The promulgation of new emergency regulations on 11 December was swiftly followed by a large number of detentions. Tighter censorship helped conceal details from the public and also closed one of the openings, namely court cases, through which some information had emerged about the treatment of emergency detainees.
Within 24 hours of the introduction of the new regulations the Commissioner of Police announced what he called 'a swoop on a number of ANC and other violent elements.' Three days later the DPSC listed ten people who had been detained, describing the list as 'only the tip of the iceberg.' At least five officials of the UDF were detained, three executive officers of the National Education Crisis Committee, three officials of COSATU and Zwelakhe SISULU, editor of the New Nation newspaper. The UDF officials included Lechsa TSENOLI, the Natal publicity secretary, who was held under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act. He had been released from detention under the emergency regulations in August last year after a successful application to the Supreme Court in Durban.
The DPSC received reports of 253 detentions during December, and the Labour Monitoring Group reported that 22 union officials had been detained that month.
DETENTIONS CENSORED
Under the heading 'Publication Control' the regulations of 11 December extended restrictions on the publication of information about emergency detainees.
There was a prohibition on the publication in any media of information or comment concerning the circumstances of, treatment in, or release from detention, of anyone who 'is or was' detained under the emergency regulations. The only exceptions to this rule concerned what is released by government officials, what is said in Parliament or the President's Council or what emerges in the course of judicial proceedings once the proceedings are finished. Since many civil actions arising out of police assault of detainees are settled out of court, legal experts expressed the view that except where such settlements are made an order of the court, this would prevent the publication of evidence on the malreatment of detainees.
This restriction does not however affect detentions under the Internal Security Act. One such case during December last year brought to light evidence of the assault and torture of a 16 year old boy, Fakazi Masondo MABASO, who was detained in Durban in November under Section 29 of the Act. In support of an urgent application to the Supreme Court in Durban, his mother told the court that she had been contacted by a woman saying she was a nurse and that her son was in hospital. The woman told her that her son had had an operation 'as a result of injuries he allegedly sustained when he was subjected to electrocution of his testicles by members of the Police Force during interrogation.' The court granted an interim interdict barring police from unlawfully interrogating Fakazi Mabaso. The Minister of Law and Order was given until 11 February to file answering affidavits.
DEATH IN DETENTION
A 20-year-old activist from KwaThema on the East Rand died in hospital on 23 December after being in detention for six months. Simon Matanzima MARULE, a former member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), became a member of the KwaThema Student Congress when COSAS was banned.
According to the police Marule had become ill on 22 December and was transferred to hospital from Modderbee Prison where he was being held under the emergency regulations. The police said that 'his illness was initially diagnosed by a hospital doctor as epilepsy.' However his brother said that he had no medical history suggesting that he was susceptible to fits, and when he had seen him a month before 'he looked fit enough to me.' A post-mortem was held, and the results were to be made public at an inquest.
Marule's funeral on 6 January was attended by over 1,000 mourners defying police restrictions under the State of Emergency. Police orders restricted attendance to no more than 200 people. The service was rescheduled from 10 am to 2 pm because of an order that it should not last more than two hours. The venue also had to be changed when the floor of the KwaThema Civic Hall was found by those arriving for the service to have been sprinkled with sneezing powder. While one report stated that in compliance with police orders no freedom songs were sung, another report stated that at the service mourners chanted freedom songs and shouted political slogans.
The report of the funeral in the Johannesburg Star was censored.
BANTUSTAN 'INDEPENDENCE' OPPOSED
Leading opponents of 'independence' for the KwaNdebele bantustan were amongst at least 11 people detained in November last year by the bantustan police. The detentions, under the emergency regulations, led to fears that there could be a revival of the 'independence' plans which had been shelved in August in the face of widespread and broadly-based opposition uniting all sections of the population including people employed in the bantustan administration. The arrests occurred only a week before the death, from ill health, of the Chief Minister of the bantustan, Simon Skosana.
Leading members of a family which exercised traditional authority in much of the area now covered by the bantustan, James MAHLANGU and Cornelius MAHLANGU, were detained on 9 November 1986 at the office of the Ndundza Territorial Authority. Shortly after their detention anonymous pamphlets were distributed accusing their family of seeking to get rid of the Chief Minister and of 'seeking to maintain apartheid by opposing independence'. A spokesman for the family expressed the view that the two had been detained 'to make way for the circulation of the leaflet' which, he said, 'did not reflect the feelings of the people'.
A few days later nine more people were detained in Siyabuswa, the administrative seat of the area, and Dennilton in the Moutse region. In spite of deep-seated opposition, Moutse was incorporated into KwaNdebele during 1986, an action which was to be contested in the courts by Moutse residents. The nine were: Fanie MOLAPE, a deputy sheriff, police reservist and the only court messenger in KwaNdebele; Joe MORGAN, public relations officer for a Witbank football club; Joe APHANE, a businessman; Abram SKOSANA, a village councillor and businessman; Jabu MAHLANGU, a manager; Harold SKOSANA, a member of the ruling council for the Ndundza area; Lucas MTHIMUNYE, a businessman.
On 17 November demands for the release of the detainees were backed up by a strike by most civil servants in KwaNdebele. Further resistance was hampered by a ban, under the emergency regulations, on all meetings in the area except for those of the bantustan 'Cabinet'. An application to the Pretoria Supreme Court challenging the validity of the ban was hindered by the arrest of Simon NGIDI, secretary of the Ndundza Territorial Authority, before he could sign affidavits supporting the application.
The death of the Chief Minister on 17 November was followed ten days later by the election of his successor by the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly, consisting of 56 appointed and 16 elected members, voted 41 to 25 in favour of a conservative figure, George MAHLANGU, against the popular opposition leader James MAHLANGU, who had been released from detention a few days earlier. The choice reinforced fears of a new initiative to impose 'independence' on the area.
BACKDATED INDEMNITY FOR BANTUSTAN POLICE AND OFFICIALS
A law enacted in December last year nullified a large number of cases being brought against the Lebowa bantustan police. Cases affected by the Lebowa Indemnity Act included two arising out of the deaths in detention in April 1986 of Makompo KUTUMELA, a journalist, and Peter NCHABELENG, the Northern Transvaal President of the UDF.
Five other cases arising from deaths which resulted from alleged shooting and beating by police were also nullified. One concerned Ngoako RAMALEPE, a student at a teacher training college beaten to death by police in October 1985 after a protest at the execution or Malesela Benjamin MOLOISE.
Inquests into these and other deaths alleged to have been caused by the police during 1985 and 1986 had not been held by the time the Indemnity Act was passed.
The Act indemnifies the bantustan administration, 'its officers and all other persons acting under its or their authority in respect of actions, announcements, statements or information published in good faith for the prevention or suppression of internal disorder ... in any part of Lebowa.' The Act affects any actions during the period 1 June 1985 and 11 June 1986, the day before the declaration of the State of Emergency which similarly indemnified all members of 'security forces'. The Act not only affected civil or criminal proceedings in the future, but also ruled that any proceedings initiated before the passing of the Act must 'lapse'. According to one newspaper report there were 'thousands' of cases which lapsed in this way. Although the Act does not prevent cases being brought against the police or officials, it places the onus of proving 'bad faith' on the person bringing the case.
The Act was passed at a special sitting of the bantustan Legislative Assembly on 9 December. The Assembly, along with those of other 'non-independent' bantustans, was given power in March which had previously been exercised by the central government, including the power to make repressive laws.
