Cassinga survivor recalls harrowing account of survival

Tuutileni Vilho Nekwaya recounted the horrors that took place in the early hours of what was supposed to be another normal day in the refugee camp where majority of the unarmed and untrained students, women, children and elders made their way to the roll call parade where they would be allocated work for the day.

“It was around 07:30 in the morning when we saw a South African military jet fly over the camp as we were headed to the parade.

“Moments later, with our heads still tilted towards the sky in confusion, a squadron of six bomber jets appeared over the camp, and started dropping a variety of murderous weaponry on the innocent civilians below,” Nekwaya shared. This would come to be known as the day we commemorated as Cassinga Day, a moment in our tortured history that resigning many innocent Namibians to an early death on 4 May 1978.” Tuutileni Vilho Nekwaya, who was 16 years old at the time of the attack, remembers hiding in the trenches with wounded soldiers, while they desperately endured the attack while waiting for assistance. “While in the trenches, a soldier was trying to teach me how to operate a machine gun, something I had never seen or touched before,” Nekwaya recalled.

“Fifteen kilometers away, Cuban forces were based at Oshamutete, and were on their way to assist the soldiers and civilians at the refugee camp, but hit an anti-tank mine that killed 20 Cuban forces that day,” Nekwaya shared.

“After the Cubans arrived to help us save the lives of our women, children and elders from the South African forces, we went to another trench where we found a battery (ZU23) that was critical for combating the fighter jets of the enemy force,” Nekwaya said.

In the camp, Nekwaya who was just another one of the many untrained young Namibians at the camp, remembers a man that they called Epalla in the camp, a commander whose crew was instrumental in trying to neutralise the explosive shells, grenades and gas that rained down from the air that fateful morning.

Men in Epalla's regiment were injured severely and some even lost their lives, Nekwaya further narrated.

Nekwaya remembers in great detail the nightmare that unfolded when the South African forces entered the camp.

In one instance Nekwaya remembers South African soldiers stabbing civilians with knives, and where they would get struck in the body, the civilians would be shot to make the removal of the knife easier.

“I am because I took cover under three dead bodies, and they [SA forces] did not notice that I was there, ending up just passing by me,” Nekwaya recounted.

The morning the attack started the South African forces had landed helicopters on the ground at the camps, near the parade where the civilians gathers, and as they plundered the population the camp, the helicopters loaded wounded South African forces, as well as taking aboard arrested Namibian soldiers.

“While all of this was happening, there were journalists there that were taking pictures while the South African forces surrounded the remaining members of the camp,” Nekwaya said.

“Comrade Paulina Kautondokwa and I were called by one of the South African Special Forces, not knowing what might come of it.

“When we got there, we were handed a baby that was taken from her mother's, who has been shot in the head and died.

“Paulina and I took the baby to the surviving members, and we can report that the baby survived and is a well-known Namibian figure today.

“Her name is Ndinelago Mulukeni is there is an iconic photo of her being held by Founding father Sam Nujoma that was taken some time after the attack,” Nekwaya further shared.

Nekwaya said that throughout the attack, a lot of the students did not know what to do, or how to defend themselves, as “most of us were just students from Onamulenge and Odibo schools.”

Scared that his life might not be spared again, Nekwaya, made a run for it while South African forces shot at him.

“Luckily none of the bullets hit me and after running some distance I fund a trench where I met Commander Mbolondondo and Newaka. Mbolondondo had an AK-47 while Newaka was carrying a pistol. We stayed in that trench with goats and other animals until 18:00 that evening, as the attack continued,” he recalled.

After Nekwaya left the dugout, they found Cuban forces assisting the surviving and injured, where Nekwaya and others immediately joined to offer relief and care for their fellow Namibians.

Although the soldiers and the people in the camp did not necessarily understand each other, they were all helping injured people in tandem until 06h00 the next morning, Nekwaya shared.

The following morning, on 5 May 1978, Nekwaya and a couple others decided to leave the camp and cross the river so that they could go look for help as most of his colleagues in the camp were injured.

While crossing the river, a boy was washed away, and with the other boys with no knowledge the boy was washed down the river.

Although Nekwaya helped save the boy with the assistance of nearby, but injured soldiers, there were many other lives lost on that day, something that will forever give meaning to the term “their blood waters our freedom.”

NAMENE HELMICH