Trade unionists, rent protesters, and members of COSAS were the main groups affected by recent detentions. At the end of May there were a number of arrests of trade unionists and student activists following anti-Republic Day demonstrations. Those detained included Andrew BORAINE, President of National Union of South African Students, (NUSAS), Joseph MAVI, President of Black Municipal Workers' Union (BMWU), Siza NJIKELANA, Vice-President of South African Allied Workers' Union (SAAWU).
In early May the Ciskei Intelligence Services (CIS) again acted against trade unionists from SAAWU. The current list names twenty Mdantsane de-tainees, ten of whom are confirmed as members of SAAWU and former employees of Wilson-Rowntree in East London. They are expected to be charged with sabotage. On 30 April Brigadier Charles Sebe, Secretary for CIS, stated that 21 former Wilson-Rowntree employees were detained, 4 of them in hospital after going on hunger-strike. Two SAAWU officials Thozamile GOWETA and Sisa NJIKALANA staged a similar protest during their detention in 1980.
It was reported in FOCUS 34 p.8 that four Orlando post office workers had been detained. They are counter-clerk Ben RABOEANE and telephone technicians Bob MABASO, Alpheus KHUMALO and Elias MOSUNKUTU. It is now believed they may have been arrested because of their plans to establish a trade union for post office and telecommunications workers. Originally detained under Section 22 GLA, according to their lawyers, they are now subject to Section 6 of the Terrorism Act.
Another trade unionist recently detained is Makhosini KHUMALO of BAWU who was charged under the Riotous Assemblies Act.
The detention of COSAS members continues with six names added to the list of new detainees. All are from the Mamelodi branch and on 1 April an emergency meeting to discuss the detentions was called at St. Francis Church. No reasons for the detentions have been given but COSAS has played a leading role in the anti-Republic Day protests, as well as in the education protests.
The Minister of Police, in reply to a question in Parliament, said that during 1980 there were 127 people under 18 years detained in terms of the security laws (95 males and 32 females).
He refused to say what the ages of those detained were, nor what laws they were detained under. Nor would he say for how long they were detained. "I consider it not to be in the public interest" he said, "to disclose all the information required".
Chief George MATANZIMA stated in the Transkei Assembly that expert evidence showed that former Interior Minister Saul NDZUMO who died in detention in September 1980 had died of natural causes. Reports on post mortems conducted by pathologists for the State and the Ndzumo family have not yet been released.
On 27 May Brigadier Rodney KESWA, Commissioner of the Defence Force, was arrested in Umtata along with Colonel R. H. M. LUGONGOLO and Colonel A FUMBA. Lieutenant-Colonel Ron REID-DALY, former leader of the Selous Scouts, has been appointed acting army commander.
- James KATI, executive member of the Democratic Progressive Party detained in Transkei since 6 January, was released on 2 March. Kati, a former Robben Island prisoner and 1980 detainee, was questioned about alleged recruiting of people for military training abroad.
- Gregory FREDERICKS, an East London teacher detained since 26 July 1980, was released and resumed work at the beginning of March.
- Mzwandile MSOKI, a fieldworker with the Border Dependents Conference who was detained in June 1980 for attending a 16 June memorial meeting, was released from Fort Glamorgan prison on 30 March. The terms of his detention changed from Sec. 22 GLA to Sec. 6 TA and finally to being held as a potential witness but he was released without giving evidence. Msoki served a 6 month sentence in 1979 for refusing to testify against GXANYANA and others and was detained in Transkei in 1976-7 and 1978.
- AZAPO members Kehla MTHEMBU, George WAUCHOPE, Thabo NDABENI, Fora MATHO-BELA and William MODUPO (NDUPO), detained on 4 April following rent-rise protests in Tembisa, were released on 20 April. AZAPO National Secretary for Health Duke MORE was released on 18 April and the remaining detainees with one exception were reportedly released in April. This issue of FOCUS lists a further ten people detained for a similar period in Tembisa. Amanda KWADI, a social worker and executive member of the Womens Federation was released on 26 May after spending more than 50 days in detention under Sec. 6 TA.
- Michael LETHOKO, reported detained in FOCUS 34 p.8, was released shortly afterwards. Along with three others he was detained for questioning when deported from Botswana in January 1981. On 25 February the South African Minister of Police told the House of Assembly in Cape Town that no refugees deported from Botswana were then in detention and that no charges had been brought against those returned.
