BANS AND RESTRICTIONS
CONTRAVENTIONS OF BANNING ORDERS
A number of people have been charged with contravening their banning orders.
- MOKI CEKISANI was sentenced on 26 May in the Port Elizabeth Magistrates Court to two months imprisonment suspended for three years. He pleaded guilty, saying that he had taken a sick neighbour to a hospital (Evening Post 26.5.81).
Formerly the local president of the banned Black People's Convention he had been detained several times and was banned in 1978 for five years (FOCUS 13 p.6; 21 p.13; 27 p.14).
- REV. MZWADILE MAQINA was sentenced on 22 July in the Port Elizabeth Regional Court to 90 days imprisonment, 60 of which were suspended for five years, after being convicted of breaking his banning order, by receiving guests at his home. He was granted bail pending the outcome of an application for leave to appeal (RDM 23.7.81). Rev Maqina was convicted in April on an earlier charge of contravening his ban by failing to report to a police station (FOCUS 35 p.6).
- WINNIE MANDELA was acquitted on 24 August in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on a charge of allowing a visitor to her home without permission. Her defence was that the alleged visitor, Mathews Malefane, was in fact a lodger, assisting her and who had become part of her household (S 25.8.81).
- TANYA ANNE SIMONS appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court charged with contravening her banning order by leaving the magisterial district of Wynberg on 25 April. The charge was dropped (CT 1.8.81).
Her banning order, which was due to expire on 3 October was imposed during the government clampdown on trade union workers and advisors in November 1976. She was a librarian at the University of Cape Town at the time (see FOCUS 8 p.3).
ORDER EXPIRES
Albertina SISULU's banning order was not renewed when it expired on 31 July. When the first order was imposed in 1964 she was forced to leave her job as nursing sister and subsequent five years bans were imposed as the previous one expired until the last, less stringent ban of 1979. This did not include house arrest, she was no longer required to report to the police station on Wednesdays and could leave her home at any time. She was still restricted to Soweto (S 31.7.81).
The day after her ban expired she said she was going to Durban "expecting to see many changes in the cities... And then I will apply for a passport. I don't think they'll give me one but I'll try" (S. Exp. 2.8.81).
Albertina Sisulu's first political speech in nearly two decades was made a week after the expiry of her ban at a meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of a mass protest against the carrying of passes. Hope kept her going during the years of banning orders: "Hope that one day we will be free and the knowledge that the struggle is going on" (New York Times 24.8.81).
24 ORDERS WITHDRAWN
The Minister of Justice withdrew banning orders on 24 people at the beginning of August. Many of these orders were imposed at the end of 1976, against trade unionists and people involved in labour affairs. They were due to expire in October.
Among the people whose orders were lifted are Ishmael MKHABELA, founder chairman of the Azanian People's Organisation, and black consciousness leaders Radchiba MATIME and Kenneth MATIME. On the weekend before 12 October a meeting to commemorate the anniversary of Steve Biko's death was held at the Anglican Church of St Francis of Assisi in Rockville. Ishmael Mkhabela told a large audience that "In our struggle we shall never be defeated" (Star 19.9.81).
Other people released from restrictions include former officials of the Metal and Allied Workers Union, Aphaeus MTHETWA (general secretary), Sipho KUBEKA (Transvaal branch secretary), Moses NDLOVU (organiser in Maritzburg), and Gavin ANDERSON (organiser in the Transvaal). Gavin Anderson has since been detained (see latest DETENTIONS) (RDM 1.8.81; Tel 10.8.81).
Judy FAVISH, who was convener of the Western Province Literary Project at UCT, has been treated for infectious meningitis at City Hospital, Cape Town (CT 19.8.81).
Nohle Hilary MOHAPE, who was banned on 18 December 1978, said she would now like to arrange a service of commemoration for her husband, Mapetla Mohape, who died in detention in August 1976 (DD 12.8.81).
NO RELAXATION OF ORDERS
Three people have applied for relaxation of banning orders: all three have been refused.
Russell MAPHANGA, former Robben Island prisoner and detainee under the Internal Security Act, who has a dependent child, asked for relaxation of his orders to permit him to be interviewed for a job at a factory in Umlazi. His order prevents him from entering a factory as well as Indian, White, Coloured and African residential areas apart from Umlazi, a township on the outskirts of Durban. Permission was refused after appeal to the Minister of Justice. Russell Maphanga has been out of work since July 1977 and has not received any grants from the state (ST 14.6.81; see also FOCUS 20 p.13; 24 p.6; 27 p.4).
Jamaludien Shaik HAMDULAY of Rylands Estate has been refused permission to attend a technical college to complete an engineering diploma. Served with a five year banning order in November 1980, he has been unemployed since July, when he was ordered to leave the Maitland engineering company where he worked by two security policemen (CT 28.8.81).
Marimuthu SUBRAMONEY, banned on 29 December 1980 and a former Daily News reporter, has been refused relaxation of the terms of his three year order. He applied for this in June to enable him to work more effectively in his job as a life assurance consultant. He is under house arrest between 7 pm and 6 am during the week, at weekends and on all public holidays. (Star 8.9.81; see FOCUS 33 p.5).
POLICE ACTION AGAINST STRIKERS
The South African Police have been called out every three days over the last two years to the scene of labour disputes and strikes.
The police have been called out 90 times to the scene of labour disputes, 34 times to work stoppages and 147 times to strikes.
The figures were given in Parliament by the Minister of Police on 8 September (CT 9.9.81).
ATTACKS ON THE PRESS
The expulsion of one foreign correspondent in September and the appearance in court of another caused fears of still further restrictions on journalists by the South African government.
Cynthia STEVENS of Associated Press was given 14 days to leave the country after being denied accreditation since March. She has not been told why she must go. An official of the Department of Internal Affairs said it was not its policy to give explanations of such decisions (T 2.10.81).
Nathan GIBSON, Johannesburg-based foreign correspondent for United Press International (UPI), appeared in Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on 8 September. The case was postponed to 5 October when the charges were withdrawn without any explanation (Tel 6.10.81).
He was charged with a breach of Article 118 of the Defence Act on 20 June 1980 when it is alleged that he "wrongfully or unlawfully published a statement or comment or rumour relating to the activities of the South African Defence Force which was calculated to prejudice or embarrass the Government or to alarm or depress members of the public" (T 25.8.81; RDM 9.9.81).
He was interviewed by military police after reporting a military operation which he witnessed. The veracity of his report was not questioned, but it was alleged that he did not have permission from the Minister of Defence to publish it.
In June 1980 with demonstrations and strikes taking place throughout the country, 7,500 workers at Uitenhage were on strike at 10 companies, including 3,500 at the Volkswagen plant. Police declared the whole of Uitenhage an operational area, a term previously used only for areas of military operations in the border areas (FOCUS 30 p.1).
Journalists were only allowed into certain parts of the town and under police guidance. At the time reports appeared in some foreign papers that a journalist defying the ban had seen troops guarding the Volkswagen factory (FOCUS 31 p.10).
Die Transvaler used Nathan Gibson's UPI report and was subsequently charged in August 1981 with breaching the Defence Act. Die Transvaler admitted guilt and was fined R200. Earlier in the year the editor of Die Transvaler gave evidence before the Steyn Commission, and said that the Defence Act as it related to the press, was too vague and far-reaching. He recommended greater clarification of the rights of the press (Star 19.1.80; T 25.8.81).
The charge against Nathan Gibson marked an unprecedented move against the press by the military authorities. Gibson was determined to fight the case and said: "It is essential we do not give in otherwise it could set a precedent for similar action against all foreign correspondents". He believed senior members of the government were not aware that action was being taken against him (Tel 24.8.81; T 25.8.81).
Although the charge was withdrawn, this case suggests that the military wishes to use to the full its powers to control information under the Defence Act as it extends its operations in the urban areas (see FOCUS 36 p.5).
