Increased political activity throughout South Africa has led to a sharp escalation in the number of detentions. Widespread protests continued against education standards, cost of living increases in rents and bus fares, and the government's constitutional proposals. Repression was particularly intense in the Ciskei bantustan.
The list of known detainees, although lengthy, is thought to represent only a fraction of those actually being held. In September the Detainees Parents Support Committee (DPSC), the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) released a list of detainees whose details they had verified. They drew attention to the tight restrictions imposed by the police on information concerning detentions and to the growing lack of public interest in detentions.
The list compiled for 1983 by DPSC, SACC and SAIRR listed 304 people detained between January and the end of August. Of these 114 had been released by 1 September, 58 had been charged and 132 were still in detention. The escalation after July is clearly shown. Between January–June there were 123 reported detentions; in July there were 67 and in August 114.
STUDENT DETENTIONS: Student leaders at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) reported an upsurge in the number of student detentions during 1983 which they related to the increased political activity countrywide. Fifteen Wits students have been detained in 1983, most of them subsequently released without charge, Brendon Barry, chairman of Wits Students' Representative Council, drew attention to student involvement in the formation of the United Democratic Front, the Transvaal Indian Congress and various community-based resistance movements. Tiego Moseneke, another student leader who was himself detained, said that Wits students were suffering a security clampdown similar to 1976 and 1981. Police raided houses in Johannesburg on 23 August and detained four people. Others were held for some hours for questioning. Carl NIEHAUS and Jansie LOURENS appeared in court at the end of September. Darryl GLAZER and Robert WHITECROSS, were released after a week. Carl NIEHAUS is a B.A. student at Wits and a member of the Young Christian Students (YCS). In December 1982 he was given a suspended sentence for possessing banned publications.
YOUNG CHRISTIAN STUDENTS: A number of other YCS members have also been detained recently and some held for several months. George Sello SERIPE, Sydney Rapulana MOLOKANE and Samuel RATHOLO were all detained in early July. Only Molokane had been released by late September. Ratholo was a close friend of Molifi Paris MALATJI who was shot dead in Protea police station on 5 July. Another YCS member, Catherine HUNTER, who is one of the movement's national team, was detained on 6 September.
AZASO: Three members of the Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO), including the national president, were detained in early September. Tiego MOSENEKE, a Bachelor of Commerce student at Wits University was elected during AZASO's third annual congress in July, when the organisation also committed itself to the aims of the Freedom Charter and pledged full support to the United Democratic Front. In his capacity as chairman of Wits Black Students Society Moseneke organised support for SWAPO at the university when a former guerilla addressed a student group there. Moseneke and two others (later believed to be Bogoso MOGALE and Lazarus MPHASANE) were detained on 2 September. Although the exact date of their release is not known, Moseneke was one of the main speakers at a mass meeting on detention at Wits University on 15 September.
BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS WEEK: Police detained a number of people in connection with a Black Consciousness week organised to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the death in detention of Steve BIKO on 12 September 1977. Three members of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) from Lenasia were held: Haroon PATEL, the chairman, Ashraf JOOMAH, vice-chairman and Sathasivan TOONEN. In addition police detained three members of the Azanian Students Movement (AZASM) at Wits: Ahmet JOOMAH, head of the education secretariat, and two other members, Gary MOONSAMY and a man identified only as SALIM.
BUS BOYCOTT: Trade unionists and members of the Congress of South African School Students (COSAS) were detained in the Eastern Cape following transport protests in Port Elizabeth. A bus boycott was launched on 31 July at a meeting organised by the Port Elizabeth Youth Congress (PEYCO) and the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO). In early September it was reported that two trade unionists, Jackson MDONGWE and Mr HASHE, as well as four COSAS members had been detained. The students were reportedly due to give evidence in a trial concerning the boycott appeal.
TRADE UNIONISTS: Two officials of the General and Allied Workers Union were detained on 30 August and held for a week. Amos MASONDO and Elliot SHABANGU were both taken from their homes in Soweto. Shabangu has been detained a number of times before, most recently in March 1982, and is one of the vice-presidents of the Transvaal section of the United Democratic Front.
WITNESSES DETAINED: A Parliamentary answer on 29 June confirmed the detention of four Kwamashu youths who had been held in Durban since January 1983. The Minister of Law and Order said that Quaka NYEMBE (19), Cedric Bee VUMA (20), Thulami DUBE (22) and Thabani NQCOBO (17) were detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act between 20–22 January 1983. After four months in detention they were redetained on 11 May under Section 31, which allows the detention of potential state witnesses, and were still being held under this provision in June. Dube was being visited by a district surgeon at least once a week for what were described as 'minor complaints'. Even after this report in Hansard police refused to confirm the detentions.
AIR FORCE HQ EXPLOSION: A number of people were detained following the ANC attack on the headquarters of the South African Air Force in Pretoria on 20 May. Some were released after questioning, others were reportedly held under the Internal Security Act. The only person named was Anna MASEKO. She is the widow of Ezekiel MASEKO, a taxi-driver who was killed in the blast. At a press conference at the beginning of August police claimed that Maseko and a friend, Freddy SHONGWE, who both had criminal records, were jointly responsible for the blast in which they and seventeen others were killed. Police alleged the ANC had hired them to carry out the blast, a claim categorically denied by the ANC and treated with some scepticism in the press. An inquest into the deaths was held in Pretoria in August. Anna Maseko was called as a witness and escorted from the court by security police after giving evidence. On 25 August the magistrate found Ezekiel Maseko and Shongwe guilty of causing the blast.
