Banning orders were renewed on three former members of the banned Christian Institute in October 1982. The three (Dr Beyers NAUDE, former director of the Institute, Rev Brian BROWN, former administrator, and Rev Theodore KOTZE, former Cape regional director), were banned for five years during the clampdown in October 1977 on black consciousness and other opposition organisations. The Christian Institute was a non-racial ecumenical body which published reports on the use of political detention and police torture.
For Brown and Kotze, who have been in exile since 1978, the new ban means that it remains an offence for them or their writings to be quoted or published in South Africa.
Dr Naude, whose ban was renewed for a further three years, remains restricted to the area of Johannesburg where he lives, and is unable to attend any gatherings except for prayer meetings. Under the terms of the new ban, however, he no longer has to report weekly to a police station.
Dr Naude's new order was the first to be issued under the new Internal Security Act of 1982. Under the act a banned person may, within 14 days of receiving an order, appeal against it to a Board of Review. Dr Naude decided not to appeal, since, in the words of his lawyer, this would 'lend credibility to a charade of justice': the Minister of Law and Order would still not have been obliged to give the reasons for his decision to serve the ban. However, the Minister of Law and Order said that the banning order would nevertheless be reviewed by the new Board.
Wideranging protests followed the renewed ban on Dr Naude. He became well-known as an opponent of apartheid after he left a prestigious position in the white section of the Dutch Reformed Church to become director of the Christian Institute at its inception in 1963. Dr Naude is now a member of the black section of the reformed church.
- The five-year banning order on Donald WOODS, former editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, who is now living in exile in Britain, was renewed on its expiry in October 1982.
CONTRAVENTIONS There have been several cases in which people have been charged with contravening their banning orders.
- The case of Jamalludien HAMDULAY, a former acting president of the South African Students' Association, who first appeared in Parow Regional Court in the Cape in December 1982, was resumed in March 1982. Hamdulay was alleged to have broken his banning order on two counts; by working at a factory that was situated outside his area of restriction, the Wynberg Magisterial District; and by not having the necessary permission to work in the factory under the terms of his order. He had been dismissed from his previous employment without reason being given five months after being banned in November 1980.
After four further hearings the case was adjourned until 17 November 1982. Hamdulay pleaded not guilty at each court appearance.
- A former black consciousness leader, Peter JONES, banned for five years in February 1979, was detained by security police on 22 July 1982 and released four days later to appear in Somerset West Magistrates Court on contravention charges. After two further hearings, on 5 November Jones was found guilty in the Strand Regional Court of breaking his banning order by twice attending gatherings. He was suspended for three years.
- Priscilla JANA, a lawyer banned for five years in August 1979, appeared in the Johannesburg Regional Court on two occasions, in July and August 1982, on contraventions charges. She was not asked to plead and the case was postponed until 16 November.
- The former chairman of the Motor Assembly and Component Workers Union, Dumile MAKANDA, banned for two years on his release from detention in March 1982, was charged in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court in November 1982 with contravening his banning order and possessing banned documents. The charges followed his arrest by security police outside the Ford Motor Company Headquarters in Port Elizabeth, outside the area to which he is confined.
The case was postponed until 6 December and a further restriction was added to his banning order requiring him to report regularly to the police.
EXPIRED BANS A number of banning orders have expired or been lifted.
- A ban issued in October 1977 - that served on Rev David RUSSELL - was not renewed on expiry. Russell, an Anglican minister in Cape Town, was an active campaigner against the plight of squatter communities there, and was arrested in August 1977 during a protest against the demolition of squatter camps in the Cape Peninsula.
