The news about the imminent arrival of enemy forces in Eendobe village scared the villagers to the extent that they grew reluctant to bring us food and water. Later, we decided to circle the village to confirm the presence of enemy forces. However, and to our surprise, we were unable to locate their presence or their foot tracks. Later we learnt that the villager who had spread the news about the likely presence of the enemy forces in the village actually intended to frighten us to leave the village. In fact, the source of the news was said to be an enemy collaborator, who was in the habit of spreading rumours to instil fear among the villagers and discourage them from assisting PLAN fighters.
Upon hearing about the enemy collaborator, Commander Kalute called the suspect to hear his side of the story. Cde Sacky and I were entrusted to approach the suspect and bring him to our position. We immediately went to the suspect’s homestead, as ordered, and found him in his hut.
He came out of his hut upon realising that we were there looking for him. He behaved as if he was one of those villagers who fully supported the liberation struggle. He even ordered his wife to give us milk mixed with omahangu flour. His behaviour was suspicious, so we asked the wife to take the milk to our position so that we could eat together with other comrades.
The suspect was not impressed by our suggestion that the wife take the milk to the comrades. He suggested instead that we eat the milk there, as his wife would take a gallon of milk to the other fighters. At that point, Cde Sacky requested the suspect to follow us, as the Commander wanted to talk to him. The suspect complied reluctantly.
The Commander quizzed him about the enemy troops he allegedly saw moving to Eendobe village. The suspect alleged that fellow villagers had accused him of reporting PLAN fighters to the ‘Boers’, though this had never been true. The suspect accused unnamed villagers of reporting him to PLAN fighters so that they could kill him because he owned more cattle than most villagers did.
Despite a lengthy explanation, Cde Kalute told the suspect since we were new in that area, we would not take his explanation at face value, therefore we would closely monitor his activities from then on. Cde Kalute urged the suspect to collaborate with the freedom fighters like other villagers, warning him of serious consequences should there be proof that he was actually working for the ‘Boers’. The suspect was also asked to attend the evening meeting together with other villagers.
While the Commander was talking to the suspect, other villagers arrived in big numbers with all types of traditional food ranging from chickens to sour milk and other produce. I must admit that the turnout of the villagers was impressive to all of us.
Such moral and material support by our mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers provided the necessary lubrication to our just fight for the liberation of our beloved Namibia. Never before had I seen villagers in such high spirits and ready to sacrifice their lives for the liberation of their motherland.
Mr Paulus Shihepo offered to slaughter an ox for us. His offer was, however, postponed to another day, as we could not stay longer in the village. We spent the entire day interacting with the villagers, mainly explaining the aims and objectives of SWAPO and the importance of their assistance.
We also spent time answering myriad questions from the villagers. We found that the enemy had painted an exaggerated picture about PLAN fighters in the area.
Once it was dark, we shifted from our position to the middle of the village so that every villager could attend the political education meeting. It was full moon that day, hence, we were able to see a large area from where we were. The villagers came in big numbers to listen to the revolutionary message. Again the villagers brought us food and water to bath before we started our meeting. At around 23h00, we retired for the night.
We woke up at around 05h00 and at sunrise we continued with our journey to Okawe village, about 17 kilometres south-west of Eendobe village. We approached Okawe from the north.
Two fighters were sent into the nearest homestead to get the latest information about enemy activities in the area. The fighters learnt that the enemy had visited the village two days before.
However, they also brought a request from the villagers that we shift from where we were because we had positioned ourselves in enemy trenches. According to the villagers, the enemy liked to take up positions on that side of the village, hence, we had to position ourselves east of the village, a few metres from Tate Epafulas’s homestead. This area had a thick jungle, which was ideal for guerrilla fighters. After we had positioned ourselves, the Commander ordered two fighters to visit three homesteads to request food.
We also decided to spend the night in that village to carry out political education work, as we had done in all the villagers we had passed through since we entered Namibia. While there we could hear vehicles roaring in the southern direction. We later learnt that the sound could be coming from South Africa soldiers’ trucks at Okongo military base. The sound was irritating and left us ill at ease. Okongo is about 40 km south of Okawe village.
Nevertheless, as the day wore on, some of us came to conclude that the fact that we were about 40 km from the enemy military base meant that we had to be mentally ready to endure enemy activities. Our heavenly morale and strength were anchored in the belief that we had a legitimate cause to shed our blood in the fight for what was rightfully ours. While at Okawe, we were extraordinarily on high alert, as we did not know who among the villagers collaborated with the enemy.
One of our preoccupations was that the enemy trucks could have dropped off foot soldiers near the village without anyone noticing, therefore one comrade was sent up a tree to monitor movements at a distance while two were posted a distance from our position deep in the jungle to detect approaching enemy soldiers.