S. Africa to File Charges on 780 : Long Terms Possible for Anti-Apartheid Activists

Criminal charges ranging from assault to murder will be filed shortly against 780 people detained here under the three-week-old state of emergency, the South African government said Wednesday.

The move is the government’s first attempt to justify the detention of an estimated 4,500 people or more under the state of emergency. It could bring long prison sentences for many anti-apartheid activists across the country.

Among those already charged, according to the government’s information bureau, are three “groups of people” accused of attempting to murder black moderates by putting gasoline-soaked tires around their necks and setting them on fire.

But Ken Andrew, a member of Parliament from the white opposition Progressive Federal Party, said in Cape Town that he suspects that the charges will amount merely “to a smear story put out to justify the repressive actions of the authorities.”

The information bureau refused again Wednesday to say how many people are being held incommunicado and without charge under the national state of emergency imposed June 12, but local human rights groups believe that with more than 1,800 names known, the total number now exceeds 4,500.

Ronelle Henning, a bureau spokeswoman, also refused to say what would happen to those who are not being charged, though the bureau earlier reported that some detainees had been released after being held one or two weeks.

“All people arrested should be charged or released,” Andrew said in a statement. “Detentions on the scale and over the time period of decades that we have had in South Africa have no place in a civilized society.

“Obviously, crimes of violence are totally unacceptable, and those perpetrating them deserve to be punished severely. However, the state has recently arrested and charged hundreds of people with such crimes as treason and public violence, but in many cases only a small percentage of the accused are ever found guilty in court.”

May See Lawyers

All those charged will be allowed to see their lawyers and be granted the other privileges accorded prisoners awaiting trial, Henning said. Under the emergency regulations, detainees may not have any visitors, including members of their family or lawyers, and are held in much stricter conditions than those formally charged with a crime.

Despite a series of bombings in Johannesburg and Durban since June 12, the government again expressed confidence that the severe emergency rule of the past three weeks is bringing the country’s civil strife to an end.

President Pieter W. Botha, in a radio address to blacks, defended the state of emergency as necessary to prevent “a bloody revolution” by the African National Congress, the main guerrilla group fighting minority white rule. He appealed to black moderates to “come forward and join me in negotiations” on sharing political power.

“Greater peace and normality have returned to our lives,” Botha asserted. “We cannot make progress whilst there is violence. You, the decent majority, will agree that order must be maintained. The violence must stop.”

Tutu Condemns Bombings

Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Anglican archbishop-elect of Cape Town and the 1984 Nobel Peace laureate, condemned the recent bombings as terrorism but said many blacks suspect that they were the work of right-wing white groups seeking to polarize the country further, rather than actions of the African National Congress as the government contends.

“The problems of our country cannot be solved by the violence of injustice, oppression and exploitation, nor by that of those who seek to overthrow such a repressive system,” Tutu said in an impassioned plea for peace. “There is much good will still left. Can’t we get together and talk? Can’t those recognized as authentic leaders and representatives of all our people get together and talk?”

Henning reported that the last 24 hours had been the quietest since the emergency was declared, despite the bomb in downtown Johannesburg that injured eight people Tuesday. “Although the radical element may be regrouping,” she said, “the state of emergency is having the desired effect of restoring peace in the country.”

These claims, made daily by the government, cannot be verified. Emergency regulations prohibit newsmen from covering any unrest first hand and from entering many black townships around the country. They also forbid any reports, except those officially authorized, on the activities of the security forces. Moreover, “subversive statements” and a wide range of protest activities, such as strikes and consumer boycotts, may not be reported.

Warning by Unions

The country’s largest labor federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, warned that if the government and employers do not end alleged harassment of labor unions and release union officials detained under the state of emergency, they will launch a campaign of industrial action next week.

The federation’s president is among those detained, although under the emergency regulations, he may not be identified by name.