The cases reported below are but a few examples of deaths at the hands of the police and other forces upholding apartheid. At least twenty people die every month from police shootings alone.
MXENGE INQUEST
A Durban inquest court found on 23 September 1983 that the lawyer, Griffiths MXENGE, was killed by a person or persons unknown.
Mxenge's body was found on 20 November 1981 with 45 stab wounds and the throat slit near the Umlazi cycle stadium in Durban. Nonyamezelo Mxenge, Griffiths Mxenge's wife, alleged at the time of the murder that he was killed by people who were opposed to his political beliefs. She said that she was convinced he was kidnapped on his way home from work, killed and then his body dumped. Mxenge, who was imprisoned on Robben Island and banned for three years, defended many major political cases.
Representatives of the Mxenge family said after the inquest finding that the manner in which he had been killed suggested that there had been a cover-up, as robbers would not have taken the trouble to inflict 45 wounds which penetrated vital organs, nor waited four days before burning his car on the Swaziland border. Other discrepancies were found in the investigating officer's evidence which left the family and others in doubt over the findings.
MKHIZE SHOOTING
The police captain who shot the Driefontein community leader, Saul MKHIZE, in April 1983, appeared in the Volksrust Magistrates Court on 17 November and pleaded not guilty to the charge. No evidence was led and the case was postponed to 28 February.
Driefontein residents had called a meeting to protest against their proposed removal from the area to make way for a dam. Saul Mkhize was addressing the meeting when two police-men arrived to declare it illegal. After protests the police fired teargas and then left the school grounds where the meeting was being held. Outside the grounds they fired at the crowd and killed Mkhize.
Earlier in 1983 two other residents of Driefontein, Themba MANANA (38) and Zephia SIBANYONI (16), died at the Dirkiesdorp police station, where they were being held on an allegation of stock theft. The police captain who shot Saul Mkhize came from this same station.
LEBOWA DEATHS
A trainee magistrate from the Lebowa bantustan, Azaph Hope THEBETHE (27), died after police kicked and punched him at a road-block near Potgietersrus on 19 August 1983. A colleague was also assaulted and sustained an injury to his eye.
The police claim that Thebethe was slapped with an open hand and fell to the ground, hitting his head on the tarred road. According to a member of Thebethe's family he was stopped and asked for his pass, but before he could produce it he was forcefully dragged out of his car and assaulted. He was kicked and punched and died on the spot.
In another incident an 18 year old physically disabled high school student was found dead in the Mankweng Police Station in Lebowa where he was being held in connection with a charge of stock theft.
Thabo TSOLO was arrested on 12 August but on 17 August his family were informed that he had died. They were told that he had been found hanging in a courtyard in the morning but since the prison cells were locked at night the parents felt this an unlikely explanation. The police had also been informed of the family's intention to have their own doctor present during the post mortem examination, but an examination was held without the family's knowledge.
POLICE SHOOTINGS
The police shot 502 people during the first seven months of 1983, killing 140 of them. In 1982, 188 people were killed in police shootings and 551 wounded.
The majority of those shot are said to have been resisting or escaping from arrest. Others who are shot are alleged to have been 'guerillas', 'rioters' and those caught in 'crossfire'.
There figures apply to the South African police only and do not include those shot by other police forces. During the first six months of 1983 the South African Railways Police shot 33 people, killing seven of them.
INKATHA VIOLENCE
Five students died and at least 100 were injured at the University of KwaZulu on 29 October 1983 when members of the Inkatha organisation, which is headed by the KwaZulu bantustan leader Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, attacked students who had attempted to stop a meeting addressed by the Chief.
The students had boycotted lectures and held a peaceful demonstration on 28 October because they had fears that the coming of Chief Buthelezi would result in violence. Earlier in the year he had visited the Durban-Westville campus and students were beaten up by Inkatha followers. Inkatha is unpopular among students on the campus because they identify it as a product of apartheid.
In a second incident, Inkatha Youth members attacked a prayer meeting in Hammarsdale, Natal, on 20 November 1983. The meeting had been called by the Mpumalanga Youth Organisation, an affiliate of the United Democratic Front. Police had to escort the UDF supporters out of the hall.
Inkatha members burnt a bus, slashed the tyres and smashed many car windows outside the hall. People who attempted to put out the fire were attacked.
