Cape Town Outlaws All Political Badges, Signs, T-Shirts Before Parliament Opens

Political badges, bumper stickers and T-shirts were outlawed Wednesday in Cape Town in advance of the opening session of the South African Parliament on Friday.

Brigadier Chris Swart, the Cape Town police commissioner, banned until mid-February the display or distribution of “any placard, banner, sticker, pamphlet, clothing or similar object on or in which any viewpoint of a political nature or in relation to any system of government or constitutional policy is expressed, advocated or propagated.”

Under South Africa’s six-month-old state of emergency, which gives the police virtually martial-law powers, anyone convicted of violating Swart’s order may be jailed for up to 10 years and fined the equivalent of $10,000. The order cannot be challenged in court.

Newspapers Exempt

So sweeping is Swart’s decree--only newspapers are exempt--that anyone guilty of violating it could be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned, almost summarily, under South Africa’s severe security laws. This could include anyone wearing a popular badge that urges “Make love, not war,” or a popular T-shirt from the United Democratic Front coalition of anti-apartheid groups that shows a white hand clasping a black one.

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, leader of the liberal white opposition Progressive Federal Party, denounced the action as “probably the most absurd and ridiculous instruction ever issued by this government.”

Slabbert accused the government of attempting to curtail criticism of it during parliamentary debate on its basic policies. President Pieter W. Botha is scheduled to open the parliamentary session with a speech outlining his plans for further political reforms, which are to be debated over the next 10 days.

Emergency Rule Remains

Louis le Grange, the minister for law and order, refused earlier Wednesday to lift the state of emergency in the Cape Town area before the parliamentary meeting. Opposition members had objected to meeting under such conditions and to the suspension of South Africa’s limited civil rights.

“When it is clear that law and order is being maintained, it will be considered,” Le Grange said. “That time hasn’t arrived yet.”

Swart was named to the Cape Town post by Le Grange to crack down on opposition groups. Before Christmas, he prohibited caroling and candlelight services as subversive. Later, he defended the indefinite detention without trial of 11- and 13-year-old boys as necessary for state security.

‘Stupid, Ridiculous’

Slabbert, who in parliamentary debate will focus on the state of emergency, the continued unrest and the government’s failure to implement broader reforms, commented:

“Has this government any idea how ridiculous it must be for a South African to have to explain this action to intelligent people elsewhere in the world? I always try to comfort myself that this government cannot come up with anything more stupid than they have just done, but they always manage to disappoint me.”

Seven more blacks were killed Wednesday in the continuing unrest, five in a feud between rival clans of Zulu tribesmen near Durban and two others in separate clashes between protesters and the police.

Five Zulus Killed

The five Zulus died, according to police, when about 50 other Zulu tribesmen opened fire with homemade guns on a group waiting for a bus south of Durban. Two other people were seriously wounded. A police spokesman said the incident was not related to fighting in the same area between Zulus and Pondos, an Xhosa-speaking tribe, in which more than 150 people have been killed over the last two months.

At Munsieville, a black township outside Krugersdorp, 20 miles northwest of Johannesburg, a 17-year-old student was shot and killed by policemen.

The police were using shotguns to disperse about 2,000 blacks marching on a police station to protest the deaths of two others Monday in nearby Kagiso and attempts to end a black boycott of local buses. Five others were seriously injured. Clashes continued through much of the day at Munsieville and Kagiso, according to the police.

Outside Port Elizabeth, police fired shotguns at blacks who they said were intimidating commuters and shoppers returning to the Kwandebele township. One man was fatally wounded.

Thousands of black students returned to school Wednesday after a boycott that had gone on for most of a year. However, the Soweto Parents Crisis Committee, which arranged the return in negotiations with the government, community groups and the youths, reported that in some areas older youths were threatening the students going back to class.