former air force chief R H Rodgers, and

their political masters - the late prime minister John Vorster and

then defence minister P W Botha - for the Cassinga massacre of

1978, in which over 600 people are estimated to have died.

 

The commission described the South African Defence Force (SADF)

raid on Swapo's camp at Cassinga in southern Angola as possibly the

most controversial single operation the TRC dealt with in its

two-and-a-half-year mandate.

 

Code-named Operation Reindeer, the Cassinga raid formed only

part of the operation.

 

There were also attacks on a number of Swapo facilities in and

around Chetequera (an area known to Swapo as "Vietnam") where more

than 300 Namibians were killed and a large number captured.

 

All the planning documentation, including aerial photographs,

indicated that the SADF command was convinced Cassinga was the

planning headquarters of Swapo's military wing - the People's

Liberation Army of Namibia - and thus a military target of key

importance.

 

The TRC also found that members of South Africa's special

operations unit, Koevoet, "killed people for kicks".

 

The police unit - set up by Brigadier Hans Dreyer of the South

African Police's Security Branch in June 1979 - was responsible for

numerous human rights abuses in pre-independence Namibia.

 

The Commission found that Koevoet was, in many respects, an

archetypal counter-revolutionary unit - a means of fighting fire

with fire.

 

Its top echelon comprised battle-hardened veterans of the

Rhodesian war - among them Colonels Eugene de Kock and Eric Winter,

Captains Sakkie van Zyl and 'Beachball' Vorster, Lieutenant Frans

Conradie and Warrant Officer 'Snakes' Greyling.

 

Koevoet soon gained a reputation for brutality, largely because

of its methods of interrogating local people, which invariably

involved torture, and for the way its members careered around the

operational areas in Casspir armoured vehicles, laying down heavy

fire, flattening fences, driving straight through crops and even

people's homes, whenever they suspected a guerrilla contact.

 

"Namibia is different from other countries.We adopted national

reconciliation here.The Koevoet and former SWATF (South West

African Territory Force) are considered part and parcel of the

Namibian society and protected by our laws.Some are even employed

in our Defence Force and Police," Nujoma told a media briefing last

week.He said Namibia will "never be a rubberstamp of any country"

and thus rejected any inquiry along the lines of the South African

Truth Reconciliation Commission (TRC).The TRC was set up in South

Africa to help people deal with the atrocities committed by the

apartheid SA regime and also revealed a host of information about

killings and torture in Namibia.It blamed former the South African

army chief, Lieutenant General Constand Viljoen, former air force

chief R H Rodgers, and their political masters - the late prime

minister John Vorster and then defence minister P W Botha - for the

Cassinga massacre of 1978, in which over 600 people are estimated

to have died.The commission described the South African Defence

Force (SADF) raid on Swapo's camp at Cassinga in southern Angola as

possibly the most controversial single operation the TRC dealt with

in its two-and-a-half-year mandate.Code-named Operation Reindeer,

the Cassinga raid formed only part of the operation.There were also

attacks on a number of Swapo facilities in and around Chetequera

(an area known to Swapo as "Vietnam") where more than 300 Namibians

were killed and a large number captured.All the planning

documentation, including aerial photographs, indicated that the

SADF command was convinced Cassinga was the planning headquarters

of Swapo's military wing - the People's Liberation Army of Namibia

- and thus a military target of key importance.The TRC also found

that members of South Africa's special operations unit, Koevoet,

"killed people for kicks".The police unit - set up by Brigadier

Hans Dreyer of the South African Police's Security Branch in June

1979 - was responsible for numerous human rights abuses in

pre-independence Namibia.The Commission found that Koevoet was, in

many respects, an archetypal counter-revolutionary unit - a means

of fighting fire with fire.Its top echelon comprised

battle-hardened veterans of the Rhodesian war - among them Colonels

Eugene de Kock and Eric Winter, Captains Sakkie van Zyl and

'Beachball' Vorster, Lieutenant Frans Conradie and Warrant Officer

'Snakes' Greyling.Koevoet soon gained a reputation for brutality,

largely because of its methods of interrogating local people, which

invariably involved torture, and for the way its members careered

around the operational areas in Casspir armoured vehicles, laying

down heavy fire, flattening fences, driving straight through crops

and even people's homes, whenever they suspected a guerrilla

contact.

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