FORTUN4,(1100)

FORTUN4,(1100) STATEMENT MADE BY W. ISMAEL FORTUNE AT THE 1100M ]MEETING OF THE FOURTH COMMITTEE Circulated in' aceordamee with a decision takep the FourthCommittee at its 1100t a meeting I wish to thank the Chairman of.the fturth Committee of the General Assembly, and its distinguished delegates, iU grantingus the opportunity to speak on the Question of SWA. I wish to.draw your attention to the speech made on Tuesday in the General Assembly by His Excellency President Kwame Nkrumah of the.Republic of Ghana, "In 'all honesty and decency, the United Nations must this year tackle resolutely the problem of South West Africa which has been for so long before the General Assembly without aEy effective action being taken. If at this stage the United Nations give way, once again to South Africa on this issue, Aq prestige will be most serious3,y damaged". 'Mr. CbAirman, since we have been petitioning the last time, the situation in South West At' rift has become more serious than ever. The following are texts of scme comm=ications received within the past few weeks., 0"zbolatd: 27,February 1961 "On 15 February 1961, the Headman Johannes ShekutdJa intended to kill Mr* Ndadi, a 34 year-old member of the National Executive Committee of SWAPO. On that day Shekundja was supplied with a loaded pistol by Mr. Strydom 'the Chief Native Commissioner, to shoot and kill Mr. Ndadi. Shekwadja vowed that he would never rest until he kills six of the members of SWAPO. -The Kaunjama tribe do not need Yx. Strydom as a 1htive Commisaioner, as he.armed Headman Shekundja, and furthermore he is a criminal and a murderer. However, if that Headn-n should intentionally kill anyone, he will be pardoned.for this crime, which will be regarded asem accident by the South African Government. We want this Headman to be done away with, as he is Just a puppet, and put there without the authority of the people. Therefor we want to appoint a Headman ourselves, one of our own people, and not a 61- 07165

A stooge of the Native Commissioner who vamts to kill his own people, simply be cause theNative Ccmmissioner ordered him to kill Mr. Ndadi and supplying him (Shekundja) with a loaded pistol". Tsumeb, 1 March 1961. "Greetings from the members of SWAPO, we wish to noti fy you of what happened in Tsumeb on the 25 February 1961 at 4:15 P-m- We are getting tired of this Boer Government. On the 25 February 1961, we decided to destroy our passes, and when doing so, some one informed the police. On the I March 1961, the police raided the home of Mr, L.M. Shilumati., and took every, bit of literature from an old newspaper up to his bible. Then he was arrested, and escorted by the police to the Police Station, Since his arrest we haventt heard anything from-him yet, and we do not even know whether.he is dead or alive. There is a big army in Ovamboland which consists of troeps from ft i rongo Va tavi, Grootfontein, Tsumeb and other towns in South West Africa. We members of SWAPO does not want to be administered by the South African Government, and we are ready to the for the liberation of our country". orangemond., 4 February 1961: "Dear SWAPO leaders, we feel it is about time for the white'settlers to leave us in peace, amd go to where-ever they came from, and, to-take vith them the Contract System of SWANLA. Will you please tell us what to do? 1. We do not mind dying for the freedom of our people who are slaves. 2. Those white settlers are eventually going to kill us. 3* The white civilians, police and army are all armed and ready to kill us awj time. 4. The Boers have already threatened to kill us, and that there will be no change of Goverumerit, not even the LInited Nations will be able' to ccme to South WestAfrica. 5- The situation here at home is out of control, the Boers are, treating us like animals% Walvis Bay 8 iianuary ig6l."Ve am inet of South WestiAfrica. and we have no rest whatsoever, at Walvis Bay we take pains at all timesand work, on SaturdaY,7 January 1961, we. take no rest.from 8 o'clock (eveni; g) till dayliAt. The Police in Walvis Bay,- they arescattered abroad the country, arrest our people,.kee them in jail and askthem the sum of F15 for the pase. Very, very trouble. The Police CoMes in cotTounds at night to search the men, and we have to rest.

71 we take pains because we sufferfrom. Boors, and we are nativeevhD come from Ctdangua to SWANLA of Grootfontein with a-recruitment to-work for 18 mont'he We work for 1/- (one ShillIng) a day, The Boers avoid us to cross the borders of Angola to feed our goats and cattle. Some people wishes to find, ...... 1 some food to the other countries and the Boers would not allow us. They measure our gardeza in long and wide., and we have just received a bad Magistrate in Walvis Bay. The Magistrate of Walvis Bay is very-bado The jails in Walvis Bay are full of people without fault and Windhoek too. The Boers exploit our countryy and for bad behaviour theyarrested Mro R.P. Nianjembs.-of our SWAPO and they put him in jail* We do not want the Baer authority in our countay aty-more"., i4r. Chairman and distinguished deleg tes, in recent ==1nications from our ;people in South West AfAca: I b4ve'already stated that our people are, dissatisfied -with the Contract'System, which isthe cause of a lot of beatings., which at times lead to the deaths of many of our peopleo Allow me to read a few articles from'the Windhoek Advertiser. Windhoek Advertiser, 4th January 1961. "Contract 0%4 o Struck By His EmployVr. Cornelius Jenkets a Nua-opean farmer of Dassiesfontein, district Mariental, was found guilty 4pd sentenced to Z10 or ten days on'&.-chargeof c®rtmoxiatsault; by Mr. 'M.Z. de Kock in the Mariettal Magistrate's Court* Shilsas Shilombobeli, a contract Ovenboy tated that he had been workin for in his evidence s g the ccused. He was under contract for 18 months. He had not been payed for the last six months of his eMloyment. He went to the S.A.P. at Mariental to complain about thia On arrival there, the accused who bad come from his farm, saw him and, gave him Z9. 'This was at the Police Station. The complainant then objected and said that the amount was not eorrectas in terms of his contract wa he was to have received 91-0-0monthly for tw1eve months and for the last six months his wages were to have been 41-15-0, Jenkens then struck him with his balled fist* He fell and when he was on the ground Jenkens kicked himo He then stood over him and was about to hit him again when the police interveted,, and prevented a contizuation of the assault". Windhoek Advertiserp 24 January, 1961. "A well known Daropean farmer of Naltabohe district, 42 year-old Floris Johames Jacobus Louv yesterday madea brief appearance in Cout, charged with having seriously assaulted a native labourer., No evidence Vag led and the case was remanded to February 4, pending further police investigations. Louwts appearance is a sequal to the death of a Iktive labourer, following an alleged sjambokking".

Mr Mai r~ an& distin&ioheddelegates you can ru~er that,,~ 'of the was given a ~ ed pi-st91 by the Nativie Canmjssioner to shoert SkAPOts '0ýr~ ,zing sceretary In the northi where the Boern themsejvezb&yc. threatened to shoot Our PCOPI.P. ylease- a110Xetå t framtågWj~ ek kvertisera. Windhoek Advertiser, 2.February,' 1961. "ARMED TO TRE =TE IN WM»Ma Proä the iateåt statistics a'v'ailable for laekt year, It apke!ýra tlat.wlndhoek,,iearmed to the tenth, becauls.e evex7 seconå person, statletical4 speaklzg'hns'a fire-arm. ' 'With the population of, nearly 20y QOO -EuxYpeanå in Windbook,, them, are, 9ý 652 f~= registered, Whi-3h meams that ac,ý_ording to,~ statietics everyseo~ pe;r4-on bas a fi rearm' of &me åort or another.ý The annual report of the Acting MIef Magistrate, showa. that there- gre 3,502 rifles with a callbre bigger thån LU registeredlä Windhoek ånd no tewer than 2x281 rifles vltb a 22 mn-Ubre on régtstgr, In the nagisterial Ustrict there are 2,622 pistols or revolvers and 913 shqý'kuns mations on ~ ster at t4e end of :Decemjber 334. Ust year 878 Pcople applied, for licences, to buy: a. fire&=,,, but only 855 of these applicat~ were,,granted». I have quoted these excerpte from varlous sources as further evlUhec of SVAPOle contentions that the situation In South West Africa. Is ext~ ly eåploslve. and, cl«m2ds Mitted NäýIms, Intervention in order ta restore, pea", and PJýévezlt'vKde-apr" destruction of human ehåos'*