Security police raided a number of church and black organisations on 23 March in a nation-wide operation.
In Pretoria, the SA Catholic Bishops Conference house was searched and a former detainee Father S.P. Mkhatshwa questioned. The home of the Lutheran parish priest in Mamelodi East, Rev. E.K. Legotlo, (detained 7-23 December) was also searched. In both instances the object of the search appeared to be documents relating to "Heroes' Day" memorial services called by the Black People's Convention (BPC).
In Johannesburg the Soweto homes of certain SASO and BPC members were raided, together with the SASO and BPC offices in Braamfontein. Documents were taken. The legal office of Mr Shun Chetty was also searched.
In Cape Town the offices raided were in the Ecumenical Centre in Mowbray, housing the offices of the Christian Institute, the Athlone Advice Office (run by the SA Institute of Race Relations and the Black Sash), the Anglican Board of Social Responsibility, the SA Committee for Higher Education (SACHED) and the Christian magazine South African Outlook.
On 18 March the homes of two Cape Town churchmen – the Rt. Rev. Patrick Matolengwe, suffragan bishop, and Rev. David Russell of the Ministers Fraternal of Langa, Guguletu and Nyanga – were raided. Copies of the Ministers Fraternal reports on police incitement and a "Message for 1977" were confiscated.
A month later, the SA Catholic Bishops Conference house was again raided, and its secretary general Fr. Dominic Scholten was arrested and charged with possession of a banned publication, the Christian Institute report on torture.
