On 1 August the Venda bantustan administration declared a State of Emergency after community protests and educational boycotts over detentions. The Far Northern Transvaal Crisis Co-ordinating Committee (FNTCCC) and the Northern Transvaal People's Congress (NOTPECO) declared a week-long strike during 5-12 September, in protest at the detention of 590 people. Amongst those detained were several church ministers and scores of students, workers and others.
Four church ministers released from detention on 8 September were immediately re-detained despite a court ruling that the detentions were invalid. The Reverend PHOSIWA was hospitalised in Siloam after one week, whilst the Reverends SIHLANGU, RANNZWA and LIDOVHO, along with a fieldworker of the Northern Transvaal Council of Churches (NTCC), Phanuel Magwedzha MPHAPHULI, remained in detention.
Students at the University of Venda returned to campus in mid-August, after the authorities had closed it for two weeks. A class boycott followed, over students detained for opposing 'independence' celebrations. The bantustan education authorities claimed not to know how many students were in detention. The names of three were reported. Many of those detained belonged to the Northern Transvaal Students Organisation (NTSO), representing higher education students in the bantustan.
Thirty-five teacher-training students from Butterworth College in the Transkei were detained after a South African Women's Day meeting in August. They were suspended by the principal and detained after refusing to vacate the premises. They were later charged with taking part in an 'illegal boycott' and breaking a 24-hour campus curfew imposed in response to a class boycott in the Butterworth area. Five students were detained during July at the University of the Transkei.
