Treason trial: A voice speaks from the dead

“ON 25/06/99 I was to be killed by John Samboma & he dismissed me from my post.”

This is one of the statements made in a document that has become part of the evidence in the main Caprivi high treason trial before the trial went into recess until mid-September. A voice may be speaking from the dead through the document that was submitted as evidence before Judge Elton Hoff during the testimony of the prosecution’s 125th witness in the trial.The document that Namibia Defence Force Captain Christian Munyika testified about in the High Court in Windhoek was allowed as evidence after defence lawyer Greyson Nyoni had raised an objection against it.Due to Nyoni’s objection, though, the document was allowed as evidence with a limited scope – only as evidence that an object such as the document in question had been found on the body of a killed suspected Caprivi Liberation Army commander, and not as evidence proving the truth of the contents of the document.HISTORIC DETAIL While the contents cannot at this stage be considered to be evidence against the 119 men charged in the trial, the document that Munyika said he retrieved from a trousers pocket of the late Shadrick Chainda almost eight years ago could add some valuable detail to the history of the attempt that the separatist CLA made on August 2 1999 to take control of the Caprivi Region.The document, which seems to have the handwriting of two people, contains what appears to be diary entries written by Chainda in one part.In another part, under the heading ‘Deployment structure (Plan)’, appear lists of names – including the names of some of the 119 treason accused – of people, types of firearms stated next to some of these names, under the headings of targets that came under attack at Katima Mulilo on August 2 1999.From the diary entries, it appears that the secessionist movement had to battle with internal divisions, plotting and intrigue as it prepared for the attacks during the winter months of 1999.Munyika told Judge Hoff that he had been sent to Mpacha military base near Katima Mulilo during August 1999, following the armed attacks on the base and other targets in the Katima Mulilo area early that month.On September 1 1999, he related, he was in a security force group that travelled to the Kaliangile area southwest of Katima Mulilo as a result of information about suspect persons being present in the area.In the area they encountered two men, Moses Kayoka and Ernest Lifasi, who had been arrested and who, according to a report that was made to him, had been found carrying two AK47 rifles with them, Munyika said.Those are the names of two of the 119 accused men.GUN BATTLE A gun battle appeared to have already taken place in that area, Munyika said, as Kayoka identified the body of someone who had been shot there as being the body of Hansmeyer Tungulo.Tungulo’s name was previously mentioned in the trial, when the court was told that he was in command of one of the groups that carried out the attack on the Mpacha base.During a search in the area where the two men had been found another exchange of gunfire broke out, Munyika related.When that firefight was over, the bodies of two men who had been shot dead were found.Munyika said he recognised one of the dead men.It was Shadrick Chainda, whom he knew as a former leader of one of the army companies stationed at Mpacha.Chainda’s name featured in testimony given by several of the high treason accused when a first group of them applied to be released on bail in the Grootfontein Magistrate’s Court in late August 1999.According to that testimony, Chainda and alleged CLA commander John Samboma, one of the 119 accused, had played leading roles in the CLA’s preparations for the attacks at Katima Mulilo, providing leadership and training to the would-be attackers.Chainda also took part in the Mpacha attack, it was testified then.According to Munyika, he found the document in Chainda’s pocket.Diary entries that Chainda appears to have made indicate that his relationship with Samboma was a difficult and distrustful – and at times outright hostile – one.In the entry dated June 25, the diary writer wrote that he was to be killed by Samboma.In the next entry, dated June 29 1999, it was written that Chainda was to be killed on June 27, and the names of people in a firing squad that was supposed to carry out this task are listed.John Samboma is stated to be the commander of the firing squad.In the next entry, dated June 30 1999, the diary writer wrote that he had received a message from a Unita commander who reported that Samboma had in turn sent a message that a list of people had to be arrested.Chainda’s name was at the top of that list of five names.IMPENDING ATTACKS In an entry dated July 2 1999, it was written that Progress Munuma – one of the men sentenced to 32 years’ imprisonment after he was convicted in the second Caprivi high treason trial earlier this month – had approached the diary writer “and rejected all the plans of John Samboma of killing people, put people in dungeons (donker cells)” (sic).The diary then moves on to apparent plans for the impending attacks.The attacks themselves are mentioned only in a short entry, dated August 2 1999, with “2:00 o’clock morning” added: “We attacked Mpacha, Katounyana, Ngweze, NBC & police station, and also Wenela.Many people got killed & many were injured”.That was the last diary entry in the document.A month later, Chainda would also be killed.The trial is scheduled to continue on September 17.A voice may be speaking from the dead through the document that was submitted as evidence before Judge Elton Hoff during the testimony of the prosecution’s 125th witness in the trial. The document that Namibia Defence Force Captain Christian Munyika testified about in the High Court in Windhoek was allowed as evidence after defence lawyer Greyson Nyoni had raised an objection against it.Due to Nyoni’s objection, though, the document was allowed as evidence with a limited scope – only as evidence that an object such as the document in question had been found on the body of a killed suspected Caprivi Liberation Army commander, and not as evidence proving the truth of the contents of the document.HISTORIC DETAIL While the contents cannot at this stage be considered to be evidence against the 119 men charged in the trial, the document that Munyika said he retrieved from a trousers pocket of the late Shadrick Chainda almost eight years ago could add some valuable detail to the history of the attempt that the separatist CLA made on August 2 1999 to take control of the Caprivi Region.The document, which seems to have the handwriting of two people, contains what appears to be diary entries written by Chainda in one part.In another part, under the heading ‘Deployment structure (Plan)’, appear lists of names – including the names of some of the 119 treason accused – of people, types of firearms stated next to some of these names, under the headings of targets that came under attack at Katima Mulilo on August 2 1999.From the diary entries, it appears that the secessionist movement had to battle with internal divisions, plotting and intrigue as it prepared for the attacks during the winter months of 1999.Munyika told Judge Hoff that he had been sent to Mpacha military base near Katima Mulilo during August 1999, following the armed attacks on the base and other targets in the Katima Mulilo area early that month.On September 1 1999, he related, he was in a security force group that travelled to the Kaliangile area southwest of Katima Mulilo as a result of information about suspect persons being present in the area.In the area they encountered two men, Moses Kayoka and Ernest Lifasi, who had been arrested and who, according to a report that was made to him, had been found carrying two AK47 rifles with them, Munyika said.Those are the names of two of the 119 accused men.GUN BATTLE A gun battle appeared to have already taken place in that area, Munyika said, as Kayoka identified the body of someone who had been shot there as being the body of Hansmeyer Tungulo.Tungulo’s name was previous
ly mentioned in the trial, when the court was told that he was in command of one of the groups that carried out the attack on the Mpacha base.During a search in the area where the two men had been found another exchange of gunfire broke out, Munyika related.When that firefight was over, the bodies of two men who had been shot dead were found.Munyika said he recognised one of the dead men.It was Shadrick Chainda, whom he knew as a former leader of one of the army companies stationed at Mpacha.Chainda’s name featured in testimony given by several of the high treason accused when a first group of them applied to be released on bail in the Grootfontein Magistrate’s Court in late August 1999.According to that testimony, Chainda and alleged CLA commander John Samboma, one of the 119 accused, had played leading roles in the CLA’s preparations for the attacks at Katima Mulilo, providing leadership and training to the would-be attackers.Chainda also took part in the Mpacha attack, it was testified then.According to Munyika, he found the document in Chainda’s pocket.Diary entries that Chainda appears to have made indicate that his relationship with Samboma was a difficult and distrustful – and at times outright hostile – one.In the entry dated June 25, the diary writer wrote that he was to be killed by Samboma.In the next entry, dated June 29 1999, it was written that Chainda was to be killed on June 27, and the names of people in a firing squad that was supposed to carry out this task are listed.John Samboma is stated to be the commander of the firing squad.In the next entry, dated June 30 1999, the diary writer wrote that he had received a message from a Unita commander who reported that Samboma had in turn sent a message that a list of people had to be arrested.Chainda’s name was at the top of that list of five names.IMPENDING ATTACKS In an entry dated July 2 1999, it was written that Progress Munuma – one of the men sentenced to 32 years’ imprisonment after he was convicted in the second Caprivi high treason trial earlier this month – had approached the diary writer “and rejected all the plans of John Samboma of killing people, put people in dungeons (donker cells)” (sic).The diary then moves on to apparent plans for the impending attacks.The attacks themselves are mentioned only in a short entry, dated August 2 1999, with “2:00 o’clock morning” added: “We attacked Mpacha, Katounyana, Ngweze, NBC & police station, and also Wenela.Many people got killed & many were injured”.That was the last diary entry in the document.A month later, Chainda would also be killed.The trial is scheduled to continue on September 17.