Race violence moves closer to Durban

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 6

Race violence moves closer to Durban

NZPA-Reuter Johannesburg

Unrest in South Africa has claimed five more lives in the Indian Ocean port of Durban, until recently unaffected by mass rioting in which more than 500 people have been killed in 17 months.

Yesterday’s casualties brought to 28 the number of deaths since the Government clamped a state of emergency on two regions of the country two weeks ago.

A police spokesman in Pretoria said that four black men had died in rioting in townships around Durban. The South African Press Association reported that an Indian resident of Durban had also died in hospital of wounds suffered during an attack by stone-throwing

blacks several days ago. The police spokesman said that he did not know the circumstances of the four blacks’ deaths.

The police have detained 1459 people under the emergency powers, but say that 597 of them have now been released.

They reported several incidents of unrest elsewhere in the country yesterday, during which rubber bullets, shotguns and tear-gas were used to disperse protesters. The president, Mr Pieter Botha, began talks with leaders of tribal homelands, which the Government has set up for the black majority under its racial segregation policies. He flew yesterday to kwaNdebele, north of Pretoria, to discuss consolidating its fragmented parcels

of territory into a single geographical unit and setting a date for the region’s independence. No country in the world outside South Africa recognises the existing four “independent” homelands as such, regarding the tribal entities as applications of apartheid.

Mr Botha said that the nations of South Africa would find a solution to their own problems and would not tolerate outside interference.

The State radio praised the President of the United States, Mr Ronald Reagan, for his understanding of South Africa in increasing international hostility since the Government imposed the state of emergency.

“South Africa has no more dependable ally in the

Western world than the President of the United States,” the radio said in a commentary that reflects Government thinking. Although he has called for an end to the emergency laws and described apartheid as repugnant, Mr Reagan said yesterday that he did not intend imposing sanctions against the beleaguered country.

Meanwhile, black consumer boycotts of white shops in protest against Government policies continued to spread across South Africa today, and thousands of students and pupils are boycotting classes and lectures over a variety of grievances. The boycotters demand that troops withdraw from black townships and that political detainees be freed.