\ ACTION. ALERT THE 'VASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA 110 MARYLANO AVENUE. N.::. " WASHINGTON. O. C. 20002 ~ laaal 54l5.71i151 February 22, 1985 UDF and Trade Union Leaders Charged with "Treason" PRETORIA CONDUCTS BIGGEST CRACKDOWN IN 30 YEARS Recent events in South Africa give the lie to the South African govern­ ment I s pretenses of "reform, II wi th unrest becomi ng endemi c in many areas of the country. On February 19, police conducted pre-dawn raids on the homes of over 70 leading members of the United Democratic Front (UDF), the South African Allied ~Jorkers Union (SAAI4U), the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), and the General and Allied Workers Union (GAWU), detaining at least 13. Seven of the detained were charged with "high treason," including: Albertina Sisulu, a UDF co-president and wife of imprisoned African National Congress leader Walter Sisulu; Cassim Saloojee, the UDF' S national treasurer; Rev. Frank Chikane, Transvaal UDF vice president; Dr. Ishmael Mohamed, a Witwatersrand University lecturer and TIC leader; Sam Kikine, together with two other SAAWU officials, Isaac Ngcobo and Sisa Njike1ana. The seven wi 11 joi n ei ght other UDF 1eaders charged 1ast December in a triallater thi s year. The ei ght, of whom fi ve had sought refuge in the Sri t ish Consu 1ate in Durban 1ast August, inc1ude UDF co-presi dent Archi e Gumede, NIC leaders Paul David, George Sewpersadh, M.J. Naidoo and Mewa Ramgobin, TIC leader Essop Jassat, and Release Mande1a Committee officials Aubrey Mokoena and Curti s Nkondo. Accordi ng to UDF spokespersons, all of the organization's senior members are now either in detention or in hiding. The crackdown is the most severe against a black political organization since the 1956 Treason Trial which culminated in the banning of the African Nation- "a1 Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congres (PAC), and the imprisonment of ANC leaders Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and many others. Formed in August 1983 in response to the government's so-called "new constitutional dispensation" and proposed new repressive legislation, the UDF has ove.r 700 affi 1i ate organi zati ons, representi ng some 1.5 mi 11 ion members. In spite of steady government harasslnent and the banni ng of most of its meetings, the UDF led the successful: mass boycott of the August 1984 elections for the "Colored ll and Indian houses of parliament under the new constitution. As a result of the boycott, less than 20 percent of "Co1ored" and Indian voters participated in the elections. In accompanying unrest between August and December, over 4,000 were arrested and 200 ki 11ed. Over 200 remain in detention without charge. Trad"e union repression has been escalating as well. On November 5 and 6, a mass stayaway strike in the major industrial areas near Johannesburg, in which over half a million participated, led to the firing of ever 6,500 workers at the government contro11 ed SASOL oi l-from-coa1 plant. Twenty-one of the organizers of the stayaway were detained, of whom five have been re­ leased, two charged with "high treason II and two others charged \'Jith "su bver­ sion." In two separate miners' strikes o~ February 16, police fired on the strikers using birdshot, rubber and real bullets, injuring well over 100. SAAWU president Thozamile Gqweta ItJas detained on February 19. Gqweta has -more- -2- been detained at least eight other times since 1981, and his redet~ntion, together with the inclusion of Kikine, Ngcobo and Njikelana among: thosa charged February 19, has put the union in particular danger. SAAWU has al­ ready been banned in three "bantustans." The wave of detentions coincides as well with unrest in the Crossroads squatter camp near Capetown, in whi ch 18 were Idll ed and over 200 wounded in two days of clashes with the police. Crossroads residents, many of whom are "illegally" in Capetown, are scheduled to be moved into the Khayelitsha township the government has recently begun building, some 20 miles from down­ town Capetown and urban jobs. The government has regul arly bull dozed Cross­ roads, as it has the nei ghbori ng Nyanga and K. T. C. camps, in an attempt to force its residents to return to the barren "bantustans." Unrest at Cross­ roads, as well as in many other lib 1acks on 1y" communi ties around the country, has been described by police as "en demic." Causes include black anger at their continued exclusion from the political process, rent increases, econ- omic recession and massive unemployment. • In a rel ated development, charges were dropped agai nst Roman Catho l i c Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban on February 18, the first day of his sched­ uled trial. Due in part to international pressure from the worldwide relig­ i ous community, another reason for thi s acti on was the government I s fears of disclosure of more police and military atrocities in Namibia. Hurley, accused under the Police Act of 1957 for making "false" charges of atroci~ies against Namibian civilians by the notorious Koevoet police counterinsurgency unit, had stated repeatedly that "a lot of dirt" would be disclosed during his trial. What You Can Do: 1) Protest the continued repression, including the most recent "high treason II charges, by writing State President P. W. Botha, Union Buildings, Pretoria, South Africa. 2) Send a copy of your letter to Secretary of State George Shultz, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20520, along with a cover letter deman­ ding an end to the current US policy of "constructive engagement." 3) Write your Congressmember (U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., 20515) and Senators (U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510) urging their support of anti-apartheid sanctions legislation currently before Congress in light of the most recent wave of repression inside South Africa (for more information, contact the Washington Office on Africa). 4) Express your outrage against this repression by joining in demonstra­ ti ons in your community" organi zed by ·the Free South Afri ca Movement. Or, if no demonstrations have yet been organized in your cpmmunity, hold a candle­ light vigil or other form of public demonstration. 5) Inform and educate others in your community, church, uni on and/or university and urge their action..