150, ROUTE DE FERNEY P.O. BOX No. 66 1211 GENEVA 20 @ TELEPHONE (022) 916111 * TELEX: 23423 OIK CH e CABLE: OIKOUMENE GENEVA

150, ROUTE DE FERNEY P.O. BOX No. 66 1211 GENEVA 20 @ TELEPHONE (022) 916111 * TELEX: 23423 OIK CH e CABLE: OIKOUMENE GENEVA DIRECT DIAL: (022) 91 ...... PROGRAMME UNIT ON JUSTICE AND SERVICE COMMISSION ON THE PROGRAMME TO COMBAT RACISM ACTION GRAM NAMIBIAz LEADING SWAPO-PEOPLE ARRESTED, TRADE UNIONS UNDER ATTACK On the eve of the 21st anniversary of NAMIBIA-DAY (26 August), leading internal SWAPO members as well as Trade Unionists were arrested under the country's notorious 'Terrorism Act'. They include acting Vice President Rev. Hendrik Witbooi (also an Elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church), the Deputy National chairman Daniel Tjongarero (Communications Officer of the Council of Churches in Namibia), and the Assistant Secretary for Foreign Affairs Mr. Nico Bessinger. The arrested Trade Unionists are Mr. Alphons John Pandeni (Secretary General of the Namibia Food and Allied Union, NAFAU) and Mr. Anton Lubowski (treasurer of the National Union of Namibian Workers, NUNW and a prominent white SWAPO-member). They were taken in the evening of 18 August. Many other SWAPO and trade union officials were detained overnight. The clampdown has been described as the biggest since 1979 and its target was the internal leadership of SWAPO. The law under which they have been arrested does not allow them to contact family members or a lawyer before charges have been brought against them. There is great concern about the health of the detained SWAPO leaders who are in ill-health and especially Mr. Tjongarero who is seriously ill with a kidney problem. He is on medication and was before his arrest undergoing specialist's treatment. At the same time, offices of the Liberation Movement as well as the Trade Unions and the Namibian National Students' Organisation throughout the country were searched. Since more than three weeks, 4000 workers at the three copper-mines of the Tsumeb Corporation Ltd. (in Tsumeb, Kombat, Otjihase) in Northern Namibia are on strike for higher pay, better working conditions and paid vacation. The company dismissed the striking workers and ordered their eviction from the hostels at the mines. However, pending a court case brought by the union against this decision, workers are still staying there. Tsumeb Corporation is owned by the British firm Consolidated Goldfields (which owns 46% of the shares through its subsidiary, Goldfields of South Africa) and the United States based Newmont Mining Corporation. Tsumeb Corp. has refused to recognise the Mine Workers Union. The mineworkers' strike marks the last one in a row of increasing militancy of the Namibian workers and protest against the working conditions under the apartheid colonial system. The Tsumeb workers represent about a fourth of all Namibian mineworkers and solidarity strikes in other mines are very likely.

There is no doubt that the South African government has to take the ultimate responsibility for these attacks on the liberation movement SWAPO and other democratic organisations. These are but attempts by the South African puppets in Namibia to silence the growing opposition against its rule there and the people's call for independence. It is assumed that through these actions, the regime is trying to silence possible actions on the occasion of NAMIBIA-DAY, and opposition to the planned ethnic elections later in the year. These plans have already been greeted by widespread condemnation from various quarters in the country. This is yet another way by which South Africa is trying to bypass the implementation of UN Resolution 435 (1978) which provides for the holding of UN-supervised elections in Namibia. We urge you to undertake the following actions. The PCR has received an appeal from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South West Africa (Rhenish Mission) to send immediate messages of protest concerning the case of the Tsumeb workers to the South African Adminsitrator General in Namibia and to the officials of Tsumeb Mining Corp. as well as their parent firms in Great Britain and the United States. We encourage you to take up this appeal. Send messages of protest concerning the detention of the leading SWAPO and trade union people to the South African President P. Botha (Tlx No. 320 433 sa). Send copies of your actions to the Council of Churches in Namibia, CCN (Tlx No. 3107 wk). Make the case of the detained people known in your church and your country. Please pray for those arrested, for their safety and their immediate release. Please pray also for the mineworkers and for all those in the country struggling against the colonial rule. Organise events which will help inform people about the situation in Namibia. This is particularly important since there is almost a total blackout about the developments in the country. Raise support for SWAPO, the sole and authentic representative of the people in Namibia. Inform about and publicize Resolution 435 which is the only and internationally recognized way towards indepedence for Namibia. Some of you were also at the Lusaka Meeting in May this year and heard the moving accounts/reports of the Namibian delegates there. We repeat the call from the Lusaka Statement to strengthen the churches' contacts with the liberation movements. We would appreciate very much your keeping us informed about any possible actions you are undertaking. Yours in the struggle, PCR Staff August 21, 1987