Detentions news ban leaves relatives in dark

Press, 3 July 1986, Page 10

Detentions news ban leaves relatives in dark

NZPA-AFP Johannesburg

, The South African Government’s black-out on news concerning detentions under the state of emergency has left many families unsure whether their relatives are safe, have been abducted or even assassinated, says a leading civil rights group.

In addition to the secrecy surrounding the actual number of people detained since June 12, breadwinners, young mothers, and schoolchildren were still being taken away in night raids, said the Detainees Parents Support Committee yesterday. Speculation is also growing that the number of people being held could match, or even surpass, the more than 18,500 people picked up during South Africa’s previous partial state of emergency, which was lifted last March.

Every attorney questioned on the subject of detainees in the Johannesburg area confirmed “without exception” that official obstacles were hindering legal inquiries into the status and whereabouts of missing people, said the commlt-

Even families who had determined the whereabouts of their relatives were being refused permission to pass on to them clothing and money to buy food. The civil rights group said it was appealing to the Geneva-based international committee of the Red Cross and other

human rights groups to bring pressure for a “more humane” approach by Pretoria in its treatment of prisoners and their relatives. Meanwhile, no firm news has emerged from a clandestine meeting yesterday of leaders of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, whose members have been a main target in the latest wave of repression. A short statement from the country’s largest union federation, which is affiliated to the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front movement, said its leaders discussed the state of emergency and its effect on workers and the community. “Demands have been formulated and a legitimate plan of action has been proposed,” the Congress said, but no details would be released until its affiliates and different regions had been consulted. There has been speculation that widespread strikes are being considered. The Congress met as Johannesburg was rocked by its third bomb blast since the emergency was declared 20 days ago. State-run television interviewed a hospital doctor who voiced grave concern over the condition of one of the eight victims of the blast, a two-week-old baby who the doctor said had shrapnel in his head. The Bureau for Information said the baby’s mother, five other women and a child were hurt when the bomb went off at a city centre bus stop.