Uneasy calm in townships

Press, 30 December 1976, Page 5

Uneasy calm in townships

NZPA-Reuter Cape Town Riot policemen, hacked by reinforcements from Pretoria, patrolled the black townships around Cape Town yesterday. after three davs

of bloody lighting had left 26 dead and more than 100 wounded.

A senior police officer des , b ribed the Nvanga, Gugletu.: and Langa townships as in a state of “uneasy calm." The police said 24 died and more than 100 were injured when Baca tribe workers from the Transkei clashed with residents of Nvanga and Gugletu. The residents were supporting a call by militant, students for Christmas to he a period of mourning for; black victims of white au-| thority. The South African Press Association said two more blacks had been killed in Langa when the police op-[ ened fire on a crowd of 500 i who were stoning police vehicles. The police confirmed [the over all death toll in the: townships at 26. but would; I not say' how many blacks died as a result of police ac- . lion. In an apparent act of conIciliation, the Government has

(released four black detainees, [including Mrs Winnie Man dela. wife of the jailed na tionalist leader, Nelson Mandela. Also freed was the prizewinning press photographer. Peter Mugabanc. imprisoned under the Internal Security Act last August after scoring world-wide success with [his photographs of the riots [ in Soweto in June. In the last 11 days 85 persons have been freed from detention without trial bv [the Government in an apparent Christmas goodwill gesture. However. Mrs Mandela w as immediately placed under house arrest and banning orders after her release. Thts means she is confined to her [Soweto home from earlv evening to dawn, and is not allowed to attend gatherings iof more than four persons.