S. Africa to Charge 780 in Racial Strife

The government today broke its silence on the number of people held under the state of emergency and said it plans to file criminal charges against 780 of them.

The government refused to disclose the total number of people detained without charge at one time or another since the June 12 emergency declaration. Estimates by South African and foreign monitoring groups range from 1,800 to more than 3,000, including labor leaders, clergymen, students and anti-apartheid organizers.

“Police dossiers of 780 people detained have been prepared,” Bureau of Information spokeswoman Ronelle Henning said at a news conference today. “The charges include murder, arson and assault.”

She said additional charges would be prepared but declined to say how many. She refused to say whether detainees who are not charged would be released.

Henning said the detainees, who are now barred from seeing lawyers or other visitors, will have “normal access” to attorneys after formal charges are filed.

“The law will then follow its normal course,” she said.

Bombings Condemned

Also today, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu condemned the outbreak of bombings in South African cities and appealed for talks to ease the country’s racial conflict.

“I am deeply distressed at the recent spate of bombings and condemn such acts of terrorism vehemently and unequivocally,” the black Nobel Peace Prize winner said.

His statement came a day after a bombing in downtown Johannesburg injured eight people. Three of them remained in Johannesburg General Hospital, including a 2-week-old baby reported in stable condition.

The Bureau for Information suggested that the blast, along with nine other bombings since the emergency was declared, was carried out by the African National Congress. The guerrilla movement, in a telex sent today from Zambia, said it had no comment on the explosions.

Alert for Bombs

Police today appealed to the public to be alert for bombs and to watch for objects being placed in trash cans. Tuesday’s bomb was in a trash can at a bus stop.

Tutu said that although many whites believe that the bombings are the work of black radicals, many blacks suspect that white right-wing extremists are responsible.

Also today, the nation’s largest labor federation--the predominantly black Congress of South African Trade Unions--issued a list of demands in response to what it said is a recent government crackdown on the labor movement.

The 500,000-member congress, which has indicated that it might call for some type of nationwide protest on July 14, demanded the release of union leaders detained under the state of emergency and a halt to what it said was the harassment of union members. It also demanded that detained workers be kept on the payroll and urged companies to facilitate union organizing.