S. African force seals black town to quell unrest

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 10

S. African force seals black town to quell unrest

NZAP-Reuter Johannesburg Thousands of South African police and troops sealed off the black township of Sebokeng yesterday and arrested more than 250 people in a move to stop unrest. The Government said that 7000 soldiers and police had swooped, on the township in the middle of the night. They searched houses to curb unrest, which had been “fanned by revolutionary elements and exploited by criminal and intimidatory forces.” More than 80 people have died in riots throughout South Africa in the last three months. In the main street of Sebokeng, troops with rifles lined the road, 20m apart as the police moved from house to house making arrests. Sebokeng, 50km south of Johannesburg, has been a focus of the unrest. A police spokesman in the neighbouring white town of Vereeniging said that four hours after the raid began 251 people had been arrested. The charges included offences under the laws that govern where black South Africans live and work, the possession of firearms, cannabis, stolen goods, and pornographic literature. The police action, code named “palmiet” (bullrush), was concentrated on Sebokeng, which has 120,000 people. The police at the

scene would not say whether similar operations were likely in other townships. Sebokeng, a typical black township of identical fourroomed brick houses, is the home for a labour pool serving South Africa’s industrial heartland. The neighbouring town of Sharpeville, a much smaller township, was the scene of a massacre in 1960 when police shot dead 69 black people in an anti-apartheid demonstration. Political analysts have blamed widespread discontent with conditions in the townships for the latest trouble. The Law and Order Min-, ister, Mr Louis le Grange, said yesterday that “revolutionary forces” were behind the unrest in townships around Johannesburg and in the Eastern Cape.

“This lawlessness must be curbed by all available means,” said Mr le Grange. “It has therefore been decided that an operation be launched by the South African police, assisted by the South African Defence Force, to effectively rid the affected areas of criminal and revolutionary elements and to curb their activities,” he said.

The security forces would stay in the area for as long as was necessary to restore order, he said. The police said that they would distribute pamphlets urging residents not to take

part in the rioting. Mr le Grange said that it was important to get children in the area back to school.

More than 100,000 pupils throughout South Africa have stayed away from school in boycotts over the quality of black education.

In the township of KwaThema rioting crowds of up to 1000 people set up roadblocks, stoned police vehicles and set buildings alight yesterdayy and the police responded with birdshot, rubber bullets and tear-gas. The police reported 16 arrests in the disturbances and said that a black youth, aged 15, had been hit in the leg and arm when they fired birdshot to disperse the rioters.

Parents in the township had decided on Saturday to organise a work boycott in support of pupils boycotting school, and most people in Kwa-Thema seemed to have heeded the call to stay home.

On Sunday the Rev. Geoffrey Moseland, an Anglican priest, was arrested in the riot-torn black township of Sharpeville. The police said that he had been arrested under a section of the Internal Security Act, which allows solitary confinement for interrogation without access to legal representatives. They gave no reason for the arrest.