FLOGGINGS IN NAMIBIA

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33778, 26 February 1975, Page 17

FLOGGINGS IN NAMIBIA

Supreme Court imposes ban (N.Z. Preu An —Copyright) BLOEMFONTEIN. Feb. 25. Floggings ordered by tribal chiefs in South-West Africa for supporters of the antiapartheid South-West Africa People's Organisation have been declared illegal. The appellate division of the South African Supreme Court has ruled that the tribal authorities in the reserve of Ovamboland must not detain or inflict punishment on people suspected of being S.W.A.P. members. The ruling came after an appeal by the Anglican Suffragan Bishop of Damatland (the Rt Rev Richard Wood), Bishop Leonard Avala, of the Lutheran Church, and a mission student, Mr Thomas Komati. In March of last year, the South-West Africa division of the Supreme Court rejected an application by those t’.ree to have public floggings stopped: it held that an individual was not entitled to institute legal proceedings in the interests of the genera] public. Chief Justice Rumpee has ruled: “It would be quite illogical — indeed, fatuous — to insist that the applicants had to stay their hands : until the prospective victims ' were actually apprehended [by the tribal authorities.”