Soweto inquiry ordered

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 10

Soweto inquiry ordered

NZPA-Reuter Johannesburg South Africa has ordered an inquest into the deaths of 21 blacks in violence on Wednesday in Soweto. Reports are conflicting about the cause of one of the bloodiest clashes between security forces and blacks in recent years. The Bureau for Information said 20 of the victims were shot dead by security forces. A black town councillor was hacked to death by residents enraged by Government eviction plans, it said.

The Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Louis Nel, said an inquest would be held into the incident,

but he did not mention the possibility of a commission of inquiry. He said the riots, the worst officially reported under an 11-week-old state of emergency, flared after blacks hurled a hand-grenade at 12 policemen caught in an ambush. * But the country’s largest anti-apartheid group said that nearly 30 people died. It accused security forces of “a cold-blooded massacre.” Mr Nel said the 12 . policemen who were the target of the grenade “had to react.” “Whether they reacted correctly will be< decided by the magistrate at the inquest,” he said.