The Windhoek Location

XV. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE FOURTH COMMITTEE
1567. The Windhoek Location

The General Assembly, Having received a report from the Committee on South West Africa with respect to disturbances in the Windhoek Native Location relating to the removal of the Location residents to a new site called Katutura[1] Noting with regret that the construction of the new Location at Katutura is part of the plan laid down by the present Prime Minister in his former capacity as Minister of Native Affairs to the effect that Native Locations in urban areas, based on the policy of apartheid, must be situated in such a manner that a permanent "buffer strip of at least 500 yards" on which "no development at all is allowed" is maintained "between the Native residential area and that of any other racial group",[2] Observing with deep concern that on the night of 10 to 11 December 1959, after repeated expressions of opposition by Location residents to their removal had failed to obtain the sympathetic consideration of officials of the Mandatory Power, police and soldiers opened fire on a crowd of Location residents, killing eleven Africans and injuring at least forty-four others, Noting the report transmitted to the United Nations by the Government of the Union of South Africa[3] concerning an inquiry into the events in Windhoek Location on 10 to 11 December 1959, and the direct causes which gave rise thereto, Taking into account the additional information contained in the report of the Committee on South West Africa and in oral and written petitions from inhabitants of the Territory, Noting also the many protests received by the Committee during 1959 in petitions and communications against the impending removal to the new Location site on the grounds, inter alia, that the removal was part of the intensified application of the apartheid policy, Considering that the apartheid policy applied in South West Africa is contrary to the terms of the Mandate, the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Considering further that the application of the apartheid policy, of which the occurrences in Windhoek have been an unfortunate consequence, is prejudicial to the maintenance of a peaceful and orderly administration in the Mandated Territory,

1. Expresses deep regret at the action taken by the police and soldiers in the Windhoek Native Location on the night of 10 to 11 December 1959 against residents of the Location, resulting in the death of eleven Africans and many other casualties;

2. Deplores the fact reported by petitioners that the Mandatory Power has employed such means as deportations, dismissals from employment, threats of such action and other methods of intimidation to secure the removal of residents of the Windhoek Location to Katutura despite the continued opposition of the residents to their removal;

3. Notes with deep concern that the situation remains critical;

4. Urges the Mandatory Power to refrain from the use of direct or indirect force to secure the removal of Location residents;

5. Requests the Mandatory Power to take steps to prosecute and punish the civilian and military officers responsible for the death of eleven Africans and many other casualties in the Windhoek Native Location on the night of 10 to 11 December 1959, and to provide adequate compensation to the families of the victims;

6. Draws the attention of the Mandatory Power to the recommendations of the Committee on South West Africa concerning the measures which should be taken to alleviate the tension and unrest in the Windhoek area, and in particular to the recommendation that housing developments in urban areas of the Territory should be carried out in accordance with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned.

954th plenary meeting,
18 December 1960.

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[1] Ibid., Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/4464), paras. 138-229. [2] Union of South Africa, Senate Debates, 1956, No. 15, cols. 3884 and 3885. [3] For the text of the report, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/ 4464), annex V.