S. Africa Press Curbs Upheld, at Least Temporarily

New regulations barring the South African press from publishing “subversive statements” were upheld, at least temporarily, by a Supreme Court justice who ruled Thursday that the matter was not urgent enough for an immediate hearing.

Without ruling on the merit of the controversial regulations themselves, Justice N. M. MacArthur said they must be obeyed until reviewed in full by the Supreme Court, which will be asked shortly to decide whether President Pieter W. Botha has the authority to impose such severe restrictions on the press and on freedom of speech.

“In my opinion, the matter is not urgent,” MacArthur said, dismissing a request by the Weekly Mail to rule on the regulations’ validity.

One of three newspapers served with police orders this week prohibiting them from publishing calls for anti-apartheid protests over Christmas, the Weekly Mail had argued that the new restrictions sharply curbed press freedom and that this itself was an urgent matter.

Blocks Planned Ad

MacArthur’s ruling effectively prevents the United Democratic Front, a coalition of 700 anti-apartheid groups, from publishing an advertisement today calling on South Africans to participate in Christmas protests demanding an end to the six-month-old state of emergency.

Further challenges are likely to come from the Sowetan, the country’s leading black newspaper, and from the United Democratic Front itself.

Under the new press regulations imposed last week, government approval is required to report on unrest and security force actions to deal with it. The regulations also prevent newsmen from reporting on many forms of peaceful protest, the treatment of political detainees and statements the government considers subversive. This story has been written to comply with these regulations.

Stepping up its propaganda war against the African National Congress, the government Thursday warned that the outlawed guerrilla group has executed at least 28 dissident members in recent years.

Grim Picture of ANC

Gen. Johan Coetzee, the country’s police commissioner, painted a grim picture of life inside the ANC’s guerrilla camps in Angola and other neighboring countries in an acknowledged effort to dissuade black youths from joining the outlawed group.

Coetzee also gave the names, home addresses and circumstances of the deaths of the 28, several of whom were killed in alleged mutinies in the training camps. There was no immediate comment from ANC headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, but ANC officials have acknowledged several mutinies in past years as well as “disciplinary actions” against members found to be traitors or government spies or who have committed serious crimes.

The government’s Bureau for Information said in its daily situation report on unrest around the country that about 20 blacks had opened fire on security forces in Katlehong, a black township east of Johannesburg, in the latest such attack on patrolling police and soldiers. The group was dispersed with tear gas, the bureau said, and a black man was found with a bullet wound in his back.