Rightists blamed for killings

Press, 6 July 1985, Page 10

Rightists blamed for killings

NZPA-Reuter Johannesburg An anti-apartheid group asserted yesterday that Right-wing death squads armed with a “hit list” of Government opponents were behind 11 killings, including the deaths of four activists found stabbed near their biirned-out car. The South African Government strongly denied links with the killing of the four activists and suggested they were connected to a power struggle between anti-apartheid groups. “The South African Government takes the strongest possible exception against the callous insinuations ... regarding the recent tragic death of Mathew Goniwe, Fort Calata,

Mkhonto and Didelo Mhlawuli,” the Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Nel, said. The four leading members of .the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front were found stabbed last week near their burned-out car outside Port Elizabeth. The police said they were offering a 1000-rand reward for information about the killings. “While comprehensive evidence about the identity of the murderers is not available, it is commonly believed in the townships that the police and their agents are responsible,” a U.D.F. spokesman, Trevor Manuel, said. U.D.F. officials said Government opponents were

being hounded by > Rightwing assassination squads. They asserted that at least 27 people were missing, Il had been killed and 20 more were on “hit lists.” Mr Nel, referring to the accusations that Government agents were engaged in the killing of the four, suggested that a power struggle between the multiracial U.D.F. and the exclusively black socialist Azanian People’s Organisation was to blame for the deaths. • The Government announced a minor reform to an apartheid law yesterday and said the amendment indicated the Government’s intention of moving away from unnecessary discrimination. Mr Heunis, Minister

of Constitutional Development and Planning, said that the Group Areas Act — which zones areas of South Africa by race — would be amended to lift one employment restriction based on race. The restriction meant that, with few exceptions, a black could be legally employed in a white area only if he was under the fulltime supervision and control of a white employer. Mr Heunis said recent reforms to apartheid, which,businessmen complained, restricted free enterprise, “clearly prove that the Government is prepared to listen sympathetically to reasonable requests from the private sector.” y