We flew to Oshakati in the North at first light on Tuesday 30 May, accompanied by Dr Abisai Shejavali, the General Secretary of the CCN, the Rev Brian Brown, Africa Secretary of the British Council of Churches, and Roger Clark, of the British Liaison Office in Namibia.

Dr Shejavali took us to the village of Endola and introduced us to the Lutheran pastor, who is one of his former pupils. Pastor Thomas Shanyengange, a young man of exceptional character and ability, was in the middle of a meeting with local headmen, [whom] he had summoned to discuss how the villages in the district would cope with, and protect, the returning refugees. The pastor had only 30 minutes warning we were coming … Because we were accompanied by Dr Shejavali, the elders were prepared to talk to us and we had a lively discussion.

The elders told us that the Koevoet (the counter-insurgency unit in the security forces – now incorporated into the police) were still visiting their homesteads in Casspirs (armoured vehicles) and that the people were very intimidated by them. The Koevoet came by night as well as by day … There were some 40 headmen present. We asked how many of them had at some time been beaten up by the Koevoet. 26 people got to their feet. Many of them showed us the scars, which they still bore. […] The most serious incident which we were able to verify happened between 7 and 9 am on the morning of Sunday 30 April, outside a homestead a few miles from the village of Endola. An Evangelist aged 67 was beaten by the Koevoet. Three young men were [then] forced to dig holes in the sand. They were then buried head first in the holes which they had dug. The Koevoet filled the holes with sand until the men were nearly suffocating. The young men were then pulled out and beaten. This process was repeated more than once. A fourth boy, aged 18, was forced to watch. The Evangelist is a member of SWAPO. He has been detained by the police on five occasions. […]

We were then introduced to his son, who was the 18-year-old who had witnessed the incident and told us what he had seen.