4 Americans Caught Up in South African Arrests

State Department officials said Tuesday that four Americans, including two Southern Californians, were arrested over the weekend by South African security forces in the wake of a nationwide state of emergency imposed by the Pretoria government.

San Diegan Scott Daugherty, 19, a student at Humboldt State University, was among a group of 250 people detained Sunday evening when police broke up a prayer meeting in a church in a Cape Town suburb. The entire congregation was arrested.

State Department spokesman Pete Martinez said Tuesday that Daugherty and one other American are being held at Pollsmoor Prison, but U.S. officials do not know what charges have been brought against him. Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, leaders of the outlawed African National Congress, are imprisoned at the maximum security prison near Cape Town.

Under the emergency regulations, detainees may be held incommunicado, and their initial 14-day detention may be extended indefinitely without notice by the minister of law and order.

No Lawyers Permitted

Detainees are not permitted lawyers. South African law also authorizes prison officials to beat truculent prisoners, put them in solitary confinement or deprive them of meals as punishment for various infractions while in jail.

A U.S. Consulate spokesman in Cape Town said the consul general has asked authorities Monday for access to Daugherty. The request was denied on the grounds that emergency regulations do not permit detainees acess to family, lawyers or anyone else except for prison doctors and chaplains.

However, Martinez said Tuesday that South African authorities have advised the State Department that U.S. consular officials will be able to meet with Daugherty today.

Ronald S. Minor, 31, said to be an Anaheim resident, was more fortunate. According to State Department official Charles Redman, Minor was arrested Saturday and charged with interfering with police, but was only detained for a few hours in Cape Town before he was released.

The Rev. Brian Burchfield, a Lutheran missionary and a U.S. citizen living in South Africa, was also arrested Sunday. Daugherty, who arrived in South Africa on April 17, had been staying with Burchfield.

Daugherty’s relatives were told that Burchfield had gone to the St. Nicholas Anglican church at Elsie’s River to pick up Daugherty and take him to the airport, where he was to catch a flight to San Diego.

According to the State Department’s account of the arrests, Burchfield arrived as Daugherty and the entire congregation were being arrested. The missionary asked to talk to the officer in charge and was promptly arrested but was released after a few hours.

A retired Army lieutenant colonel from Hawaii was also arrested on Monday in Cape Town. State Department officials tentatively identified him as Rodney Williams, who was said to be vacationing in South Africa. According to the State Department, it is believed that Williams was charged with violating South Africa’s public safety act.

No Formal Protest

Martinez said the United States has not filed a formal protest over the arrests. The spokesman said the State Department will wait until meeting with Daugherty before deciding on its next move.

Several other foreigners have been arrested during the crackdown, including West German, French and Belgian Catholic priests. The Germans are being released after strong protests by the Bonn government.

Daugherty, an admirer of South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, was moved by Tutu’s work to go to South Africa to help the victims of apartheid.

His father, Wayne Daugherty, a biology professor at San Diego State University, said that his son has been helping to build child care centers in South African black communities.

“My son has a good social conscience. He feels very strongly about things and is very idealistic,” Daugherty said. “I was very concerned about how he was going to react to the Gestapo cops over there.”