S. African Crackdown Extended to White Opposition; Editors Told to ‘Toe the Line’

President Pieter W. Botha’s government on Wednesday extended the current crackdown here to its white opposition, prompting charges that South Africa is rapidly becoming a police state.

Editors of the country’s major newspapers, many of which have been sharply critical of the state of emergency imposed two weeks ago, were told here they must “toe the line” and that, if they refuse, their papers could be closed.

The Cabinet, apparently dissatisfied that the state of emergency has failed to end political opposition as well as to quell the continuing violence, has resolved to act against anyone believed to be “undermining and weakening public confidence,” the editors were told in a meeting with Louis Nel, the deputy minister for information.

Must ‘Toe the Line’

“The government expects the newspapers to toe the line, that is to adhere to the emergency regulations,” Nel said. “This is the law of the country at the moment.”

The government, he emphasized, is prepared to make much greater use of the sweeping powers it assumed in declaring the state of emergency to enforce its orders.

“We cannot always wait for a court case,” Nel said, according to one editor who was present. “The government has some administrative powers it can use, and we will.”

The likely targets of such actions could include not only the white-edited press, according to editors who were present, but a broad range of anti-apartheid groups, including churches, labor unions, human rights committees and such political organizations as the United Democratic Front. These groups have continued to function with liberal whites moving into key positions when black activists have been detained.

White Critics May Be Next

“The initial measures were taken in the black areas, but the government seems to be preparing now to act against its critics in the white community,” one of the editors said later, asking not to be quoted by name. “It may be intimidation, but they leave you with the feeling that the next editorial you write could mean jail, detention for a long, long time.”

An estimated 3,000 people, and perhaps many more, have been detained without charge under the state of emergency, according to human rights groups here and abroad. Most of those now held are black.

In Cape Town, the ruling National Party used its majority in Parliament’s white House of Assembly to thwart opposition attempts to continue debating the president’s imposition of emergency rule, and to adjourn the chamber until Aug. 18, when it is scheduled to reconvene to discuss political reforms.

‘Police State’ Feared

The government also rejected opposition requests for information on police and army actions under the state of emergency, including the identities and number of detainees. Helen Suzman, the veteran human rights campaigner from the opposition Progressive Federal Party, warned in Parliament that with these and other steps, the government is moving South Africa closer to “a total police state.”

Criticism is coming as well, however, from some of the government’s supporters. The influential Afrikaans-language newspaper Beeld warned, “South African democracy in its present form is rather frail and cannot stand many more shocks. . . . “

“The purpose of the state of emergency is to counter that threat to undermine democracy, and not the very symbol and seat of freedom (Parliament) that should be upheld and protected.”

Botha Signs New Laws

Botha nevertheless signed two new security laws over the strong objections of both the Indian and mixed-race Colored houses of the tricameral Parliament. One law gives police authority to detain without charge for six months anyone they believe to have been involved in civil unrest or likely to become so involved; present law permits police to hold such a detainee only for two weeks unless a state of emergency has been declared.

The other law permits the government to declare a district an “unrest area” and then to take whatever action, without any legal limitation, that it regards as necessary to restore order. Courts are barred from ruling on the initial declaration or any subsequent action.

The new legislation would allow the government almost the same powers it has under a state of emergency, but without the political embarrassment of a state of emergency. But Botha apparently has no intention of lifting the present state of emergency soon.

“I would say that we will keep it as long as is necessary to ensure the protection of human lives and property of the great majority of the population,” Botha told the Italian newspaper Il Giornale in Cape Town.

Editors Warned

In his meeting with newspaper editors, who had been summoned to Pretoria from around the country, Nel warned that tough government regulations prohibiting the publication of “subversive statements,” whether by opposition leaders or the newspapers themselves, would be strictly enforced.

He said that the hard-line minister of law and order, Louis le Grange, will “not shy away from” seizure of newspapers, however large and influential, and from prohibiting their further publication. One newspaper, believed to be the liberal Weekly Mail, which had one issue impounded and came out last week dramatically censored by its own lawyers, might be shut down soon, editors quoted Nel as saying.

Nel told foreign correspondents at a subsequent meeting here that they, too, must comply with the regulations more strictly than they have until now.

“If you don’t comply, the government has certain powers, and it will use those powers,” Nel said. In the past two weeks, three foreign newsmen have been ordered to leave the country.

‘Revolutionary Onslaught’

“We have a state of emergency in South Africa for very good reason--we are experiencing a revolutionary onslaught,” Nel continued. “The government is determined to bring this revolutionary onslaught to an end. . . . In the process, certain limitations have been put on press reporting in and from South Africa.

The government’s restrictions do not amount to censorship, Nel maintained. “To me, censorship means every report must be approved before publication. So, we don’t have censorship, but limitations on what the press can report.”

Although South Africa does not want “a confrontation with the foreign media,” he said, the government “will not hesitate to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure compliance with the state of emergency regulations.”

Meanwhile, the government information bureau announced the suspension of its daily press briefings, saying that a sharp drop in the level of violence in recent days had made them unnecessary.

Shortly afterwards, it issued its latest “situation report,” disclosing the deaths over the past 24 hours of two more blacks, bringing to 61 the number of people killed since the state of emergency was imposed June 12.