S. Africa Dissolves Township, Orders Mass Removal of Blacks : Residents Pledge to Use Violence to Save Homes

The government today ordered the immediate dissolution of a black township of 10,000 people, saying it would be too costly to upgrade its streets and communal facilities.

Township spokesmen said the real reason for the order was that the government wanted the land for white housing. They said the residents would not move and pledged to resort to violence if necessary.

It was the first mass removal order since the government announced in February, 1985, that it would no longer force blacks from their homes, ending one of the most controversial policies of apartheid.

Chris Heunis, minister of constitutional development and planning, said that Oukasie township near the town of Brits was being dissolved and that its residents were required to move.

No Deadline Imposed

He said, however, that they had agreed to the measure. He said they could choose their new place of residence but were urged to relocate in the township of Lethlabile, 12 miles west. Brits is a small white industrial town 30 miles west of Pretoria.

Heunis did not impose a deadline for the move or say whether the government would arrest anyone who defied the order.

The minister said the government dissolved the township after consultations with leaders of the black community council.

But members of the Brits Location Action Committee told reporters at a news conference that residents were adamantly opposed to moving.

“We are not going to take it lying down. We are going to challenge it all the way,” said Sello Ramakobye, secretary of the action committee. “Even if it means violence, then we will have to resort to it, because the government has forced it on us.”

Close to White Area

Township representatives said the government did not dissolve Oukasie for financial reasons but because it is 250 yards from a white suburb and 1.2 miles from the center of Brits on land wanted for white housing.

Geoff Budlender, an attorney for the township residents, said he asked Heunis to stay the relocation order for a few days until engineers hired by the residents could complete an estimate of how much it would cost to fix up Oukasie.

Heunis said that 1,505 families voluntarily moved from Oukasie to Lethlabile in recent years and that 1,400 families remain.

He said Oukasie residents would be moved to Lethlabile at no charge and would be given land to build houses. He said they could apply for $2,400 housing loans.

But Levy Mamabolo, a member of the Transvaal Rural Action Committee, said that there are no houses at Lethlabile for Oukasie residents, just vacant sites with toilets, and that few could afford to build there.

“This is a classic and blatant example of a forced removal,” said Alan Morris, another committee member.