1979 The Nama Alliance is renamed the Democratic Turnhalle Party (DTP).
The Liberated Democratic Party/Rehoboth Liberation Front (LDP/LF) is formed as a merger of the Rehoboth Democratic Party and the Rehoboth Liberation Front (LF), and later forms (1988) an alliance with the Federal Convention of Namibia (FCN). Diergaardt is the first LDP/LF President.
Hifikepunye Pohamba becomes SWAPO’s Chief of Operations in Luanda.
John Ya Otto leaves Zambia for Luanda. He is Editor-in-Chief of The Namibian Worker, a publication of the NUNW.
Axel Johannes flees the country after years of detention and torture.
Gertrud "Rikumbi" Rikumbirua Kandanga is arrested and detained without trial.
More and more civilians are caught in the pincers between the South Africans and PLAN fighters. Two cases may serve as examples. In both cases civilians are accused and sentenced in terms of the Terrorism Act, No. 83 of 1967 in that they had rendered assistance to a person or persons to be believed to be "terrorists". The one accused is an evangelist of the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOC), one Imene. The other is Alfeus, a shop-owner in Ovamboland.
Nord Mining and Exploration starts the exploitation of tungsten at the Kranzberg Mine (until 1980).
13./22.01. UN Special Representative Martti Ahtisaari again visits Namibia, as well as SA, to discuss the UN independence plan for Namibia in terms of SC Resolution 435.
UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim stipulates 15.03.1979 as the date for a cease-fire on the Namibia- Angola border. SA rejects this date, and insists on the original settlement proposal of 25.04.1978 which provides that PLAN fighters must return without arms through designated entry points to participate peacefully and freely in the political process.
13.02. PLAN attacks the SA army base at Okongo east of Eenhana in the Ohangwena area.
26.02. In S/13120 the Secretary-General outlines UN arrangements for the return of exiles to Namibia, for the restriction and monitoring of SADF and PLAN soldiers, for the gradual withdrawal of the SADF and for the composition of UNTAG.
After the rejection of the Waldheim Plan by the SWA/Namibia Constituent Assembly, the Assembly proposes to the South African Government the establishment of a National Assembly consisting of 50 members with legislative and executive powers.
Early March SA launches an air and ground attack against SWAPO bases in southern Angola.
19.03. With a view to implementing SC Resolution 435, "Proximity Talks" are held in New York with all parties concerned in the dispute (including the African Frontline States), but the talks break down.
April Forty SWAPO leaders are arrested, and SWAPO closes all offices inside the territory (27.04.).
28.04. Tswana Chief Kgosi-kgolo (traditional title) Constance Letang Kgosiemang is sworn in as traditional leader of the Tswana community in Gobabis.
01.05. The South West African Broadcasting Corporation (SWABC) comes into operation in terms of Proclamation A-G 16. In addition to the four radio services broadcasting from Namibia, SWABC in September 1979 introduces the Afrikaans Service.
02.05. The DTA introduces a motion in the Constituent Assembly providing for the establishment of a National Assembly comprised of 50 members of the Constituent Assembly.
04.05. In terms of SA Proclamation No. 85 of 1979 a Central Revenue Fund is created for Namibia.
14.05. In terms of Proclamation AG21 of 1979 the establishment and powers of the National Assembly are outlined.
21.05. The National Assembly is formally opened in Windhoek. From the outset the DTA and SA-appointed Administrator-General try to persuade the NNF and SWAPO-D to join the National Assembly, but both parties sharply decline because they will not become involved in "a neo-colonial plot by South Africa against the people of Namibia". One NNF member party, the FP under Bryan O’Linn, breaks away from the NNF in order to join the National Assembly, but later decides not to join. ACTUR challenges the legitimacy of the National Assembly the minute it passes a bill to abolish racial discrimination.
23.05. Once the National Assembly (with limited legislative powers) has been constituted (21.05.), the SA delegation at the UN is excluded from negotiations in the UN General Assembly, and Sam Nujoma makes a statement before the General Assembly.
27.05. The Roman-Catholic Bishop Rudolf Koppmann rejects the SWAPO liberation movement and also condemns the ecumenical Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) as too political and too friendly to SWAPO.
31.05. SWAPO receives the unequivocal support of the UN General Assembly, which includes military support and the total rejection of the National Assembly.
June SA’s "special operations" unit, Koevoet (crow bar), is founded as an "anti-insurgent" unit by Brigadier Hans Dreyer of the SA Police’s Security Branch. This notorious unit will be responsible for numerous human right abuses in Namibia. Its top echelon comprises battle-hardened veterans of the Rhodesian War, among them Colonels Eugen de Kock and Eric Winter, Captains Sakkie van Zyl and "Beachball" Vorster, Lieutenant Frans Conradie and Warrant Officer Sakkies Greyling.
08.06. Dirk Mudge tables the Abolition of Racial Discrimination Bill in the National Assembly.
13.06. The Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in SWA protests against the bill.
26.06. Following a number of demonstrations against the bill, a bomb is thrown in the Masonic Hall in Windhoek, killing John Rees.
29.06. With angry resistance from ACTUR the bill is passed, and Andrew Kloppers leaves ACTUR in protest. Resentment mounts among certain "whites" in Namibia as racial discrimination is abolished step by step, and various "white" resistance and vigilante groups are formed, such as BLANKSWA (White SWA), the Wit Weerstandsbeweging (White Resistance Movement), the SWA Vroue (SWA Women) and the Eenheidsfront (Unity Front). This bill not only weakens Dirk Mudge and his RP, but also leads to the removal of  Steyn as Administrator-General.
07.08. Marthinus Theunis Steyn leaves Namibia. His successor is Gerrit N Viljoen, Rector of the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit (Rand Afrikaans University) and leader of the "Broederbond" in SA.
11./23.08. James Murray, a representative of the Western Contact Group, visits SA to bring some proposals from Angolan President Agostinho Neto. Among these is a proposal for the creation of a UN-monitored Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) along the Namibia- Angola border, which is seen as a means of breaking the deadlock that has arisen from SWAPO’s demand for internal bases in Namibia. SA is not in favour of the DMZ proposal because it would mean the end of its support for UNITA guerrillas fighting the Angolan MPLA Government in southern Angola.
10.09. Agostinho Neto, Angola’s first President, dies in Moscow. His successor is José Eduardo dos Santos.
01.10. The South West African Broadcasting Corporation (SWABC) establishes the German Radio Service. A month later an English Service is introduced, sharing frequencies with the German Service. Only in 1982 the two services begin broadcasting on alternate evenings, but in 1983 each gets its own channel. In 1981 SWABC introducing a Tswana Service (later Tirelo ya Setswana).
02.10. SA opens a branch of its Public Service Commission in Windhoek, called the Central Personnel Institution, in order to create an independent civil service in the territory. Government departments, several of which are now called "directorates", are transferred back from Pretoria to Windhoek. Exceptions are the Departments of National Security, External Affairs and Excise and Import Duties, as well as the SA Police, SADF, and SA Railways and Harbours.
29.10. SA troops attack southern Angola, destroying parts of the railway line and the road between Lubango and Namibe, as well as the Kunene road bridge at Xangongo and further road bridges between Ondjiva and Lubango.
02.11. The UN Security Council condemns SA’s attack on Angola in SC Resolution 454.
06.11. UN Secretary-General Waldheim invites the SA Government, the Western Five, the Frontline States and SWAPO to attend a conference in Geneva to clarify the DMZ proposal.
12./17.11. After negotiations are stopped in March and resumed in August, and after the Western Five submit new proposals on 02.10., a new "all-party" conference is held under the chairmanship of Brian Urquhart in Geneva, concerning a DMZ in the north. SA does not take part in the conference. Sam Nujoma takes part as do some internal Namibian parties, namely the DTA, the NNF, the FP, SWAPO-D, the Liberal Party and the NCDP, as well as an observer from ACTUR.
20.11. In S/13634 the UN Secretary-General reports to the Security Council that SA continues to find elements of report S/13120 unacceptable.
28.11. After a final agreement is reached between the DTA and ACTUR over the division of functions between the three tiers of government (central, regional and local), the Administrator-General makes proposals to the National Assembly for the creation of "Second-Tier Authorities" with extensive legislative and executive powers. Functions not expressly mentioned in the proposals automatically become functions of the National Assembly and the Administrator-General’s Council.
Mid-December The UN General Assembly again confirms SWAPO as "the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people", and SA is condemned for "obstructing" the UN peace plan. Member countries are asked to support SWAPO’s "armed struggle".

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G Viljoen (New Administrator-General for SWA) at Press Conference: August 1979
Namibia State Archive

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