Despite government statements that police would not be used for political purposes after the unbanning of the ANC and other organisations in early February, the police continued to use violence to suppress meetings, demonstrations and other protests. A resurgence of popular resistance and democratic organisation were met by police actions in which many people were killed.
In mid-January President FW De Klerk convened a meeting of the South African Police force's 500 top-ranking officers, reportedly to prepare them for the unbanning of organisations and other government moves. He declared that both the law and operational instructions would be changed. The police would no longer be responsible for enforcing apartheid laws and would not be called upon 'to fight in the front trenches in political battles'. They would henceforward be primarily responsible for fighting 'ordinary crime', he said. The South African Police (SAP) have been progressively militarised and deployed mainly in the suppression of political resistance.
Some local steps were taken by the police to implement this strategy — armoured Casspir vehicles were withdrawn from Soweto for instance. A more significant development, reflecting the meetings on a national level between the ANC and the government, took place in April in Uitenhage where community leaders and those of the Mass Democratic Movement met with the Minister of Law and Order. They agreed to establish a community-based liaison structure to deal with complaints against the police. Other localised meetings took place between community leaders and the police, such as in Welkom where right-wing vigilantes were active, but those meetings did not lead to the establishment of liaison structures to curb vigilante activity.
In most places police continued attacking peaceful demonstrations. Police assaulted striking workers, broke up meetings and demonstrations celebrating the release of Nelson Mandela and attempted to violently suppress boycotts and protests in black urban areas. Police and troops were also involved in the suppression of anti-bantustan protests. By the end of March violent political conflict, for which the police were often responsible, had reached a level comparable to that of the nationwide uprising of 1984-6.
Most police actions were carried out in terms of the Internal Security Act, which grants extensive powers to the police to break up open-air gatherings.
However, there were also indications that some police who were leaving the force had joined ultra-right-wing paramilitary formations. Resignations reached the rate of 22 a day in April. Poor working conditions and bad pay were cited as the reasons, but political opposition to the strategies of the De Klerk government was thought to lie behind many resignations.
The majority of white police are supporters of extreme right-wing groupings such as the Conservative Party and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). The AWB claims to have militarily trained 12,000 people and is establishing para-military structures around the country. On 14 May, the Minister of Law and Order met with the leader of the AWB to discuss the issue. A joint statement appeared to give support to the para-military formations, by declaring that they were 'defensive'. The Minister had earlier declared that the AWB vigilantes should join army commandos and the police reserve.
Armed AWB groups were particularly active in Welkom, in the Orange Free State, where community leaders accused them in May of killing at least two people and beating up and intimidating many others. Residents accused the police of supporting the AWB and began a consumer boycott. After conflicts on a nearby mine, army reinforcements were sent to the town in May.
Some black police, however, have sought to ally themselves with the ANC and the Mass Democratic Movement, and by the end of April at least 5,000 police and prison officers were reported to have joined the ANC-aligned Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU). POPCRU members, who wish the police to become 'true helpers and protectors of the people', have been victimised by dismissal and other actions.
On the basis of press reports monitored since 2 February, the Human Rights Commission concluded that by 1 May the police had killed 139 people in situations of 'political unrest' and injured 1,429. The figures excluded the Eastern Cape and Natal. By March over 200 people had been killed in the conflict in Natal since the beginning of the year, despite the deployment of about 1,600 troops. Natal and the Eastern Cape excepted, the highest number of deaths were in the Western Transvaal (34), the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging area (23), the Orange Free State (17), Bophuthatswana (18) and the Venda bantustan (19).
The killing of 11 people during a protest march in Sebokeng on 26 March was followed by a series of violent attacks on mostly peaceful demonstrations during April and May.
- At least 37 people were injured in Robertson, Western Cape, when police fired teargas, birdshot and rubber bullets into the civic hall where residents were meeting.
- Four boys between the ages of 13 and 16 were killed in Rammulotsi in the Orange Free State on 19 April when police opened fire on a demonstration. Police claimed they had been stoned, but local residents said the shooting was unprovoked and that police had fired on schoolchildren who had joined a protest against local authorities.
Large-scale police operations, sometimes involving the South African Defence Force (SADF) and similar to operations carried out during 1984-6, took place during March, April and May. Some of these formed part of 'Operation Watchdog', which the police described as one of the largest 'crime-prevention operations' carried out in the country. The police and army conducted house-to-house searches in Komga, outside King William's Town in the Eastern Cape on 3 April. Local residents reported that several people had been injured in police violence and that shots had been fired at random. The operation followed a consumer boycott in the area and attacks by right-wing whites and police. Katlehong, scene of police shootings in March, was sealed off by a force of 3,000 troops and police on 29 April, and residents' homes and vehicles systematically searched.
Bantustan police, sometimes acting in conjunction with the SADF or South African Police (SAP), were also extensively involved in operations, which often entailed the violent suppression of anti-bantustan protests. Attempts by mass organisations to remove unpopular bantustan leaders in Gazankulu, Lebowa and Bophuthatswana led to the extensive deployment of police and military forces.
Troops and police continued to patrol Gazankulu during March, after reinforcements had been brought in during February in response to a stayaway. In early May, in a forceful response to developments in Bophuthatswana, the SADF and bantustan military units carried out joint operations. Troops and police broke up anti-bantustan demonstrations, firing rubber bullets and teargas.
