In 1976 250,000 Africans were arrested for offences under the pass laws and influx control. This compared with nearly 270,000 in 1975.
At the end of January nearly a thousand Africans were held in a series of night raids in the Cape Town townships by influx control officers. Some 600 were arrested on the night of 27 January and over 300 more on 28 and 31 January. Over 400 appeared in court subsequently. According to Bantu Administration Board officials, these raids were routine Affairs by inspectors carrying out their normal duties: "We have some 50 inspectors actively out on the road and 200-300 people are often arrested each day". The larger than usual numbers were explained by the fact that "since June the inspectors have been looking after their buildings. Now they again have time to implement influx control in the townships".
In March a police riot squad raided a hostel in Wolhunter, Johannesburg, and arrested 900 men, of whom 600 were later charged, mainly with trespassing and illegal possession of liquor. During the same month police in the Lowveld arrested over 700 Africans working on farms as part of a three-week operation to check their permits. In Nelspruit 26 Africans appeared in court charged with being illegal immigrants, though they were said to have been working for some years on the same farm, part-owned by ex-Foreign Minister Dr Muller.
It appears that the SA government is, contrary to some reports, intent on tightening up influx control regulations. Proposals in the Bantu Laws Amendment bill presented to Parliament in March include * increases in maximum penalties for pass law offenders from R20 to R100 * increases in maximum penalties for employers of 'illegal' African workers from R50 to R100, with the option of a prison sentence for second offences.
Together with the enforcement of 'Transkei citizenship' on people otherwise legally resident in the urban areas these moves indicate that official policy is to increase pass law control. Only a month earlier the official Viljoen Commission of inquiry into the penal system, which reported to parliament in February, recommended that the pass laws be depenalised.
