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Friday, January 4, 2002 - Web posted at 9:51:30 am GMT

A PROMINENT human rights lawyer has accused the Municipality and members of the Special Field Force (SFF) of acting illegally by detaining nearly 70 young Swapo supporters and destroying their shacks without a court order.

Shortly before Christmas the Municipality, reinforced by the SFF, raided the shack community of the young Swapo supporters who had been camping near the ruling party's headquarters in Katutura for three months and arrested 69 youths.

Some of the estimated 200 young Swapo supporters who had been camping there ran away before they were caught in the dragnet.

Some 45 of those originally arrested are still in custody as they have been unable to pay bail.

The youths, who said they were children of Swapo members who had been in exile, were demanding that the Government find them jobs or training opportunities.

Human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe said the Municipality and whoever was responsible for the detention of the young Swapo supporters should have obtained a court order before acting against them.

"They have taken the law into their own hands by not following a court process to act on the 70 job-seeking young supporters," he added.

"That in itself is illegal and exposes them to claims of damages from the owners whose property was destroyed."

Tjombe also criticised as "unreasonable" the Magistrate for fixing bail at N$300 for the young Swapo supporters.

"Considering the alleged offence of illegal squatting and the financial situation of the accused, the bail of N$300 is just too harsh. We don't impose bail to punish people," he said.

Court sources said that those arrested were transported to the Dordabis Police cells, south-east of Windhoek, where 80 suspected Unita rebels have been detained without trial for a year-and-a-half.

Police spokesperson Chief Inspector Hophni Hamufungu told The Namibian that 24 of the 69 youths who were arrested had paid bail of N$300 and 45 of them were still in Police custody.

He denied they were being kept at Dordabis, claiming they were spread around Windhoek Police cells.

When asked which Police cells, Hamufungu refused to divulge the names of the cells saying; "There are political implications. I do not want to mention where they are."

The detainees are expected to appear in the Katutura Magistrate's court on March, 14 on charges of illegal squatting and unlawful occupation of land.

Spokesperson of the young Swapo loyalists, Frans Ndeyapunye, appealed to the Government to provide them with legal aid in an interview with The Namibian after his arrest last month.

Director of Legal Aid Arnold Mtopa could not be reached for comment to establish whether Government would provide legal aid to the youth.

Windhoek Municipality Chief Executive Officer Martin Shipanga said at the time of the raid that the Municipality was forced to use the law as the last option after the youth ignored several warnings to vacate the area.

"We really did not want to take such action and their refusal to heed our friendly calls forced us to apply the legal force," he added.

Shipanga said the Municipality was prompted to act because the conditions under which they were living were unhygienic to them and people living in the surroundings.

We found used condoms when we demolished the shacks. This is health hazardous to children who are living in the surroundings. What if the children playing in the surroundings used the condoms as toys?

"Secondly, there are no ablution facilities at the place where they were camping. These are some of the factors which led us to act," he said.

Swapo Youth League Deputy Secretary General Lempy Lukas has supported the Police action, saying that "people should be treated equally and the laws of the country must be respected. Why should it happen to others and not them?"

She could not comment on whether the youth were evicted at the request of the Swapo party.

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