Laws: ISA - Internal Security Act; MLOA - Maintenance of Law and Order Act (Venda); CNSA - Ciskei National Security Act; KTDOA - Kwazulu Tracing and Detention of Offenders Act; TPSA - Transkei Public Security Act
Organisations: CRIC - Community Resource and Information Centre; YCO - Youth Congress; UWCO - United Women's Congress.
According to the police at least 78 guerrillas were either killed or detained between January and June this year.
According to the Minister of Law and Order, by 20 October there had been at least 262 incidents of armed struggle excluding those taking place in the bantustans since the beginning of 1988. As the government embarked on widespread detentions and banning of individuals, organisations and gatherings in the build up to the elections, the number of armed incidents increased. By the end of October as many as 32 such incidents were recorded compared to 28 in September. There were attacks on police and participants in apartheid institutions, especially candidates for the elections. A number of magistrates' courts, town councils and police stations were bombed in the Western Cape and the Transvaal. Security Branch offices in Potchefstroom were bombed and one policeman was injured on 25 October. A number of unnamed people whose detentions are listed in this issue were held after shootouts with the police. One of them was detained in connection with the bombing of Bonteheuwel municipal offices. He was reported to be under police guard in hospital.
The secrecy surrounding the detention of people in connection with incidents of armed struggle made it difficult for relatives of those concerned to establish the conditions under which they were held. The names of most of those detained in connection with the armed struggle were not published.
Concern about conditions of such detainees was expressed sharply following the reports that Manah MAHLETE (22), who was detained on 23 October at Crossroads squatter camp, 150 yards from the Minister of Law and Order who was attending a ceremony to open a police station, had suffered a brain haemorrhage. According to his cousin, Mahlete 'was always very healthy. He was never ill. There was nothing wrong with him'. He also insisted that he was not involved in politics and that he had never left the country at any stage. His anxiety and suspicion was shared by Bishop Desmond Tutu who said, 'It would be very, very surprising if this brain haemorrhage just happened on its own account.' According to the police, Mahlete was interrogated soon after his arrest and later complained of dizziness and was then taken to hospital where he was later operated on. Police alleged that Mahlete, who is under police guard, was a member of the ANC.
In November, the Supreme Court in the Transkei bantustan issued an interim order calling on police to show reason why they should not be restrained from assaulting an alleged ANC guerrilla Aga Khan TIYA. His detention was reported on 10 November together with that of an alleged supporter, Mhlupeki NTSHINGA. His father was told by an anonymous caller who saw Tiya seriously ill in an Umtata Hospital. Bishop Hintsa Tiya, who filed the application, said his son had a tube in his mouth and he was told by a nurse in the hospital that he was conscious, but could not speak because of a throat wound. People who witnessed the arrest of the two men said that they were assaulted.
