Episcopal Press and News
South Africa Expels Namibian Church Leaders
Episcopal News Service. July 27, 1978 [78204]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Three church people, including the Anglican vicar-general and his wife have been expelled from Namibia (Southwest Africa) in the wake of a strong condemnation by Namibian Anglicans of the administration by the government of South Africa.
The Rev. Edward Morrow, Anglican vicar-general; his wife, Ms. Laureen Morrow; and the Rev. Heinz Hunke, provincial superior of the Roman Catholic Order of Mary Immaculate were today directed to leave Namibia within 7 days by South African administrator general Marthinus Steyn.
The action came after the Western members of the United Nations Security Council announced that there was agreement to proceed to the Security Council as a step toward settlement of the three-decade dispute over independence for Namibia.
Namibia is an International Territory, the lawful authority over which is the United Nations, but which is administered and occupied by the South African regime.
These latest deportations follow the Anglican Church of Namibia's declaration, "The Freedom To Be Free," an exceptionally strong condemnation of South Africa's rule in Namibia. It cites Pretoria's perperations since Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes Vorster announced in April that he accepts the Western proposals: the buildbuild-up of troops and weapons in the occupied territory, the country-wide detention of leaders of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), the South African Defense Force's "barbaric attack" on a SWAPO refugee camp deep in neighboring Angola, and South Africa's registration of voters in Nambia without UN approval or control. The church statement says the Western proposals have been by-passed by these actions.
The two priest and Ms. Morrow were ordered from Namibia under the Undesirables Removal Proclamation, which has repeatedly been used by Pretoria to rid itself of dissidents in the Territory - among them Anglican Bishop Colin O'Brien Winter in 1972 and Bishop Richard Wood and his American wife, Ms. Cathleen Wood, in 1975. Pretoria has over the last 15 years ejected several dozen church personnel, including Anglican Bishop Robert H. Mize, an American citizen who was Bishop Winter's predecessor in Namibia.
Fr. Hunke was co-publisher of Torture -- A Cancer in Our Society issued in January in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, and at once suppressed by Judge Steyn who denied torture was being practiced by the South African forces. Fr. Hunke is a West German national.
Fr. and Ms. Morrow, both South Africans, went to Namibia in 1971 and set up a church-owned not for profit construction company which gave professional training to and provided jobs for Africans. He was ordained priest in June 1975 and made vicar-general by Bishop Winter - then and still the Bishop of Namibia although in exile - in the wake of Bishop Wood's deportation.
Fr. Morrow's deportation occurs just as Namibia's new Suffragan Bishop James Hamupanda Kauluma arrived to assume his duties in his nation. Bishop Kauluma is accompanied by his American wife, Ms. Sally Kauluma, and their 9-month old daughter Nangula Taupeua. Ms. Kauluma's permit is obly for three months.