Iuze Mukube

Like the opening scene of a gripping action movie, the Caprivi treason saga unfolded in the early hours of 2 August 1999, when armed men descended on Katima Mulilo, attacking police stations, military installations and other State institutions in what would become one of the most consequential security crises in Namibia’s post-independence history.

Armed with weapons, the attackers stormed facilities in and around the town, leaving people dead, others injured and State property damaged. The attackers targeted the Katima Mulilo Police Station, Mpacha military base, Katonyana police base, Wanela Border Post, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation offices and other sites.

According to the State’s case, the violence was the culmination of a secessionist campaign by people seeking to remove the then Caprivi region from Namibia and establish it as a separate entity or country.

The alleged movement had an armed wing, the Caprivi Liberation Army, and the events of that morning would set in motion a criminal case that would stretch across decades.

Marathon 

With that in mind, let us look at what followed: the prolonged battle in court, during which allegations of treason, murder, torture, disputed confessions, years of pre-trial detention and questions surrounding the constitutional rights of the accused would take centre stage in one of the biggest cases in Namibia’s young justice system.

What was the Caprivi conflict about?

It is reported that the objective, was to ultimately achieve the goal of separating Caprivi from Namibia, by any means necessary. The Supreme Court later described the case as involving a conspiracy in which people allegedly met inside and outside Namibia, recruiting members, sought military training and obtained weapons in preparation for the secession attempt.

Turning point

According to court documents, the crisis reportedly came to a head in the early hours of 2 August 1999. The armed men allegedly attacked several government and security installations in Katima Mulilo, including the town’s police station, NBC offices, police bases, a military base, border post and a Bank Windhoek branch. The attacks supposedly resulted in the killings of eight innocent persons, with reports of the death including six soldiers and police officers, the injury of 91 others and the destruction of property. However, the movement was supposedly short-lived, with the Namibian government responding promptly by deploying the Namibian Defence Force and other law-enforcement units against the insurgents. A State of Emergency was declared in the region at the time by Founding President Sam Nujoma.

More than 100 people would eventually find themselves before the courts, with 121 men standing trial in the main case on a staggering 278 charges. The charges included high treason, murder, attempted murder, sedition, public violence, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and several other offences. At the heart of the State’s case was the allegation that the accused persons had been part of a planned and organised attempt to use force to challenge the authority of the Namibian government in the Caprivi, with the ultimate objective of seceding the region from Namibia. What followed would become a legal battle spanning years, as the State sought to prove the extent of each accused person’s alleged involvement in the secessionist plot.

After nearly 12 years of proceedings, High Court Judge Elton Hoff finally brought the main trial to head with the delivery of his verdict. Of the 121 men who had stood trial before him in October 2003, 30 were convicted, while 79 escaped convictions on the main treason-related charges. Of the 79 men not found guilty, 44 were reported to have been discharged of the charges at the close of the prosecution’s case, while 35 were found not guilty at the time the 30 accused persons were convicted. Three of those acquitted of high treason were reported to have nevertheless been found guilty of violating Namibia’s immigration laws after they were found to have crossed the country’s border through undesignated entry and exit points.

For those convicted, however, following their sentencing in late 2015, the end of the High Court proceedings was not the end of the legal battle. The 30 men later turned to the Supreme Court, challenging their convictions and sentences.

For many of the accused, years had passed, 16 years to be exact, behind prison walls before the court finally determined whether they had been involved in the alleged conspiracy to violently secede the former Caprivi region from Namibia.

Accused 

Among the better-known figures to stand trial was the late Geoffrey Mwilima, a former member of the National Assembly. The case, however, went beyond a single political figure and involved men who were alleged to have been members, soldiers or supporters of CLA.

The 30 men ultimately convicted on the treason-related charges included Mwilima; John Samboma, described as a commander of the secessionist CLA; Bennet Mutuso, another leading figure in the CLA; Thaddeus Ndala; former teachers Aggrey Makendano, Martin Tubaundule, Bollen Mwilima, and Kester Kabunga; former police officers Postrick Mwinga, Mathews Sasele, and Matheus Pangula, Alfred Siyata; Charles Mainga, Bernard Maungolo Jojo, Victor Masiye Matengu, Alfred Tawana Matengu, Richard Mundia, Chika Adour Mutalife, Rodwell Sihela Mwanabwe, Kingsley Mwiya Musheba, Raphael Lifumbela, Chris Ntaba, Saviour Tutalife Fabian Simiyasa, Richard Misuha; Albert Mangilazi, Osbert Likanyi, Moses Kayoka, Charles Mushakwa and John Panse Lubilo.

Three other men who were acquitted of high treason but nevertheless convicted of offences under Namibia’s immigration laws for crossing the country’s international borders without passing through designated entry or exit points included George Kasanga, Oscar Muyuka Puteho and George Liseho. Kasanga and Puteho had been in custody since August 1999 and had spent more than 16 years behind bars by the time the verdict was delivered in 2015. Liseho, who was arrested in March 2000, had spent about 15 and a half years in prison by then.

The convicted men took the matter to the Supreme Court, challenging both their reduced their effective prison terms by three years. The five men who had initially received 18-year sentences therefore saw their terms reduced to 15 years each. The 13 men sentenced to 15 years for their role as CLA soldiers had their terms reduced to 12 years each, while the effective 10-year sentences imposed on eight supporters of the secession plan and Adour Mutalife Chika, who had been 19 years old at the time of the attacks and his arrest,

The second trial

There was not only one Caprivi treason trial but two. A separate group of accused persons went through what became known as the second Caprivi High Treason trial. These seven men were eventually convicted in that trial and sentenced in October 2024, and this included Progress Munuma, Shine Samulandela, Manuel Makendano, Alex Mushakwa, Frederick Ntambilwa, Hoster Ntombo and John Tembwe. They were found guilty on charges of high treason, the unauthorised importation of weapons into Namibia, and the supply and possession of weapons, unlawful possession of ammunition, and contraventions of Namibia’s immigration legislation in July 2024. It is reported that the seven men had gone through an earlier trial between 2005 and 2007 and were subsequently sentenced to lengthy prison terms of either 32 or 30 years at the end of that trial. They went on to serve six years of that sentence. However, following an appeal against their convictions in the Supreme Court in July 2013, their convictions were set aside and sent back for a retrial, which eventually took place in June 2014.

In October 2024, at the end of the second trial, the seven men were convicted and sentenced. By that time, they had been in custody for more than 20 years. Munuma, described as a leader of a separatist organisation that operated in the former region between 1998 and the end of 2003, was sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment, of which 10 years are suspended. Five of the accused, Samulandela, Mushakwa, Ntambilwa, Ntombo and Tembwe were each sentenced to 20 years, of which eight years were suspended. The court described the five as supporters and sympathisers of the secessionist movement. Makendano, on the other hand, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, of which five years were suspended. In October 2025, the seven sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the conviction and sentence. By November 2025, five of them obtained leave to appeal their sentences, which included Munuma, Samulandela, Makendano, Mushakwa and Ntombo. The applications for Ntambilwa and Tembwe were found to be defective, failing to comply with court rules in respect of their request to be allowed to appeal. On their conviction, the court reportedly found that the seven of them took part in the activities of a separatist organisation in the Zambezi region, then known as the Caprivi region, from September 1988 to December 2003, and that they were involved in plans to take up arms against the government in the region.

Timeline

1999: armed Caprivi secessionist attacks take place in Katima Mulilo on 2 August 1999. A State of emergency is declared, followed by large-scale arrests.

1999-2002: Investigations, arrests and preliminary proceedings continue.

2002: The Supreme Court deals with legal representation of treason suspects.

2003: Main High Court trial begins.

2005-2007: A separate group of Caprivi accused undergoes the first trial, known as the second Caprivi treason trial.

2010-2011: The High Court conducts extensive trials-within-trials over statements, confessions and pointing-outs.

2013: Supreme Court sets aside convictions of the seven later involved in the second Caprivi treason trial.

2014: Retrial of that second group begins.

2015: Judge Elton Hoff delivers judgement in the main trial, 30 convicted and 79 acquitted. In December, the 30 men are sentenced.

2016: Appeals against convictions and State challenge concerning some acquittals begin.

2019: State’s attempt to pursue appeal against certain acquittals is rejected.

2021: The Supreme Court dismisses the appeal against the convictions of 27 men but reduces sentences.

2024: Seven men convicted in the second Caprivi treason trial and subsequently sentenced.

2025: Five of the second-trial convicts obtain leave to appeal their sentences.