IN August 1985, I went to Grootfontein by minibus via Tsumeb. When I got there, I went to Matheus’ house. Matheus was the owner of a house where we slept when we passed through Grootfontein on our way to Lüderitz with Cde Nanyemba in February 1985. Matheus knew that I was a PLAN fighter. He was familiar with PLAN fighters because he had worked with them for sometime in the northern part of the country. I had some trust in him, therefore I had little reason to worry about his competence to protect and assist me whenever necessary in executing my assignment in Grootfontein.
My visit to Grootfontein was meant to identify possible candidates for cultivation and recruitment into future urban units, create supporting in that area and, if time allowed, to familiarise myself with the military infrastructure there.
Gootfontein was fully militarised, therefore it was not a playing field for learners. One had to know exactly how to go about one’s trade, as there was no room for messing up. Every third house in the location housed either a soldier or a family member of someone working for the enemy security forces.
Thus, whatever I had to do had to be done in an organised way. The garrison town was heavily infested with enemy collaborators, so I decided to move slowly in everything I wanted to do.
Matheus was fully briefed and warned never to discuss my connection to the liberation movement, SWAPO, with anyone no matter how close that person was to him. Fortunately, Matheus’ wife was in Ovamboland at that time. He only had a school-going boy, who used to attend classes every morning, therefore the risk of being suspected and reported to the local security agents was minimal.
Being a lone operator meant that I had to rely on my own judgement and skills, as there was nobody I could approach for advice on how to go about executing my assignments. My success entirely depended on my integrity, skills, mental strength, endurance, and above all how I applied my craft knowing that the moment I messed up, the entire operation would end in failure.
However, as a committed freedom fighter and seasoned operative, I knew what to do to ensure the success of that operation. I owed the success of the mission to myself. This project was new and needed to be sustained by those involved in its execution, so its survival was entirely dependent on my ability to create a plausible story to hide my actual activities. I found myself operating in an area infested with security agents, yet I was to carry my assignment with dignity and selflessness.
Since I joined the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia in 1977 and fought many battles against enemy forces, I never dreamt of seeing an independent Namibia, yet I did not lose focus on assignments given to me by my commanders and the entire movement. What motivated me then was my desire to see Namibia and its people fully liberated from colonialism at all cost.
In Gootfontein, I spent a lot of the time interacting with people of interest – people that in my own judgment could be developed into future urban fighters in the Grootfontein area, and elsewhere in the urban centres across the country.
I also spent much of my time identifying vulnerable targets for future attacks by my unit. These were my primary preoccupations in Grootfontein. I had interacted directly with some residents of the town, including enemy collaborators who obviously did not know who I was.
I was not supposed to keep myself hostage in the house, as my task was to work with people. Neither was I to create a comfort zone for myself in the town, as that would constitute a betrayal to the liberation struggle.
As far as I was concerned, mine was a practical assignment that required practical implementation. I needed to see and to be seen within the community of the town because that was the only way I could separate the beans from the stalks in a studious manner.
I visited the entrance of the Grootfontein military base twice where I studied the security arrangements and procedures of entering the base. Another area of interest was to learn how the base was protected from outside – barbed wire and sandbags placed on top of earth mounds, as well as spotlights and watchtowers, were part of the security arrangements around the base.
The last time I visited the base, I had an opportunity to talk to one soldier who was standing a distance from the entrance waiting for transport. This soldier appeared innocent and he was either sick or had lost interest in serving in the force. I introduced myself to him as a job seeker who was interested in joining the security forces. He responded by asking whether I wanted to go and die, as SWAPO ‘terrorists’ were killing people on a daily basis.
He also advised me to go inside the base to meet the commanders as he was not the one who employed people in the army. As he talked to me, I realised that that soldier was either tired of the war or had lost hope of defeating PLAN fighters.
When I asked him whether I would be allowed to pass through the entrance of the base, he advised me to get another job rather than join the army. I left him there waiting for his transport.
However, what I learnt was that the bullets of PLAN fighters were biting to the bone to an extent that a racist colonial government soldier had decided to talk a member of the public out of joining the army. I left the base after learning a few things about the security vulnerability of the base.
I had observed many people passing through the entrance without being searched and trucks also passing without being subjected to any search. This was one of the largest military bases in colonised Namibia, with thousands of troops and jet fighters housed there. I spent more than four weeks in Grootfontein interacting with many people. I had interest. I did pay special attention to those people that I considered likely candidates for recruitment into future urban units and those that could serve as part of the supporting network. Although I did not start the recruitment exercise that time, I had done a lot of groundwork for future considerations during follow-up visits.
I left the town happy with what I had achieved in such a short period. I was also optimistic that come February 1986, I would once again be able to build on what I had achieved. Upon arrival in Ovamboland, I want to Enolyexaya village to rest after a hectic trip to Grootfontein. While at Enolyexaya, I thought of building my own homestead at one of the nearby villages south of Enolyexaya where the enemy rarely conduced patrols. I needed a permanent address to back up my cover story whatever I went. This address had to be in an area where residents did not suspect me to be a ‘terrorist’, yet they knew who I was. The strategy of building my own homestead was that in the event that the enemy arrested me, I would be able to use that address knowing that even if taken there villagers would be able to say I was from there.
My strategy was that once I built my homestead, I would then have to marry someone who was not familiar with my real assignment and connection to the liberation movement.
Although this was one of the options I was encouraged to follow once I fully established myself inside Namibia, I felt that there was still a need for this plan to be formally approved by the leadership at the Provincial Headquarters in Lubango, or elsewhere within the movement’s top hierarchy.
This assignment needed a credible, plausible cover story and infrastructure capable of withstanding enemy probes on my personal particulars and addresses whenever that need arose in the future. It would be foolish and unprofessional of me to use addresses where nobody knew me. My long-term survival would thus be based on what to say whenever approached by the enemy security forces wherever they met me – at a roadblock, stopped or arrested, whichever.
On December 15, 1985, I went to meet Cde Mupupa as arranged earlier on at Oshipumbu sho Mugongo. He arrived at our rendezvous three days ahead of the meeting. This time he was in civilian clothes. After we greeted each other and shared preliminary views on the prevailing security situation in the area, he later took me to a house where he was accommodated. I did not know the owner of that house, but he told me that it belonged to an old man who had always been a supporter of SWAPO. Cde Mupupa had operated in the area during the early 1980s, hence, he knew many people in the village. After we settled in a small hut deep inside the homestead, we started briefing each other on various issues concerning our mission.
He started briefing me about the political and security situation in Angola, and later passed the message from the leadership at the Provincial Headquarters in Lubango. Later, I briefed him on the progress made regarding my assignment and setbacks encountered since our last meeting in Angola.
After I briefed him on how I had acquired an identification card, he indicated that my last proposal for the purchasing of two minibuses was approved in principle. He further indicated that he would bring the required money to our next meeting. Cde Mupupa also explained to me in detail the expectations of the leadership, urging me to spend more time in the central part of the country, as the situation in the northern part of the country was not safe as Peter Michael and others were looking for me at roadblocks and elsewhere in the militarised zone.
We were all happy with progress that had been made in the execution of the assignment within a short time. The only thing left was to identify people who would drive the two minibuses. Identifying potential drivers was left in my hands before our next meeting.
The month of December 1985 witnessed yet a milestone in the intensification of military activities, as the enemy forces tried to prevent PLAN fighters from infiltrating into Namibia during the rainy season. Because of these increased military activities in the area, I decided once again to shelve my plan to travel to the central part of the country until the situation improved.
Security forces set up checkpoints from Oshakati to Oshivelo and beyond in an attempt to catch PLAN fighters using public roads; hence it was not safe for me to move in that area knowing that the enemy security agents were looking for me.
I stayed in the south-west of Ondangwa shuffling from one village to another to avoid detection by enemy informers.
There were minimal enemy security patrols in areas south of Ondangwa, so it was the ideal place for me to hide. At the end of April 1986, I decided to return to Walvis Bay to continue with my assignment. I had done a lot during my first visit to Walvis Bay, in terms of establishing a reliable supporting network and developing potential candidates for recruitment and eventually training them to become urban fighters.