Status Shift for 9,000 S. Africa Blacks Halted
The Pretoria Supreme Court on Friday suspended a government order that would have stripped 9,000 blacks of South African citizenship by transferring their territory to a tribal homeland.
The government has until March 7 to convince the court that the farming community of Braklaagte should be incorporated into Bophuthatswana, a nominally independent homeland recognized only by Pretoria.
An order signed by President Pieter W. Botha and published in the official gazette Friday announced that the transfer would take place at midnight tonight.
In a last-minute court battle, lawyers for the community’s tribal chief, Pupsey Ntsanyana Sebogodi, won a ruling suspending the order and calling on the government to justify its decision.
Residents of Braklaagte, about 100 miles west of Pretoria, oppose joining Bophuthatswana because they would lose any automatic right to work in South Africa and be thrown into a tight job market in the impoverished homeland.
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