S. African Police Kill 6 Youths in Battle

Police gunfire killed at least six blacks in a battle between security forces and youths in the rural Lebowa black homeland, witnesses and police said today.

The fighting Sunday broke out when police from the homeland tried to stop youths from entering Motetema black township outside Groblersdal, about 125 miles northeast of Johannesburg, residents said.

The youths, from outside townships, were trying to attend a funeral for Solly Matsonane, 24, who died in an earlier clash with police, witnesses said.

When the fighting broke out, police ordered the burial to be held at once under police guard, with only 30 people present, resident Lazarus Palo Palo said. The burial took place as the gunfire went on at the edges of the township.

Matsonane belonged to the Motetema Youth Congress, which was affiliated to the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front coalition.

Lebowa Police Commissioner Brig. W. G. Beetge confirmed that six blacks were killed and five wounded, but said the trouble broke out with the firebombing of a police station after the funeral.

Also today, government officials and a delegation from CBS News met for one hour and 40 minutes in Cape Town on the expulsion of three CBS News staffers, ordered Friday. Both sides said they will meet again Tuesday on the network’s objections to the expulsion order.

CBS bureau manager William Mutschmann, an American; reporter Allen Pizzey, a Canadian; and cameraman Wim de Vos, a Dutchman, were given until Tuesday to leave the country. CBS aired footage last week of a funeral for riot victims from which cameras had been banned.