NINE NEW BANS
Four officials of the Motor Assembly and Component Workers' Union (Macwusa) were served with two-year banning orders in March which confine them to Port Elizabeth and prevent them entering office and factory premises. All had been held nine months in detention following industrial unrest in Port Elizabeth last June, and were released without charge in February.
Dumile MAKANDA, Chairman of Macwusa, was banned on 31 March. Zandile MJUZA, Macwusa official, Sipho PITYANA and Maxwell MADLINGOZI, both organisers of Macwusa and Gwusa (General Workers' Union), were banned two days earlier. The ban on Sipho Pityana presents a further problem, since his banned brother, Lizo PITYANA, with whom he lives, may not communicate with other banned persons. The Pityanas' legal representative is to apply for relaxation of this condition.
Two post-graduate students at the University of Witwatersrand, Keith COLEMAN and Clive VAN HEERDEN, were served with two-year banning orders on 2 April shortly after their release from detention. The two were detained last October during a security police swoop on the offices of the student magazine, SASPU National, on which they worked as co-editors. In the same week as their bans were served, SASPU National was also banned.
Two former detainees, Nicholas HAYSOM (29) and Morris SMITHERS (30), who were released at the same time as Coleman and Van Heerden, have also been banned. Nicholas Haysom, a lawyer and research officer at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of Witwatersrand, was banned for two years in April. Haysom is a former President of NUSAS and a co-ordinator of the Detainees Parents Support Committee. He was detained in November when a number of trade unionists, labour experts and students were arrested. His ban restricts him to Johannesburg and prevents him practising as a lawyer or completing his masters degree in law, as he may not attend any educational institution or court.
Morris Smithers, a rural development worker at the Environmental Development Agency and a member of the anti-Group Areas organisation, Actstop, was served with a two-year banning order outside the Johannesburg Regional Court where he was attending the inquest into the death in detention of Dr Neil Aggett. However, the Minister of Justice announced that he would grant the necessary exemption to allow Smithers to give evidence, should he be called as a witness. Smithers is considered by the Aggett family's counsel to have vital information about Dr Aggett's detention.
Pravin GORDHAN, an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress, was banned for three years in May on his release from detention. Along with other prominent members of the Indian community he was detained last November following the successful anti-SAIC campaign. During his detention he was admitted to the psychiatric ward of a Durban hospital.
RENEWALS
Dr Mamphela RAMPHELE, former superintendent of the Zanempilo Clinic, the banned Black Community Programme's health centre near King William's Town, had her ban renewed for a further two years on its expiry in May. Detained in August 1976, she was banned on release the following April and removed to the remote township of Lenyente in the northern Transvaal where she set up a medical practice. In 1978 her banning order was amended to further restrict her, and in particular to prevent her visiting two outstations of her practice which were subsequently forced to close.
Father Smangaliso MKHATSHWA, secretary general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, was banned for a further three years when his previous five-year order expired on 30 April. The terms of the new order are unchanged and he remains restricted to the Pretoria magisterial district. He may not leave his parish between 6pm and 6am, or receive visitors at his home.
Mooroogiah Danabathy NAIDOO, a former Durban attorney now living in exile in Britain, had his ban renewed for a further two years in May. He was first banned for five years in 1972 on his release from Robben Island after a five-year sentence for political activities. His ban was renewed on expiry in 1977.
SEVEN BANS LIFTED
The following seven people had their bans lifted in May. They include two journalists and three members of the banned Black People's Convention (BPC).
- Don MATTERA, a poet and sub-editor of the 'Star' newspaper, who had been under banning orders since November 1973, but permitted to continue his work at the 'Star'. His present ban was due to expire in October 1983.
- Charles NQAKULA, a former senior reporter on the 'Daily Dispatch' and acting president of the Media Workers' Association (MWASA), banned last July for two-and-a-half years until December 1983.
- Horatius Vuyisile MDLELENI, a former executive member of the Black People's Convention (PBC), a poet and a director of the black writers' association, MEDUPE, banned in December 1978 for five years.
- Andrew MBILINI, banned for five years in February 1979, and Thabo Vincent SEHUME, banned for five years in May 1978 — both members of BPC.
- Lybon MABASA, a founder member and the secretary of the Azanian People's Organisation, banned for five years in November 1978.
- A former Robben Island prisoner, Monde Collin MKUNQWANA, banned on his release in 1978 for five years until March 1983.
BANS EXPIRED
Banning orders served on the following persons have expired:
Mzwandile MAQINA (banned 4.7.77-31.3.82), playwright; Beauty Nosidima PITYANA (banned 6.4.77-31.3.82), social worker; Sibongile Albertina KUBHEKA (banned 12.5.77-31.3.82), former SASO office worker; Thembani Shadrack PHANTSI (banned June '77-30.4.82), former student; Silumko Solomon SOKUPA (banned 24.5.77-30.4.82), former SASO organiser.
