‘Sharpeville Six’ Clemency Asked

President Reagan called on the South African government Tuesday to grant clemency for the “Sharpeville Six,” who are scheduled to be hanged Friday in connection with the 1984 slaying of a black township councilor.

Reagan, joining a worldwide chorus of pleas for mercy, said that the lives of the six South African blacks should be spared “on compassionate and humanitarian grounds.”

“We implore the South African government to respond favorably to these requests,” the President said in a statement released by spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. “An act of compassion such as this by the South African government would be welcomed by all Americans.”

The statement came two days after South African President Pieter W. Botha refused to commute the death sentences against the six. The five men and one woman, all of whom are black, were convicted in the Sept. 3, 1984, death of Jacob Dlamini, who was apparently suspected of collaboration with the authorities. A mob forced him from his home, beat him and set him afire.

“In the case of the Sharpeville Six, we have appealed for clemency to the South African government through diplomatic channels and public statements. We’ve also joined a consensus in the United Nations Security Council in December in support of an appeal by the Security Council president for clemency for the Sharpeville Six,” Reagan noted. Fitzwater said the United States has received no response from South Africa.