At least 2,000 people have been arrested in the past two months. The refusal of the authorities to disclose the facts makes detailed reporting impossible, but it is evident that those arrested fall into several categories:
(1) Terrorism Act detainees - numbers unknown, but some of those listed on pp. 8-9 are being held under this Act.
(2) Internal Security Amendment Act (Section 10 (1)). This new preventive detention measure, allowing for imprisonment without trial for up to a year at a time, was introduced in May. It was invoked for the first time on 15 July by a proclamation bringing the clause into effect for 12 months in the Transvaal. Regulations promulgated at the same time indicated that the victims of this measure are to be treated like awaiting-trial prisoners under the Prisons Act; i.e. they may wear their own clothes, purchase stationery, books and newspapers with their own money, and (subject to police permission) communicate in writing with outsiders. On 12 August the preventive detention clause was extended to the whole country and a spate of new detentions followed. On 20 August the Minister of Justice revealed that 52 persons were being held under this clause. Giving reasons why he would not release names, he said that people held for questioning under Section 10 (which does not refer to interrogation at all) were "not necessarily guilty", and publication of names might therefore be unfair; also, it might stimulate unrest - "By indiscriminately giving names you make the members (of an affected organisation) annoyed. You may actually even stimulate trouble, whereas I am trying to stop it." A week later the number of detainees of this sort had risen to 77, Mr. Kruger disclosed at a press conference, where he also announced that a further 744 persons were being detained "for various crimes and interrogation."
The new wave of detentions in mid-August was aimed chiefly at black leaders. All the executive members of the Black Parents Association, formed in Soweto in June to voice the concern of the adults, to show their solidarity with the youth, and to act as an umbrella for other black organisations, were arrested except for Dr. Manas Buthelezi. Another target was the equally new Soweto Students Representative Council, a youth coordinating body which appeared to have much influence in the earlier stages. Its president, Mr. Tsietsi Mashinini, who is also Transvaal president of the SA Students Movement, was hunted by the police who offered a reward of R500 for his capture, but he eluded arrest. SASO and BPC activists, as well as some banned persons and former political prisoners, were also among those detained.
(3) Arrests pending prosecution. Dozens of cases of alleged arson, looting, public violence, sabotage and other offences arising out of the riots in many centres are coming before the courts. Press estimates of the numbers arrested on these charges range from 1,500 to 1,800, but only a small proportion of these have actually appeared so far. The capacity of the police and the courts to handle this work appears to be over-stretched. Most of the accused are being repeatedly remanded in custody, except for younger pupils who are mostly being released into the custody of their parents while investigations continue. The imprisonment of large numbers of such youngsters caused concern in the first month of the disturbances when many Africans had been shot, no casualty lists were being published, and anxious parents had no means of establishing the fate of missing children. The numbers involved in some of the cases are so great that the possibility of a fair trial must be slight. Sketchy press coverage of the trials increases this risk. A few of the many examples:
- On 8 July 47 Africans appeared in Soweto Magistrates Court on charges of public violence, arson and house-breaking. One was released on R1,000 bail, the rest remanded in custody. * 50 Africans appeared in the Mamelodi (near Pretoria) Magistrates Court charged with sabotage. * 74 pupils of a high school in the QwaQwa homeland were charged in the Witzieshoek Magistrates Court after a demonstration in which school property was extensively damaged. They were remanded to 9 August. * 167 African students of the University of the North, charged with public violence after a disturbance on 18 June when a hall was set alight, were remanded to 15 November in the Pietersburg Regional Court and released on R50 bail, provided they do not set foot on the campus until the trial is over. Parents protested at the condition because it would prevent students from writing examinations and attending classes. * 49 people appeared in Witbank Magistrates Court charged with public violence. One minor was allowed out, the others were remanded in custody to 20 August.
(4) Proclamation 400 detentions (see Transkei story p. 10)
PROHIBITION OF GATHERINGS
The Riotous Assemblies Act has been repeatedly invoked to prohibit gatherings. The first time was on 18 June when all open-air gatherings except bona fide sports events or meetings expressly authorised by the Minister or by a magistrate were prohibited until 26 June. The ban was renewed until 7 July, renewed for a second time until 31 July and again for a third time on 5 August with effect to the end of August.
Local authorities sometimes went further: the West Rand Bantu Administration Board, one of the demonstrators' main targets, ordered the postponement of all weekend sporting events in Soweto. The Chief Magistrate of Johannesburg, exercising his powers under the same Act, delayed the opening of a controversial new play in Soweto, "The Trial" by Rev. M. Maqina, by 48 hours. He also banned the Institute of Black Studies' proposed conference on "Black Perspectives" where papers were to have been presented by Ezekiel Mphahlele, Herbert Vilikazi, Mphiwa Mbata, Jake Gerwel and Fatima Meer.
