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Ida! News Notes

Ida! News Notes

i. d. a.! news notes

Published by the United States Committee of the International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern Africa P.O. Box 17, Cambridge, MA 02238 October, 1984 ~~ "No Peace Without Justice" by Dean T. Simon Farisani

On June 21, 1984, the Reverend T. Simon Farisani testified at ajoint hearing of 1982. My ear drums had been perforated.I.4:tad-woUilds orr-my knees the Congressional Subcommittees on Human Rights and Foreign Affairs. The and my whole body was swollen from the torture. After 106 days in hearing, which was also addressed by Elliott Abrams, the Assistant Secretary of the hospital, I was released onJune 11982. I was later hospitalized for State for Human Rights, and by Kenneth Carstens, the Executive Director of further treatment and most recently had an operation last March on UJAFIUSA, was convened to examine the state ofhuman rights in Zaire and my vocal cords. It is a miracle that I am now generally fine except for . Dean Farisani's statement at the hearing is given below. (For Mr. slight pains. Carstens'testimony, please see the August issue ofiOAF News Notes.) Two other pastors and myself brought a civil damages claim against I speak for millions when I ask the United States government to do the government for the torture we suffered in incommunicado all it can to insure that South Africa no longer merely pretend to be a detention. The suit was settled out of court March 5,1984. democracy, when the vast majority of its population is not allowed to Throughout all of this, several international organizations played a vote. I speak for millions when I ask you to use your influence to vital role in protesting the treatment I received. Without their support pressure South Africa to stop the torture and imprisonment of my chances for survival would have been nil. Representatives of the prisoners of conscience. International Committee of the Red Cross visited me in the hospital I am a Dean of the Evangelical [Lutheran] Church in South Africa and complained to the government about the abuse I'd suffered. and my district includes the "homeland" of . I was leader of the German and United States churches communicated their concern and Church and had just completed a sermon, when I was arrested March support. Amnesty International also took action on my behalf and 13,1977. For the next 93 days I was kept in incommunicado detention some of their letters actually reached me in the hospital. Knowing we with no charges ever brought against me. Of course, Iwas imprisoned are not alone in our struggle strengthens the courage and because Iwas a pastor who spoke out against . Day after day I determination of myself and my people. wore the same filthy clothes as Isat alone in a wet, stinking, filthy cell. The German and United States governments also sent letters of They beat me, hung me upside down, made me sit for hours in what is protest to the South African government. Since my release from called "the imaginary chair." I could not close my ears to the screams of prison, the United States Embassy has visited me regularly. others being tortured nearby. All of this has no doubt provided me with a protection the majority of apartheid opponents do not have. . d A few months after my release I was imprisoned again from Octo­ contInue on page 2 ber 21,1977 toJanuary 21, 1978. This time I was not alone. The others were school inspectors, magistrates, and other influential people who were said to be creating an atmosphere for rebellion. At one point 17 of us shared a small cell. There was no physical torture this time, but Mankekolo Ngcobo Honored conditions were foul. The only drinking water we had came from the . . ~'~ Ms. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ngcobo, toilet. \: \i a South African exile and a longtime The third and last of my detentions was the worst. 20 people were member of IDAF's Speakers Bureau, arrested on November 18, 1981, shortly after the bombing of several was honored at a national conference of police stations. I had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing and the African-American Women's Polit­ they knew it, but it was a golden opportunity for discipline. They tor­ ical Caucus. The conference, which tured us brutally. In the first day one man died from the abuse. They convened at Morgan State University banged my head against the wall, beat me up, kicked my private parts. in Baltimore on A~gust9, presented her They used sticks and chains to hit me. They applied electric shock. with an award in recognition of her con­ Two weeks after the shock I suffered a heart attack. A week later a tribution to the struggle for liberation in second. After a third heartattack, they hospitalized me on February 19, Southern Africa_ Similar awards were also bestowed on Mrs. lOAF Welcomes New Trustees and on two members of the People's Organization lOAF/USA's Annual General Meeting was held on September 27. We Mankekolo Ngcobo (SWAPO). are happy to announce that two new members have joined our Board of Trustees: Bishop John B. Coburn of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, The conference was addressed by, among others, Dorothy and Professor Willard Johnson of MlT. Height, the President of the National Council of Negro Women. "No Peace Without Justice" continued from page 1 1 strongly urge that the United States government denounce the practices of torture and incommunicado detention in South Africa. Embassies and consulates should make it their business to get the real facts about the inhumane treatment of prisoners, instead of accepting the government's lies. The United States should increase its contact with .victims in order to protect them against further abuse. Your New Books Available from lOAF governmentshould insure that the UnitedStates notexportequipment used in torture. It is crucial that your government place more emphasis South Africa at War by Richard Leonard traces the history of black on human rights in determining foreign policy. resistance to apartheid, documents South Africa's military and financial Torture and other human rights involvement in Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, and , and violations are part of a persistent evaluates the impact on South African citizens of the "garrison state" nightmare in South Africa. They will mentality. not be done away with as long as pub. 1983, Lawrence Hiil & Co. apartheid demands draconian practices 280 pp., $12.50 paper to survive. To abolish torture we must abolish apartheid. There can be no , peace without justice. The non-white Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation by Alfred Moleah details the his­ population is allowed 13 percent of the tory of the Namibian people's resistance to German colonialism and land. About 14 percent of the popula­ South African domination from 1884 to 1983, and discusses the Reagan tion is white and they have 87 percent Administration's impact on Namibia's efforts toward independence. of the land-because they are the ones (See the review in the December 1983 issue of IDAF News Notes.) who vote. South Africa is not a democracy. You must support us in pub. 1983, Disa Press becoming one. 341 pp., $10.00 paper $20.00 hardcover We are hopeful. We cannot afford not to be optimistic. One day things will be right. Change will come. How it T. Simon Farisani will come remains up to the govern- ment.

BREAKFAST IN

AndNight Fell: Memoirs ofa Political Prisoner in South Africa by Molefe Pheto. never been arrested." But arrest by the Security Police is different, 218 pp., $15.95. Allison & Busby, London 1984. Distributed in the USA by transporting the victim into a kind of night-world where objects give Schocken Books. way to elusive impressions. Pheto is baffled at his first arrival at Square, simply trying to keep track of the many police and AndNight Fell is another addition to the rapidly growing Twentieth their captives. "Just faces passing by," he says, "like bees or flies in sum­ Century genre of the prison memoir. Many of the elements will be mer cascading over a dead dog, like shadows coming in and out." familiar: the night arrest, the beatings, the cramped cell, the endless in­ Despite Pheto's family connections with the police-he tells us that terrogations, the smell of the slop bucket and the rattle of the jailer's an uncle who was a police sergeant had been buried in a coffin draped key. Molefe Pheto was unlike most "politicals," though, in the private­ with the South African flag-the educated and sophisticated Pheto ness of his concerns and in the mental and aesthetic detachment he was cannot puzzle out his cruel interrogators. Even their Afrikaner pronun­ able to preserve-even, it seems, while being beaten. Pheto's main in­ ciation never stops striking him as alien: he renders it with k's to replace terests are artistic: drama, music, poetry. As far as one can tell from his the hard c's and indicates the long rolled r's by doubling the letter, thus book, it was the injustice done to black artists by white promoters and creating an English that looks as barbarous on the page as it must have entrepreneurs, rather than national issues or ideology, that led him into sounded to his ears. Colonel Visser repeatedly asks him if he knows a his Black Consciousness viewpoint and into his work for MDALI, the certain Zabane. Pheto knows a Zabale, he says, but not a Zabane. Even black Music, Drama, Arts and Literature Institute. Even the cover of his own name is garbled in the policerecords. At times, sense breaks this handsomely designed book, which features a Klee-like painting by down to the point where he can only pass on what he seems to have Khehla Maqhubela, is a clue to the inwardness of his attitudes. A multi­ heard. In the course of one severe beating a policeman pauses to spin colored solar wheel and an African figure tendered in warm bright around the room while telling Pheto, "You will fly like a kite with a hues shade into an eerie blue-green area where an owl with numerals motor karr without wheels. " He tries to analyze this but eventually clustered around its head presides over a sky marked with what could gives up. The very nature of political detention seems to lend itself to be black lightning or else cracks in the sky itself. Lonfusion, garbling and a sense of unreality. One interrogator plays a Molefe Pheto was arrested by the Security Police in March 1975 guessing game with Pheto, first whistling and then asking "What is itT and held for 281 days, all but ten of which he spent in solitary confine­ until he arrives at the right answer: a canary. "You will sing like a ment. The charge, although he was not to know this for some time, was canary!" is the message, i.e., you will tell us everything-but Pheto that he had helped a Coloured activist flee the country into Botswana. does not. So fragmentary and weak is the case against him that in court Arrest itself is very routine for black South Africans. As the author the prosecution attempts to claim that Pheto is a member of both the says, "I still have to come across a Black man who, by the age of 30, has 2 continued on page 3 Southern Africa News Calendar August and September 1984

The following news items are based primarily on shortwave broadcasts by the 3 August British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Voice of America (VOA), and Radio South Angola-President Aristides Pereira of the Cape Verde islands said he expected further Africa (RSA). South African and British newspapers are also used. Items are intended meetings on Namibian independence to be held between SWAPO and South Africa. to supplement major news sources and are not exhaustive. Because radio reception is Pereira spoke at the end of talks in Luanda with Angolan President dos Santos and sometimes unclear, the spelling of all proper names cannot be guaranteed. SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma. Items relating to political trials and detentions appear in red. USA-The trustees of the ew York City employee retirement system. which has assets of$8'/z billion, voted to halt investment in South Africa until black workers there For more comprehensive news about political prisoners in Southern Africa, please received equal treatment with whites. see our bimonthly publication Focus. 8 August Please note: Violent incidents, particularly clashes between demonstrators in the South Africa-Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha said \lfozambique had received military African townships and the police, have become so frequent during the period parts and supplies from South Africa under the terms of the Nkomati pact. intended to covered that we are forced to report only a few such incidents in the Calendar. help Mozambique protect the power lines leading from the Cabora Bassa plant. Zimbabwe-ANC leader accused ANC guerrillas of inexcusable care· lessness because of a bombing'which mistakenly killed five civilians instead of the intended target of a military convoy. Hesaid ANC units were under strict orders that 1 August civilians were not to be targets and that the failure of operatives to take proper precau· Namibia-Administrator General Willie van Niekerk said South African forces in bons was intolerable. Angola could not be pulled out, because ofcontinuingSWAPOattacks inside Namibia. Swaziland-The French news agency said Swaziland had signed a security pact with He said it was up to Angola to keep SWAPO out of Angolan areas vacated by South Mozambique on 7 August. The Swazi commissioner of police said the treaty ,,'as not Africa. related to fighting between the :vlozambican government and rebels near the border. He South Africa-Twelve people in the were injured and said he had proposed the pact because of clashes earlier this year beh"een S"'azi forces vehicles damaged when police clashed with striking transport workers. and ANC guerrillas. South Africa-The trial of three young charged with high treason-Roland Hunter, Derek and Patricia Hanekom-was postponed for a month 10 August after they made a briefappearance in the Supreme Court. The defense requested enited .\'ations-A UN study charged that South Africa "'as de,'eloping chemical the postponement in order to obtain further information from the state. weapons at top·secret facilities for use against !\frican liberation mO\'ements, and "'as using Namibian prisoners as "guinea pigs" to test the chemicals. The stud,' also said "paralyzing gases" had been used in South ;\frican pursuit operations against SI \'APO in 2 August Angola. USA -The Foreign Affairs Committee of the US approved a 11 August resolution asking President Reagan to seek the release of ANC leader . The committee also called for an end to the restrictions imposed on Mandela's wife L5.4-The Reformed Ecumenical Synod declared that any theological defense of Winnie. It urged the US not to recognize the "homelands" set up by the South African apartheid must be regarded as heretical. The synod called for the repeal of South Africa's government. Mixed Marriages and Immorality Acts. South Africa's \\'hite Dutch Refomled Church has been given until 1"86 to agree that apartheid is a heresy or else drop its membership -Prime Minister held talks with the British high in the synod. commissioner yesterday regarding delays in the supply of British arms to Lesotho. The South African government has been holding back a shipment of light arms intended for South Aliica-Namba Sebe. the brother of bantustan leader Lennox Sebe. \\'as Lesotho's paramilitary forces. reportedly granted political asylum in the banhlstan, :\amba Sebe said he had jumped bail in theCiskei where he faced charges oftraud and comlption so that he could USA-Reacting to threats by UNITA against the Gulf Oil Corporation. a State tell the world that the Ciskei \\'as a dictatorship. He said he did not want to experience the Department spokesperson said the US government took any threats to US citizens or same fate as his brother Charles. \\·ho is no\\' ser,ing a lc.·year prison sentence for his property overseas very seriously. A recent attack on an oil pipeline in Angola's Cabinda alleged involvement in an attempted coup last year, province was the first attack against a US target in the area. UNITA was believed to have targeted the Gulf installations because Gulf's revenues were crucial to the Angolan government. South Africa-Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha attacked reports in Janes Defc.7lSe It 't'k~ll stating that there were only 5000 Cuban troops in Angola. South Africa claims there are 25,000 Cuban troops there, and that Angola pays more than $800 million per year fl)r Note on Terminology their services. The term "black" as used in .\eII'S .\()t('s refers to those groups the South Africa-A young African died after police fired on rioters in the of South African government identifies as Africans, . and Sebokeng, about 120 miles southwest of . Several others were injured in !\sians. (South Africa uses the term "black" to refer only to Africans.) the violence triggered by student protests over school conditions.

Breakfast in Cape Town continued from page 2 ANC and the PAC an ideological impossibility. As one last dodge, the formers, and he is even angry at the unknown black who taught the officials attempt to try Pheto on a day when his case is not on the white policeman "Heystek" his impeccableSeSotho. Whenan "expert" docket. His friends, relatives and even his lawyer cannot find him at on the PAC harangues the prisoner on the bravery of the Afrikaner first because they have been given the wrong courtroom number. youth, predicting that white South Africa could sweep the continent Although Pheto was neither an ANC or PAC me'llber, his sym­ north from Botswana and have breakfast in Cairo, Pheto mutters that pathies clearly lie with the PAC in its rejection of the goal of a multi· whites like him will have breakfast in Cape Town instead-with their racial South Africa. Phetoacknowledges the value of some white com­ backs to the sea. Pheto himself is not as militant as the black youth of rades and friends, such as Elina Templin, a fellow music teacher who the uprising and afterwards; he feels ashamed in front of his joins his music program in Soweto, but his experience has taught him son because he does not resist arrest. But he is certainly angry enough. which side he is on. The books the security police find in his home are TIle apartheid regime needs such a reminder as this book to know that all by black authors. He reserves his bitterest scorn for those blacks it cannot forever count on the patience and good will of the black who betray their people by joining the security police or becoming in· population, Some blacks are already at the boiling point. -----,..r~------.

13 August 21 August South Amca-Authorities shut down the Minerva high school in the Alexandra Swaziland-A senior Swazi government delegation met with South African Foreign township near Johannesburg after protesting students set a section of the building on Minister "Pik" Botha to discuss their objection to the granting of Pretoria-style indepen­ fire. More than 20,000 students were now boycotting classes over demands including an dence to the kaNgwane bantustan. They said that kaNgwane and the Ngwavuma area end to corporal punishment. the creation of autonomous representative councils and an were integral parts of Swaziland. end of age-limit restrictions for students. Swaziland-RSA reported that police in Swaziland had been detaining hundreds of Mozambique-A Mozambican delegation led by Jacinto Veloso met with Prime Mozambicans seeking refuge in the country. Minister Botha, Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha. Defense Minister , the South Amca-At least 35 people were detained throughout the country under the Finance and Agriculture Ministers, and the chief of South Africa's military intelligence. Criminal Procedure Act or various sections of the Internal Security Act. They also Theagenda was expected to include security. protection of the Cabora Bassa power lines, included leading members of the UDF, the Indian Congress, Indian and economic cooperation. The South African Transport Minister was in Maputo for Congress, and the Release Mandela Committee, who had opposed the upcoming talks on transport questions. elections for Coloureds and Inclians. Among those arrested were UDF co-President , Patrick Lekota, Aubrey Mokoena, Dr. Essop Jassat, Curtis Nkondo, 14 August Curnick Ndlovu, and Billy Nair. The PFP criticized the detentions and a UDF spokesperson said they were a desperate government attempt to crush opposition. United Nations-A UN human rights commission opened hearings on South African prisons. South Africa's prison population is the biggest by percentage in the Western world, with 440 prisoners for every 100,000 people. Tim Jenkin of lDAF, a former prisoner in South Africa, said most maintenance duties were done by black prisoners, that they were beaten and kicked and given inferior food. Lesotho-The Lesotho government. which has refused to sign a Nkomati·style pact with South Africa, sent a diplomatic note to Pretoria reaffirming that it would not allow its territory to be used for acts of aggression. South Africa has blocked the passage of arms and other items to Lesotho in an attempt to force it to sign a peace pact. South Amca-A police spokesperson in Pretoria said 13 students were arrested and two policemen injured when about 100 boycotting students gathered near a technical college following a dispute with their principal over their student council. Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and plastic whips to disperse the students.

15 August Lesotho-Lesotho's Information Minister said South Africa wanted to send police to Lesotho to monitor the activities of South African refugees in Lesotho. Under South Billy Nair Curnick Ndlovu Africa's proposed terms, Lesotho would have to consult South Africa on how Lesotho civilians travelled abroad, where they went and what they did. He said South Africa had held up delivery of a helicopter needed for use in food distribution in order to force Lesotho to sign a peace pact. 22 August Namibia-SWAPO leader Andimba Toivo ja Toivo was elected by SWAPOs South Amca-Voting for Coloured representatives to Parliament took place. 6ghty Central Committee to the post ofSecretary General, a position created especially for him. students who paraded with an anti-election placard were detained in Grahamstown. The Toivo said he wholeheartedly welcomed his appointment to the post. archbishop of Durban, Dennis Hurley, speaking for Southern African Catholic bishops South Amca-Government officials raided a squatter camp near Cape Town and now meeting in Zimbabwe, expressed deep dismay at recent arrests and said they arrested 21 women and 12 men for being in the area illegally. They destroyed about 50 amounted to an admission thatSouth Africa's new Constitution was a poorsubstitute for shelters at the camp, which was set up about eight months ago by squatters from the genuine democracy. Meanwhile a government official said over 600,000 Coloured Crossroads settlement. students, or 4/5 of the Coloured school population, had boycotted classes. South Amca-Peter Jones, the president of Azapo, was detained near Cape Town. 16 August South Amca-Col. BJ Van den Berg, the police commander of Soweto East. '.'Vas slightly injured in a bomb attack on his office. Three other policemen were injured in the 23 August blast and a woman employee was missing. The blast set fire to the fourth floor of the Angola-RSA reported that relations between Portugal and Angola were near building. collapse because of the activities of UNITA in Portugal. South Amca-A boycott initiated by 500 Coloured university students in the Cape South Amca-The Minister of Constitutional Development said the 30 % turnout of was joined by Indian and African students in other parts of the country. The broad registered voters for the Coloured elections was acceptable and that the government political issues underlyingspecific student grievances have begun tosharpen the focus of would push ahead with its plan. The Coloured Labor Party won 74 of the 80 clissatisfaction on the upcoming elections for the new Coloured and Indian chambers of Parliamentary seats contested. The OAU said the elections had been rejected by the Parliament. Some 40,000 students were on the streets. international community and called for a boycott of the Indian elections. South African Namibia-A South African censorship commission banned all future editions of the police said 152 people were arrested in connection with the elections. outspoken Windhoek Observer, the first time a paper has been banned outright in Namibia. The editor, Johannes Smith, said the Obseroers policy was probably in the way of South Africa's future constitutional plans for Namibia. 24 August USA-Brand Fourie, South Africa's ambassador to the US, said the current investiga· South Amca-A bomb blew up the Johannesburg offices ofa governmentdepartment tions of South Africa's new Constitution by the UN Security Council were a mockery. that runs schools for Africans, while another exploded near the offices of the Railway Police and a government department on Coloured affairs. Mozambique-Mozambican refugees in Swaziland have told how MNR rebels had 17 August attacked their villages, killed children by bashing their heads against rocks, and Mozambique-The MNR rebel movement said in a statement issued in Lisbon that it b:lyoneted old people. maintained control of Mozambique's Tete province where the Cabora Bassa dam is located despite South Africa's support for the Mozambican government. -ANC leader OliverTambo and Swazi Prince Bhekimpi DIamini extended 25 August their talks aimed at healing a rift caused by the arrests of ANC guerrillas in Swaziland. South Africa-The chair of the West Rand Development Board said a place must be provided under the new Constitution for Africans living outside the "independent" South Amca-A "terrorist" suspected of planting a bomb at police headquarters in Ili'''tustan<. Soweto was killed in a gun battle with police. Namibia-SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma accused South Africa of trying to sabotage Namibia's economy before it gains its independence. Speaking in Zimbabwe, he said the 18 August South Africans were dismantling the railway lines from the port of Luderitz to the central United Nations-The Security Council, with the US and Britain abstaining, declared town of Keetmanshoop and from Windhoek to South Africa, in order to make Namibia South Africa's new Constitution null and void, and urged all governments not to entirely dependent on the South African-controlled port of Walvis Bay. Nujoma said recognize the forthcoming elections there. The Council said that only the elimination of South Africa had already been overfishing Namibian waters and slaughtering and apartheid could lead to a just solution in South Africa. exporting cattle and game in large numbers. 4 South Africa-The government announced that 41 people were still being held in detention. Law and Order Minister Louis LeGrange said the detentions were due to a TRIALS AND DETENTIONS ARE CONTINUING! revolutionary climate and that agitators were misusing children for revolutionary aims. Over the years IDAF has paid for the legal defense of more than He said 112 people were arrested during demonstrations on election day. 10,000 prisoners accused of political "crimes," at a cost of over South Africa-Police shot dead a black youth and injured two others on the second day of studenl prolests in the Imbali township near Pietermaritzburg. One report said nine million dollars, It has also provided humanitarian aid for the the youths had been involved in stone-throwing incidents. Several of the schools now families of tens of thousands of political detainees. being boycotted in South Africa have suspended classes until next week, and some students who demonstrated earlier have reportedly been suspended indefinitely. Please help us in this work by mailing a contribution to lOAF, P,O, Box 17, Cambridge, MA 02238, All contributions are tax­ 26 August deductible, South Aliica-Ephraim Mthethwa, 22, an African detainee, reportedly hanged himself with his jacket while awaiting trial with six other people facing charges under the Internal Security Act. The defendants had been charged with trying to leave the country for guerrilla training. 1 September South Aliica-Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha and US Assistant Secretary of State 27 August Chester Crocker ended their latest talks on Namibian independence. which included South Africa-Prime Minister Botha said South Africa and Lesotho had been on the discussion of a ceasefire. verge of reaching a peace pacI before his recent visit to Europe but that Lesotho had South Africa-Thabo Sibeko, a six-year-old child, was shot dead by police and four subsequently launched a slander campaign against South Africa. Botha said he would others were wounded-two in the head-in a township outside Johannesburg. Police consider suspending a joint water project and imposing stricter border controls and other said youths had stoned vehicles. A PFP spokesperson called for an inquiry into the measures. "appalling" statistics of dead and injured schoolchildren in recent unrest. South Africa-Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a Coloured meeting opposed to tomorrow's Indian elections. Eleven people were arrested and two 2 September policemen injured. Thousands of Indian and African students boycotted classes today. Angola-The Yugoslav news agency said that thousands of members of the FNLA rebel movemenl had surrendered to Angolan government forces in the past week, 28 August responding to a government amnesty. Angola and Zaire have agreed to police their common border jointly after UNITA threatened to extend its war to the Cabinda South Aliica-Fewer than 20 % of registered Indian voters turned out toelect members province. for Parliament. Police charged crowds of demonstrators in the township near Johannesburg, using tear gas and batons. More than 100 people were injured and numbers were arrested. Violence also occurred in a township in the Transvaal, when 3 September police dispersed about 500 African youths. The National People's Party took 18 of the 40 South Africa-Police reported 22 dead and the BBC 26 in South Africa's worsl rioling seats being contested in the election. in years. Some were killed by police who used live ammunition, tear gas and whips to combat unrest in the Sharpeville, Sebokeng, and Evaton townships. The deputy mayor of Sharpeville, Sam Dlamini. was hacked to death. High school students stoned buses, 29 August police vehicles, private cars and houses, and police buildings were attacked with petrol Namibia-The leader of the Christian Democratic Party said South African troops had bombs. Beer halls and bottle stores were destroyed by fire. The outburst has b",en linked committed alrocities in Ovamboland which were blamed on SWAPo. He said South to economic hardship and opposition to the nI"l\' Constitution. African troops fired into huts indiscriminately on the night of 15 August, killing four South Afiica-Two people were injured in a heavy explosion at a branch of the people. He believed the act was carried out by the Buffalo Battalion. Ministry of Internal Affairs in Johannesburg. The building stands opposite another Cape Verde-US Assistant Secretary ofState for African Affairs CheslerCrocker was l;Pvernrnent office which was bombed ten days ago. due in South Africa after talks with the President and Foreign Minister of Cape Verde. South Africa-The Cabinet installed P, \\'. Botha as acting State President when the South Africa-The government reacted strongly to a Dulch embassy documenl that new Constitution came into effect today, Botha I\'as to be elected to this position proposes the Dutch governmentgive financial aid to organizations opposed to apartheid. fonnally on 5 September. TheColoured and Indian chambers ot Parliament will meet for These included the ANC, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the World Council of the first time tomorrol\'. Meanwhile at least .,5 leaders of groups opposed to the new Churches, and IDAF.IA Dutch diplomat later confirmed that his government was giving South African Constitution I\'ere still being held in jail. material aid to the ANC for humanitarian purposes.] South Africa-Speaking on recent detentions, Law and Order Minister Louis 4 September LeGrange said the Internal Security Act was not intended to muzzle opponents of the South Afiica-Police found twel\'e more bodies today as rioting and violence l;Pvernment but to maintain order and security. continued. Troops in full battle gear I\'ere guarding key go\'ernment posts in sOl11e town­ South Afnca-Prime Minister P.W. Botha blamed intimidation for the low turnout in ships. Police announced [8 ci\'ilian casualties in the ,·iolence. but press reports spoke ofas the Indian elections. However, the British observer who monitored the elections for the many as _,00. The police ha"e admitted shooting ten people out of the official total of 29 Institute for International Affairs said he had seen no evidence of intimidation. killed. Tanzania-Speaking at a meeting of leaders of the Front-Line States and members of the Socialist International. Pre5ident Nverere called for increased isolation of South 30 August Africa and more investment in the Fro,~t·Line States. Nyerere paid tribute to Sweden, USA -The Reverend Jesse Jackson was denied a visa to visit South Africa. The South which banned im'e5hnent in South Africa fi"e years ago and spends half of its foreign aid African embassy in Washington said a visit byJackson this year would be"inopportune." on Southern Africa and the liberation mo\'ements. South Aflica-A 19-year-old African youth was shot dead by police and two others .\(zmibia-The Secretary General of SWANU was voted out of office at a party were wounded in a slone-lhrowing incidenl in Katlehong.ln Daveyton police used tear congress attended by SWAPO leader Andimba Toi\'o ja Toivo, and SWANU has voted gflS to disperse 200 youths and in Krugersdorp a riot squad fired rubber bullets at youth.' to quit the Multi-Party Congre5s. SWANU said it would be holding talks with SWAPO stoning a government office. with a view to e5tablishing an alliance of noncollaboration with South Africa.

31 August Lesotho-Reacting to charges by P.W. Botha that Lesotho could not meet South Africa's requirements for security, Prime Minister Jonathan Leabua said Lesotho would not hesitate to act against anyone posing a danger to the security of L':'Sotho and South News Notes Needs Your Help Africa. Donations eallnarked for ,\(>//'5 Soles in fiscal 1984 covered less than South Africa-Police said they were investigating the death of an African youlh who .' ";, of the costs of producing and mailing it, and less than a third of was found in the Daveyton township with three l-,'llllshot wounds in his back. Three r::>stage costs alone, African youths have been confirmed as dead as a result of yesterday's disturbances. If evelyone receiving i\'Cll'S iVotcs sent us an $8.00 donation each year, Namibia-The South African Censorship Board reversed the ban imposed on the (Xlr costs would be more than paid for, with any excess being used for Windhoek Observer. saying that the paper had not broken South African law, after all. our regular programs, South Africa-P.W. Botha warned African states to accept South African assistance or Please-help keep the infonnation Hawing! suffer unspecified damage and suffering for their own people. 5 5 September South Amca-All indoor gatherings critical of the government were banned until the end of the month over a wide area of the country. "Recognized" political parties were South Amca-P.W. Botha was elected as State President by a white-dominated excluded from the banning order. The clampdown was aimed at memorial services electoral college representing the majority parties in the new . planned to mark the death of , and at meetings to protest against the new South Amca-The chief of the SADF toured trouble spots in the johannesburg area. Constitution. Opposition MPHelen Suzman described the ban as barely falling short of a A bomb found in the johannesburg Supreme Court was safely defused. Police in full . Sharpeville were fired upon and there was violence in other parts of the Transvaal and South Africa-Seven miners were killed in a rock fall at a gold mine near Natal. In Sharpeville negotiations were under way between the police and 1500 demon· johannesburg. strators who had blocked the main entry road, demanding the repeal of rent increases. Moz{D7/bique-A captured MNR rebel interviewed by journalist Phil Cohen said he had been captured and taken to South Africa where he was trained as a radio operator by 12 September European, Israeli, Rhodesian and South African mercenaries. He was later flown back South Amca-Theanniversary ofSteve Biko'sdeath was marked by clashes between into Mozambique where he directed planes making drops to the MNR guerrillas. He said students and police in Soweto, Katlehong, Grahamstown and elsewhere. Reporters were there was talk of torture in the MNR camps. excluded from SowetC', where police were said to be using helicopters to monitor the situation. The ban on public meetings has been widely condemned in South Africa. 6 September South Amca-The Ministers of Law and Order, Internal Affairs, Defense, and Educa· 13 September tion met with community leaders of the African townships and viewed damage caused South Africa-Six black anti-apartheid leaders who were detained at the time of runoff by recellt unrest. They were flown toSharpeville by helicopter and transferred to a bus elections for the Coloured and Indian houses of Parliament and later released, have guarded by armored personnel carriers, which was then confronted by several hundred sought refuge at the British consulate in Durban. The six-Mewa Ramgobin, Billy Nair, people and forced to tum back. Murugan Naidoo, Archie Gumede, Paul David, and George Sewpersad-were mem­ bers of the UDF and . They were among 40 prisoners detained during protests against the elections, several of whom were 7 September later freed by the Supreme Court. A senior official of the British South Africa-Police shot dead one of two men said to have attacked the home of the embassy in Pretoria was sent to Durban to hold talks with mayor of Katlehong and wounded the other. Meanwhile 3000 residents of Katlehong the six. defied a ban on gatherings assembling at the funeral of four victims of recent unrest. Zambia-Food supplies in western Zambia already depleted Police stood by as the crowd carried the coffins over their heads, breaking a court order by drought were being taxed by a flow of Angolan refugees which said the coffins must be kept in the hearse. Leaders of anti.apartheid groups fleeing violence by UNITA rebels. including Bishop addressed the crowd, which shouted slogans and France-ANC treasurer Thomas NImbi said the ANC carried placards. intended to intensify its armed struggle against the South African regime. Nkobi said in Paris that Pretoria's ban on 8 September Thomas Nkobi protest meetings was a sign of the regime's weakness. Angola-The UNITA rebels released a group of 25 Portuguese, Mexican and Spanish hostages, who flew to South Africa before heading for their home countries. 14 September South Amca-More than 90,000 African students in 16 townships have boycotted South Amca-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided not to order the classes in recent weeks. expulsion of six anti-apartheid campaigners seeking refuge in the British consulate in Durban. Archbishop Trevor Huddleston said the situation was a test of British policy Angola-US official Chester Crocker met with Angolan Interior Minister Rodrigues towards South Africa. to discuss Namibian independence and other issues. South Amca-The inauguration of P.W. Botha as Executive President under South Africa's new Constitution was met with protest demonstrations in the Transvaal and 9 September western Cape. A number of arrests were reported. An unexpected guest at the inauguration was UNITA leader jonas Savimbi. Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha said that South Africa-SAPA reported that an explosion last week at the Electricity Supply Angolan authorities would soon be forced to discuss sharing power with UNITA. Commission in the western Transvaal was likely to increase South African pressure on Botswana to plug what was believed to be a new infiltration route into South Africa. Moz{D7/bique-Four foreign workers on development projects, two Portuguese and two Italian, were reported captured by the rebel MNR. South Africa-Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds in Sebokeng who defied a 48-hour ban on all gath.erings except for church services. Police said -The Manchester Guardian Wrekly disputed the view of South protestors stoned police vehicles, set up road blocks and halted bus services. The ban was African whites that recent riots had been caused by political agitators. It said the apparently directed at meetings scheduled for today in Sharpeville and Sebokeng to immediate cause was an ineptly handled rent increase on top ot recent rises in food, demand a scrapping of rent increases and the firing of the town council. A similar ban on water, and electricity prices, but that racial discrimination was the root cause. The gatherings was imposed in thejohannesburgarea to prevent meetings marking the death newspaper said the use of live ammunition by police quelling riots was an act ofcriminal ci Steve Biko. irresponsibility. 15 September 10 September South Africa-Dr. Allan Boesak, President of the World Alliance of Reformed South Africa-A judge in the johannesburg Supreme Court refused an application for Churches and patron of the UDF, met with the six anti-apartheid campaigners in the the release of 12 anti-apartheid activists arrested last month in connection with the Durban consulate and said their action highlighted South Africa's harsh security laws. Parliamentary elections. On 7 September seven other detainees were freed in Pieter­ maritzburg when a judge ruled that their detention order was invalid. Law and Order South Africa-Thousands of mourners attended the funerals in Sharpeville and Minister Louis LeGrange has issued redetention orders against the seven, who have gone Evaton of people killed in recent unrest. Some defied a ban on-political demonstrations by underground. Azapo Vice President Saths Cooper was detained over the weekend. shouting freedom slogans. The government said 31 people were killed in the unrest, but the SACC believed the number of the dead could be higher. N{D7/ibia-SWAPO claimed to have obtained secret documents connected with a conference of military chiefs in Windhoek to discuss counterintelligence. The docu­ South Amca-President P.W. Botha appointed the Rev. and ments detailed the SAOF's fears over security in Namibia, including SWAPOs popular , the heads of the new Coloured and Indian chambers of Parliament, support and the activities of the East German intelligence, the OA, and Ml6. SWAPO as ministers without portfolio in his new Cabinet. representative Peter Manning said the South African military projected an image of strength in Namibia but that they were in a relatively weak position. 16 September South Amca-Police said an African man was shot dead by a civilian as he tried to set South Afnca-The ruling Nationalist Party has approved the same "permanent" fire to a shop in Katlehong. Another was injured when police used tear gas and rubber residence for Africans in the western Cape as in other urban areas. blllets to disperse crowds. Vehicles in the area were damaged, and ten youths were arrested. About 40 deaths have occurred in South Africa in the unrest of the last two weeks. 17 September Swaziland-Ten more ANC members left Swaziland for Dar es Salaam. More than 100 ANC members have been deported from Swaziland in the past three months. 11 September South Africa-Police in Soweto and Katlehong used tear gas and rubber bullets to South Amca-The SADF used live ammunition in "Exercise Thunder Chariot," the disperse crowds of youths who stoned police vehicles and buses. Thousands of Soweto biggest military exercise ever held in Southern Africa. residents heeded a call by the Release Mandela campaign to stay away from work. 6 18 September 22 September South Amca-About40,000 black miners went on strike today as the National Union South Amca-Representatives of South Africa and Lesotho were meeting in Cape of Mineworkers sought a settlement with the Chamber of Mines. The two sides finally Town to discuss the Lesotho Highlands Hydroelectric Project. South Africa has averted a longer strike at seven mines with a compromise agreement of a 16% increase. insisted that Lesotho should give guarantees for the security of the project, failing which, Union leaderCyril Ramaphosa said police had charged peaceful workersand fired rubber it would be abandoned. bullets, injuring about 200. Namibia-Eleven of the 13 staff members of the Windhoek Observer resigned in solidarity with Gwen Uster, who was suspended as political editor. The Observer had been temporarily banned mainly because of Lister's articles. 24 September South Amca-Police used shotguns, rubber bullets and tear gas to quell unrest in Mozambique-Addressing the new Canadian and Danish ambassadors in Maputo, Soweto. Two men were killed. Roadblocks were set up at three of the entrances to the President Machel urged the West to increase its support for the ANC and SWAPo. township. Machel said Western countries had a special role to play in the struggle against apartheid and South African rule in Namibia because they were partly responsible for the creation ci these situations. USA-Lawyer Zak Yacoob held talks in ew York with Maj. Gen. joseph Garba, the 19 September chair of the UN Committee against Apartheid, in order to ask the UN to pressure the South Amca-Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha said UN Resolution 435 had many flaws British government to negotiate with South Africa on behalf of the anti·apartheid leaders that would retard rather than facilitate a peaceful solution in Namibia, and that South in the British consulate in Durban whom Yacoob represents. Africa would welcome an alternative agreement between SWAPO, the territory's USA-President Ronald Reagan said the groundwork had been laid for the inde· internal parties, and the Western Contad Group. pendence of Namibia, with virtually all aspects of UN Resolution 435 agreed upon. South Africa-The entire workforce of the Westonaria gold mine refused to go Addressing the UN General Assembly he said the US was engaged in diplomatic efforts underground after an outbreak of violence in which at least seven miners were killed and to resolve conflicts in Southern Africa by working with the Contact Groupand states sur­ f!E injured, and over R2 million worth of damage was done. Police said about 8000 rounding South Africa. miners went on a rampage on the night of 17September. Cyril Ramaphosa of the miner's South Africa-A police spokesperson said h,'o people were arrested and rubber bullets union said provocative and brutal police action was to blame for the violence, which had and tear gas used to disperse crowds in the Sebokeng and Sharpeville townships almost brought about a state of revolution in the mines. southwest of Johannesburg, The crowds had gathered to protest mass arrests of about 900 people over the weekend, when the funeral of johannes Sithole was held. Sithole had been shot dead by police in earlier unrest. Blacks in Sebokeng reportedly stoned a police patrol. and a bus was burned out by a petrol bomb. 20 September United Kingdom-The legal team representing the six anti·apartheid leaders in Durban flew from London to Dublin to meet with representatives of the EEC. Ireland is the current President of the EEC Council of Ministers. The lawyers reporteclly hoped the EEC might persuade Britain to negotiate with South African authorities on behalf of the six. 25 September South Africa-RSA reported that the Parliamentary Seled Committee investigating South Amca-A survey of 551 black production workers conducted by Professor the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and the Immorality Act had recommended Lawrence Schlemmer of the University of Natal indicated that 75'-, opposed disinvest­ that the joint committee of the new tricameral Parliament look into the desirability of ment campaigns. Most, including trade unionists, also preferred free el,terprise to repealing them. socialism. Thesurvey was funded by the US Department of State. [Prof. Schlemmer is an South Amca-Esau Mahlatsi, the mayor of Sharpeville, emerged from hiding to academic often quoted and interviewed by RSA.] announce that the proposed rent increases in the township were being suspended. L'nited Kingdom-South African ambassador Denis Worrall was summoned to the Mahlatsi and his 30 fellow black councillors had been in hiding since a wave of violence Foreign Office after yesterday's announcement that South Africa would not return four that accounted for more than 40 lives. suspected arms smugglers to face trial in Britain, as a retaliation for Britain's refusal to Zimbabwe-A meeting in Harare said a political trial in South Africa had uncovered evict six anti·apartheid leaders from the Durban consulate. South Africa had provided indisputable evidence of South Africa's efforts to destabilize Mozambique, Angola, ;£100,000 in bail money for the four alleged smugglers and guaranteed their return to Lesotho and Zimbabwe, Roland Mark Hunter and Derek and Patricia Hanekom are Britain. A British embassy spokesperson said South Africa's breach of a solemn under· being tried for attempting to smuggle South African military documents out of the taking to a British court would affect the way Britain viewed bilateral relations in the country. Much of the trial has been held in secret, with restrictions on media coverage. future. Ire/and-A statement by Foreign Ministers of the EEC condemned South Africa's SOl/th Atiica-Roland Mark Hunter. a tom1er clerk in military intelligence, was found recent detention of anti·government leaders and called for early progress toward ending guilty of having contra\'ened the Defense Act after a trial held in call1,7'a in Pretoria apartheid. Supreme Court. Derek Hanekom..' I and his wife Patricia, 2-, were also found guilty of having contra\'ened the Internal Security /\d and Publications Ad. The three were South Amca-A johannesburg magistrate ruled that the funeral of Bogani Khumalo, arrested in December "'hen Hunter "'asaccused of passing information to the ANC "'ith an African student leader shot dead by police after allegedly throwing a petrol bomb at a the help of the Hanekoms. bus, must not take place on the weekend as planned but between loAM and,. PM on a weekday, and that it must not take the form of a political meeting.

26 September 21 September L:SA -A bomb exploded on the h.yelfth Hoor of a ."."·story office building in New South Africa-The Natal Supreme Court reserved its judgment on the redetention York that housed the South African consulate. A US news agency said it had received a orders affecting the six black leaders in the Durban consulate until an unspecified date. call from an unnamed group opposed to apartheid, saying it bombed the building in Counsel for the six had argued that Law and Order Minister Louis LeGrange had had no protest against South Africa's human rights violations, valid reason for issuing the orders. Meanwhile the British government has denied reports South Atiica-The government lifted a banning order it intends to close down the Durban consulate, thus depriving the six of diplomatic imposed in I"'77 on the Rev. Beyers Naude, which was due immunity, to expire in October 1"'85. Naude, an Afrikanerclergyman Mozambique-British Foreign Office official Malcolm Rifkind expressed support for and Broederbond member for 2." years, later changed his the quest for liberty by South Africa's black people. Speaking at a banquet in his honor, views and fom1ed the Christian Institute, a multiracial ecu· Rifkind said the British people had a deep dislike of apartheid. On his visit Rifkind menical organization dedicated to dismantling apartheid announced a new British aid package of;£5 million for Mozambique. through moral force, Meanwhile the government also UnitedNations-The International Labor Organization expressed its concern about the released six anti·govemment activists arrested during the deaths of seven black gold miners in recent South African unrest. The ILO's Director recent eledions General sent a message to President Botha calling on South African authorities to allow South Amca-RSA reported that most of South Africa's workers to exercise their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining in 1,7 million primary and high school students had returned accordance with international laborstandards. Meanwhile four miners were killed and at to school after the summer holidays, and that 6% of pupils least J30 injured in a new outbreak of violence at the West Rand Consolidated Mine at Beyers Naude [over 100,oooJ stayed away. The BBC reported that about Krugersdorp. Police used rubber bullets and sjamboks to curb the allegedly rioting 300,000 students either did not show up yesterday or were sent home early. Some mine~. Soweto schools were said to be deserted. 7 27 September South Africa-Violent incidents and clashes with police continued in African town­ ships in the Transvaal, Natal, and Cape provinces yesterday and today. Acronyms and Abbreviations South Africa-Dr. Beyers Naude was given special pennission by British authorities to .4NC-African National Congress visit the six anti-apartheid campaigners in the Durban consulate. Some of them were old AWB-Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or Afrikaner Resistance Movement. a group of radical right-wing mends whom his banningorder had prevented him from seeing for years. Naudesaid the extremists. .4zapo-Azanian People's OrganiLltion six were in good health but obviously wished to be free. BCftl-Black Consciousness Movement South Africa-Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha confirmed reports that representatives of BCP-Basutoland Congress Party M07,ilmbique and the MNR were in Pretoria for separate talks with the South African Broederbond-a politically powerful secret society of right-wing ~vernment. The Mozambican delegation was led by General Jacinto Veloso, who has Contact Group-the Western mediating group on Namibian independence, made up of the US. France. UK. said that the Nkomati accord has had no practical results and that violence has continued. West Germany and Canada Batha said he held talks yesterday with an MNR delegation. DTA -Democratic Turnhalle Alliance fEC-European Economic Community fLS-Front·Line States: Angola. Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe 28 September roSA TU-Federation of South African Trade Unions Angola-Western diplomatic sources and Angolan refugees in Zaire were reported to ITelimo-Mozambique Liberation Front. the ruling party have said that North Korean soldiers were already in Angola to help its government HNP-Herstigte Nasionale Party. an extreme right·wing forces fight UNITA Last week the Angolan government denied similar reports. IMF-International Monetary Fund UA -Lesotho Liberation Army, the military wing of the exiled BCP International Atomic Energy Agency (lAEA) meeting in Vienna Austria-The MiVR-Mozambique National Resistance resolved that South Africa must allow its nuclear enrichment plant near Pretoria to be ftfPLA -Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the ruling party inspected by the agency within a year or face sanctions. The IAEA also called on its Mlrl':4SA -Media Workers Association of South Africa. a black trade union members not to transfer to South Africa nuclear material and technology which could be NIS-Nationallntelligence Service [South Africa] used to build weapons, and not to buy uranium mined in Namibia. OAU-Organization of African Unity United Nations-The General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution con­ P.4C-Pan-Africanist Congress demning South Africa's new Constitution, with 133 countries voting in favor, no votes PFP-Progressive Federal Party, the official South African opposition party against, and the US and Britain abstaining. S4AWU-South African Allied Workers Union S4CC-South African Council of Churches Sl1DCC-Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference 29 September S40F-South African Defense Force United Nations-The recent survey report of Prof. Lawrence Schlemmer of the Uni­ SAPA-South African Press Association versity of Natal provoked a heated response from the UN Special Committee against Sl+:4PO-South West Africa People's Organization Apartheid. Its chair, Maj. Gen. Joseph Garba, said Schlemmer was a longtime supporter lNlrA -National Union for the Total Independence of Angola of US investment and that the American Committee on Africa had found that UN Resolution 435-a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Namibia and the withdrawal of South African troops. The UN Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG), which would include UN peace­ Schlemmer's poll was financed by US ambassador Hennan Nickel. keeping troops, would be stationed in Namibia in preparation for elections to be held under UN supervision. Z4NU-Zimbabwe African National Union, the ruling party 30 September Z4PU-Zimbabwe African People's Union South Africa-The six anti-apartheid leaders in the British consulate in Durbdn said they lipra-Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, the military wing of ZAPU have asked other countries for sanctuary if they were forced to leave the building. Their One South African rand (R 1.00) equals approximately 5Y representative said they had approached the governments of the US, France, West Gennany and Holland for diplomatic protection because of concem that Britain might 9.lccumb to South African pressure to evict them. Three of the six were due in court on 2 October on charges arising out of anti-government demonstrations.

/DAF News Notes is published bimonthly by the United States Committee of the lOAF has three objectives: International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern ,\frica, P.O. Box 17, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02238. President: Mia Adjali, Executive Director: Kenneth N. (1) to aid, defend and rehabilitate the victims of unjust legislation and oppressive Carstens. and arbitrary procedures, (2) to support their families and dependents, News Notes Editor: Geoffrey Wisner (3) to keep the conscience of the world alive to the issues at stake. Contributors for this Issue: Kenneth Carstens, Geoffrey Wisner

Photos: African National Congress, Episcopal Churchpeople for a Free Southern Africa, The Star.

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