On 29 May the office of the President of Botswana issued a statement saying that a number of Batswana had been detained in recent weeks by the South African Security Police. Those detained were questioned about South African student refugees in Botswana. The statement added that whenever such cases are reported to the office of the President, representations are made to the South African government but there is never any guarantee that the SA authorities will pay heed to such representations.
While other instances were mentioned, the case which gave rise to this statement was that of Galentnone Gurmel MAKUKU (28) who was detained on 7 April under the Terrorism Act and only released on 3 July after formal protests from the Botswana government.
A student at the Swazi campus of the University of Botswana and Swaziland, Makuku was arrested while driving into South Africa with Menzi Khumalo allegedly on suspicion of transporting arms into Natal. Makuku was held in solitary confinement at Pietermartizburg and beaten and burnt with cigarettes during interrogation. On release he was given a rail warrant back to Swaziland.
The Botswana Government also named four other Batswana who were detained in South Africa on 19 October 1977 and had not been heard of since, although the SA police claimed that they had been released the following day. Their names were given as Alan JACOBS, Henry MANYUNA, Elvis SETSWERERE and Joseph TABENGWEA
