unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/17/89)
SOUTH AFRICA: Restrictions on Former Detainees Fuel Defiance
Cape Town, September 7, 1989 (AIA/Sylvia Vollenhoven) -- The
current campaign of defiance is the result of the wave of
detentions that coincided with the declaration of the renewal
of the state of emergency in 1987.
Early this year, detainees - some had been held for more than
two years without trial - staged a hunger strike in protest
against their continued detention.
The hunger strikers received intense publicity here and
abroad. After the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the
leader of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Dr Allan
Boesak, met the Minister of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok,
hunger strikers agreed to suspend their strike.
Vlok promised the clerics that hundreds of detainees would be
released. Dr Boesak himself started a sympathy fast in case
the minister did not honour his undertaking.
By late February virtually all the detainees were released,
but they now faced a different kind of imprisonment. Up to
1,000 of the former detainees were served with restriction
orders that curtailed their freedom of movement severely.
Generally they were confined to their homes at night, not
allowed to take part in political activities, prevented from
speaking to the press and forced to report to their local
police stations twice daily. The state had clearly decided to
make the ex-detainees their own jailors.
Typical of those under restriction is Joyce Mabudafhasi, a
library worker and the first black woman hired at the
University of the North in Transvaal, which is restricted to
black students only under the apartheid regime.
Mabudafhasi was elected General Secretary of the now banned
United Democratic Front (UDF) for Northern Transvaal in 1985.
She also served on the Detainees' Support Committee, the
National Education Crisis Committee (NECC), and the
Federation of Transvaal Women (FedTraw).
During 1985 she was detained three times and severely injured
during a police attack on a church meeting. In 1986 a hand
grenade was thrown into her house. She was badly hurt by
shrapnel and glass splinters.
After six months of medical attention she was arrested and
spent most of 1987 and 1988 in detention without trial.
At the end of 1988 she joined the hunger strike, lost 10
kilograms and was released at the end of January 1989.
But she was released under restriction orders. She was
not allowed to travel beyond the boundaries of the Northern
Transvaal village of Mankweneng even though her four children
were scattered in other parts of the country.
She could not be with more than 10 people, had to report
twice a day to a police station, and stay in her house from
dusk to dawn. The orders also banned her from entering any
educational institution, thus ending her employment at the
university.
The experience of living under this kind of fear and
humiliation drove former detainees to talk about defying
their restrictions.
Trevor Manuel, who was released on February 17 this year,
said in an interview that they had many discussions about
possible protest against the restrictions placed on their
movement.
Manuel - an executive member of the UDF - said, "We explored
various options, long before the September elections were
announced.
"At first we thought we would challenge our restrictions in a
court of law, but many of us felt we had had bitter
experiences after placing too much faith in the legal
process."
However, the anti-apartheid organisations felt it would be
unfair for them to go it alone. The result was the mass
defiance campaign.
---
* Origin: AlterNet, Node1 (Opus 1:163/113)
---
Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726
patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733
patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | (3/12/24/9600 Baud)
-=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-