The re-imposition of the State of Emergency in June brought with it the renewal of emergency restrictions placed on individuals. Since the government is not obliged to publish their names, it is impossible to know exactly how many were affected.
It is not unusual for people to be restricted immediately on their release from detention under the emergency regulations. According to a report from the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, published in April, at least 70 detainees were known to have been served with emergency restriction orders in the previous 12 months. The report, however, emphasized that the names of many restricted persons were unknown.
Also affected by the June renewal of regulations were the political leaders restricted during the clampdown on anti-apartheid organisations in February, as well as William THOMAS. Thomas is a UDF executive member who was reported to have been restricted in April and is believed to be the last of the 18 people the government initially announced it intended to restrict in February.
In at least two cases, restriction orders were extended. The orders on both ANC leader Govan MBEKI (77) and UDF national treasurer, Azhar CACHALIA, were amended to prevent them being with more than ten people at a time.
The emergency regulations themselves have been challenged by Mbeki. In April lawyers acting on his behalf served papers on the Government of South Africa, the State President, the Minister of Law and Order and the Commissioner of Police challenging the restrictions imposed on Mbeki.
When Mbeki was released from Robben Island in November 1987 he was already on a list of named 'communists' dating from the 1960s which prevents him being quoted by the press. The next month he was restricted in terms of the emergency regulations, and prevented from leaving the magisterial district of Port Elizabeth; participating in any sort of political activity or communicating with the press. According to his lawyer, Mbeki had been refused permission to visit his wife at her home in the Transkei bantustan.
By mid-July the case had yet to be heard but it was reported that Mbeki intended to apply to the Eastern Cape Supreme Court to either: declare invalid the entire State of Emergency on which his restriction order rests; declare invalid the particular regulation by which the Commissioner of Police is delegated to make orders, or declare the order itself invalid.
Mbeki's lawyers indicated that they believed that there was no basis in law for the Commissioner to have the order issued against Mbeki, since the grounds for making such an order are limited to the protection of public safety, the maintenance of public order or to help terminate the State of Emergency.
Since 1955 it has been a criminal offence to leave South Africa without proper documentation. The government has discretionary powers to grant (or withdraw) a passport and this is one way in which it limits and harasses its opponents. No reasons for refusal need be given.
According to the latest Department of Home Affairs annual report, 247 passport applications were refused during the 18-month period to December 1987. Applicants refused included Govan Mbeki, Audrey COLEMAN of the Detainees' Parents Support Committee and Sheila SISULU, daughter-in-law of jailed ANC leader Walter Sisulu. The report also stated that at least five people had had passports confiscated.
Govan Mbeki was again refused a passport in March this year, when he sought to visit members of his family living abroad, and in April following an invitation to the USA by Senators Edward Kennedy and Nancy Kassebaum. Muntu MYEZA, an official of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) had his passport application refused for the tenth time in January, whilst Haroon PATEL, another AZAPO official, was notified in May that the Minister of Internal Affairs had declared his passport invalid. In June Azhar Cachalia, who had been invited to attend two conferences in Bonn by Willy Brandt of the West German Social Democratic Party, was refused a passport.
