S. Africa Holds 256 Children Under Age 16

The government said today that it is holding 256 children under age 16 without charge under state of emergency regulations, including an 11-year-old.

In the first official accounting of detained children, the government said it holds six 12-year-olds, 21 who are 13, 88 14-year-olds and 140 who are 15. The figures were provided by Gen. J. P. Coetzee, police commissioner.

Anti-apartheid monitoring groups estimate between 1,300 and 4,000 children under 18 are in detention and have appealed for their release before Christmas.

The Black Sash, a group leading the “Free the Children” campaign, challenged the government to release figures for detained 16- and 17-year-olds.

“We are concerned that the commissioner does not appear to be aware of the fact that in terms of South African legislation, children are those under the age of 18,” Black Sash official Ethel Walt said.

20,000 Detained

An estimated 20,000 people have been detained since the state of emergency was declared June 12. Monitoring groups estimate about half remain in detention.

In another development today, a British professor was served with a deportation order and taken into police custody.

Philip Bonner, who teaches history at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, was ordered to leave South Africa by Dec. 15, according to the British consul here, John Dove.

Bonner’s wife, Chris, works with the predominantly black Chemical Workers Industrial Union and was also believed to be sought for deportation, according to Rod Crompton, the union’s general secretary.

Crompton said authorities had not yet been able to locate Chris Bonner, whom he described as “an experienced and very effective trade unionist.”