It continued to be difficult to give accurate figures for the number of people in detention, as a result of police reluctance to release information. At the beginning of December 1983 the South African Police (SAP) rejected a request for such details, saying, 'the SAP do not answer inquiries of this nature'. The Detainees Parents Support Committee estimated that more than 400 people were held under security legislation during 1983. It is not clear whether this figure includes the bantustans.
Samuel Mugivhela TSHIKHUDO died in detention in the Venda bantustan on 20 January. Tshikhudo was one of a number of people detained in early November in connection with guerilla activities. Lawyers and family were refused access to the detainees who were held under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act (1967) which is still in force in the Venda bantustan although repealed in the rest of the country.
In November 1983 security police in Pietermaritzburg made a number of detentions including three doctors from Edendale hospital: Dr Nomasonto 'Sonto' NKOSI, Dr Faith MATLAOPANE and Dr Tom MVUYO. In addition three children of Simon GQUBULE, a leading Methodist churchman and vice-president of the South African Council of Churches, were held. Thandi GQUBULE (aged 17) and PHUMLA (15) were released within 24 hours after making statements to the police but DUMA (18) continued to be held. Duma Gqubule was previously detained in 1982. Also detained were Dikobe MARTINS, Sipho SHEZI, Aubrey NGCOBO, Andile REVE, Gordon Sibusiso NGCOTIO, Mlungisi MAPHAMULO and George MARTINS (the last was released after 24 hours). Andile Reve is an executive member of AZASO. Seven others were reported to be members of the Matiwane Youth League. Maphumulo, an executive member, was detained on 28 November after releasing a press statement condemning detention without trial. Matiwane's Kop, a black-owned farming area 30 kilometres north of Ladysmith, is defined as a 'black-spot' by the government. Its 10,000 residents have been fighting against threatened removal to the KwaZulu bantustan since 1978. The Commissioner of Police linked the detentions with that of Thembinkosi NGCOBO. Most of the people held in Pietermaritzburg were detained under the Criminal Procedure Act which allows 48 hours initial detention. It is not clear to what section they were transferred when this period elapsed. During 1983 the DPSC noted a tendency to use the Criminal Procedure Act to detain people in addition to the more usual security legislation.
A number of arrests were made during December of people allegedly involved in the armed struggle. It is unusual for there to be adequate reporting of such detentions and the majority of people concerned were unnamed. On 6 December 1983 police in Soweto detained a man alleged to be an ANC guerilla. A police spokesman said he was found in possession of limpet mines, hand grenades and explosives. The following day, again according to the police, the detained man accompanied them to a house in Eldorado Park, a coloured township outside Johannesburg. Shots were fired and a man and a woman were detained. Initial reports referred not to the woman's detention but to the fact that she had been injured in the shooting. A search allegedly uncovered a cache of arms including limpet and landmines, hand grenades and other explosives. On 15 December the head of the security police announced the detention of a person described as a 'well-known and trained ANC insurgent' in the Johannesburg area. A quantity of arms was reportedly seized. On 22 December police confirmed the detention of two Soweto men, Jabulani MAKHUBO and Victor MAKHUBO, who were picked up from their homes following the shootout in Eldorado Park. Both were detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act.
An investigation carried out by members of the regular and bantustan police forces in Mdantsane in the Ciskei bantustan led to the death of a regular policeman on 29 November 1983. Four policemen, two from each force, were reportedly involved in a shooting incident after entering an Mdantsane home. No arrests were made at the time. However, later the same day two men and a woman, allegedly the occupants of the house, were detained at another Mdantsane address. Police were searching for two other men, one believed to be suffering from gunshot wounds. Arms were reportedly found, including two automatic rifles.
Daluxolo GASA, a 19 year old youth detained in the Ciskei on 29 September, was released from a psychiatric hospital at the end of November. Two friends detained with Gasa but released the same day told his family that they had seen him being slapped on the face. Later they heard him screaming for ten minutes in a next-door room. Gasa's mother, supported by affidavits, sought an interdict restraining the police from unlawfully interrogating him or impairing his mental or physical health. However, this was rejected and her lawyers were told that no appeal could be heard before 1984. Meanwhile, a month after his detention, Gasa's mother was called to the surgery of the Zwelitsha district surgeon, where her son's condition appalled her: 'He was mad, a zombie. He was also filthy, riddled with lice and had lost a lot of weight. He couldn't walk, so I carried him on my back from the police van to the surgery.' Later that day he was committed to Tower Psychiatric Hospital in Fort Beaufort, having been diagnosed schizophrenic. Gasa's mother said he had had a history of epilepsy as a child but had responded to medication. He was completely normal when first detained. He had matriculated with a distinction in mathematics and was hoping to register for a pharmacy degree in February 1984. Interviewed in hospital, Gasa said the last thing he could remember was screaming as he was 'throttled, kicked and punched all over the body' soon after his arrest. After nearly a month in hospital he was released into the care of his parents.
On 21 October 1983 17 unnamed youths were detained in the Ciskei. Further details have since been reported including the names of most of the detainees. Police allegedly detained them 'in the bush' outside Mdantsane following an attack on a milk delivery truck from which three crates of milk were stolen. They were held under Section 26 of the National Security Act in connection with investigations into an alleged security offence. Sixteen of the youths were named: Mncedisi BANDE, Themba BONTSI, Fundile DAYI-MANI, Sipho DEWA, Zolile GQOLA, Themba LETSAKA, Sipho MANI, Lizo MANKAYI, Vusumzi MAQA, Sithembele MLOMBO, Mzimwamadoda NINGISE, Mphumelelo RANISI, Thamsanga SAKATI, Mncediso SITAMA, Mzingsisi SITHOLE, Mbulelo TENGWA.
Ben NOMOYI, an actor and playwright, was released from detention in the Ciskei bantustan on 17 November 1983. In mid-October he was admitted to hospital suffering from dehydration. Ntombazana BOTHA, a member of the Detainees Support Committee, was released at the beginning of December after a month's detention in the Ciskei bantustan. She was the first national Detainee Support Committee member to have been detained and at the time of her detention was working to assist families of victims of repression in the Eastern Cape. Three female members of the Congress of South African Students were released from detention on 2 December 1983. Zukusa FAKU, Nomase HOBANE and Nolinda MGABELA (previously unreported) were all detained on 4 August and held under Section 26 of the National Security Act at Mdantsane prison. Shortly after Faku's detention her 16 year old brother was shot dead by police in Mdantsane. The detainees had been on a hunger strike for nine days when they were released. Four pupils of Wongalethu High School were released in early December after nearly three months in detention under Section 26 of the Ciskei National Security Act. They were Simo MONQO, Vuyani MNYANGO, Vukile TYINIKA and Mthuthuzeli QABAKA. The following people, none of whose names had been reported previously, were released from detention in the Ciskei bantustan on 29 December 1983: Nkululeko BAJI, Malinga BEN MAZWI, Mncedisi DAMOYI, Ngxikela DIKI, Priel DLOVA, Phumzile DYEYI, Maboy GEORGE, Feteni KOMANISI, Ernest LAMATI, Phindile LAWUSE, Jikile MAGXA-XA, Hembekile MBONZA, Sipho MZIMENI, Sonwabo NGCAYECHIBI, Lungelo NGWANE, Martin NOGONGOTO, Siphiwo NTABAZIYA-LILA, Anele SINOXO, Zolile SOLONTSI, Geoff SOWAZI, Mandla TYUMZANA, Elliot WITBOOI. Two others reported released at the same time were Mthetheli SIMANDLA and Vukile MAKI. Lungelo DWABA, a personnel officer at Cecilia Makiwane hospital in Mdantsane, was released from detention on 2 December 1983. He was held following a meeting at which hospital staff were urged to use buses in defence of the boycott. Goodwin MAKONGOLO, released by November, was a vigilante at the sports stadium when detained.
