Tutu’s Son Arrested for Disrupting S. African Hearing for Black Pupils

Bishop Desmond Tutu’s son was jailed without charge Monday under South Africa’s state-of-emergency regulations after he disrupted a court hearing for dozens of black schoolchildren detained by police for boycotting classes.

Trevor Tutu, 29, an advertising account executive, remarked, “What a shame for such a young boy to be arrested!” when prosecutors called out the name of an 8-year-old boy charged with violating new regulations requiring all children to be in class during school hours. The hearing took place in Soweto, the black township outside Johannesburg.

“This is a joke; these people are clowns,” police quoted Tutu as saying.

Warned by Police

Lawyers and reporters present at the hearing said that Tutu was warned by police but that he swore at them and challenged them to arrest him. He was promptly led away, shouting obscenities.

Richard Spoor, Tutu’s lawyer, said his client was taken to Diepkloof Prison in Soweto where, under state-of-emergency regulations, he will be held in solitary confinement.

“I am proud of him,” Bishop Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize-winner, said later Monday, after he was denied permission to see his son. He added:

“You should speak your mind, even if you speak in somewhat picturesque language. It will help focus attention on the massive power the police have and which they are not shy about using. It seems to augur badly for the future of our country.”

White House Responds

In Washington, White House spokesman Larry Speakes indirectly criticized Tutu’s arrest. When asked about it, he responded: “We do not believe repression and detentions will bring an end to South Africa’s political crisis.”

At the disrupted hearing, 94 schoolchildren, some as young as 7, were being arraigned on charges of boycotting classes after a police raid in Soweto last week, when about 900 pupils were arrested. Bishop Tutu had succeeded in getting most of them released Friday, although some had to spend the night in jail.

Prosecutors are now considering whether to proceed with the cases since the magistrate postponed them until October.

Trevor Tutu, who, unlike his father, has not been a political activist, was monitoring the court proceedings with his mother, Leah Tutu.

“My son was detained simply for the ego of that policeman,” she said, adding that the arresting officer had an “altercation” with the bishop on Friday.

2,319 Detained

Police said Monday that they have detained 2,319 people, most of them blacks, since the state of emergency was proclaimed five weeks ago in more than 60 black townships in and around Johannesburg and in eastern Cape province around Port Elizabeth. Of those, 1,136 are still held, many under government orders permitting their indefinite detention.

In the Indian Ocean port of Durban, security police detained Paddy Kearney, director of the Diakonia Center, an interchurch community action organization, in what appeared to be a continuation of a nationwide roundup of anti-apartheid activists.

Kearney is one of Durban’s most prominent campaigners against apartheid. He was active in efforts to end unrest in Durban and make peace between the black and Indian communities there after riots killed more than 70 people earlier this month.

More Arrests

Last week, police arrested at least 32 officials of the United Democratic Front and its affiliates in raids in Durban, Cape Town, East London and Johannesburg. Like Kearney, they are being held under the internal security act, which permits indefinite detention for interrogation.

The roundup appears aimed at ending unrest that police blame on anti-apartheid activists and also at preventing the planned march Wednesday on Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town, where African National Congress leader Nelson R. Mandela and other political prisoners are held.

The Rev. Allan Boesak, a patron of the United Democratic Front, said Monday that he will lead the march, expected to draw as many as 20,000 protesters despite government warnings that it is illegal and that police will act to prevent it.

State-run Radio South Africa, which reflects government views, said in a commentary early today that the march is reckless and provocative and asked, “What is his (Boesak’s) objective? Does he wish to make a political martyr of himself? A shrewd political operator like Dr. Boesak cannot be unaware of the revolutionary undertones of his actions.”

Mandela’s Wife to Join

Winnie Mandela, wife of the imprisoned black nationalist leader, said Monday that she will join the march if she can get permission from the government to go to Cape Town to visit her husband.

Under a government order, she has been banished to a remote area in Orange Free State, her movements are restricted and she is barred from all political activities. She is even barred from meeting more than one person at a time, an order she routinely violates, risking imprisonment.

“If my people are marching, I would be part of that,” she told reporters. “We want an urgent solution to the country’s problems.” She continued:

“It is quite obvious now that the government is in serious trouble. The government will have to let the leaders out of prison to come and be part of the solution. We have always said the situation will compel the government to release Mandela if they are truly interested in solving the country’s problems.”

Mandela, jailed in 1961 and serving a life sentence for sabotage, has been offered his freedom if he renounces violence, but he has refused to do so.