The open use of the army to help the police in an operation in Johannesburg's Western Coloured Township in June marks a further stage in the suppression of civil unrest. Structures for the carrying out of joint police and army operations and for their planning, have developed during the past few years.
The operation was mounted after several days of growing conflict between police and people in the area after demonstrations protesting at the Republican celebrations and subsequently at the detentions of a prominent student leader Aziz Jardine.
With clashes between police and demonstrators intensifying, a joint police-army action took place on 4 and 5 June. Defence Force troops cordoned off large areas of the township while police conducted house-to-house searches for people connected with the protests. Traffic police were also used to seal off all the entrances to areas being searched. Several people were detained for questioning on the first day of the operation and about 40 on the second day.
Ten days later on the eve of the 16 June commemoration, troops were reported to be on standby, ready to move into Soweto. Road blocks on all the entrances into Soweto were manned by police and military units.
These joint operations followed earlier ones, towards the end of the Anti-Republic Day Campaign, in the form of roadblocks near townships and searching of motorists, and in Durban army patrols in the streets.
The extent of the joint operations is difficult to gauge precisely. An express prohibition on reporting joint police-military operations against "terrorism", without official permission, was introduced by the Second Police Amendment Act of 1980. The Defence Act also places restrictions on the reporting of such actions.
The recent operations appear to have involved procedures established in the course of joint operations billed as "crime-sweeps", initiated in 1978. These first took place in March and April of that year, in Soweto, Alexandra and other Rand townships and in Hillbrow in Johannesburg. A police spokesman described the Soweto operation as designed to pioneer combined operations between police, army and traffic officers. Another police spokesman said "The army will be called in on all future operations to assist police in combating many offences".
There have been several reports of such operations subsequently. For example, army personnel were reported as involved in manning roadblocks and assisting the police on several occasions including: in the week preceding 16 June 1980; in October 1980 in Cape Town and Soweto; in March 1981; and, as noted above, in June 1981.
Most of these reported operations took place prior to, or around, the dates marked by major protests and demonstrations, even though they were presented as routine crime-sweeps.
Similar operations have also been mounted following major acts of sabotage. On some occasions army involvement is reported. Given the restrictions on reporting, even when there is no mention of military participation in roadblocks and other police operations, their involvement cannot be ruled out.
Apart from such roadblock and crime-sweep operations there were fragmentary reports of army action in the urban areas during the demonstrations and strikes of 1980. In one case a national serviceman was attacked in Batho township in Bloemfontein when his military vehicle broke down; in another case a journalist who defied a ban on entering an 'operational area' in Uitenhage said that he saw troops guarding a motor factory; and troops were reported to be ready to enforce the ban on meetings in Soweto in June of that year.
