S. Africa Halts Activities of Secret Military Unit Tied to Hit Squads

Responding to harsh criticism, Defense Minister Magnus Malan told South Africa’s Parliament on Monday that he has suspended all operations of a secret military unit accused of involvement in the killings of anti-apartheid activists.

Malan also revealed that Anton Lubowski, a prominent anti-apartheid politician in Namibia who was killed last year, was a paid intelligence agent for the South African Defense Force.

The Civil Cooperation Bureau, Malan said, will cease to function until a judicial committee appointed by President Frederik W. de Klerk completes an investigation into the bureau’s activities.

Malan has denied ordering any killings or other criminal activity and said the bureau’s role has been to gather intelligence both in South Africa and abroad.

South African Police Brig. Floris Mostert has alleged in court documents that he suspects the bureau was involved in the Sept. 12 killing of Lubowski, the highest-ranking white member of the South-West Africa People’s Organization, or SWAPO, at the time of his death.

SWAPO waged a 23-year bush war against South African rule of Namibia, and the organization will lead the territory to independence March 21.

Malan told Parliament that Lubowski was a paid agent of the South African military and that “I am assured that he did good work.” He said this is evidence that the South African military would have no reason to act against Lubowski.

Mostert and the Star newspaper of Johannesburg also said they suspect that the bureau is linked to the death of David Webster, a white academic fatally shot outside his Johannesburg home in May.

In other developments Monday:

-- At least 16 blacks, including four police officers, were killed in a series of attacks throughout the country, police and witnesses said. The deaths were announced a day after African National Congress leader Nelson R. Mandela urged an end to the four years of black factional fighting in the southeastern province of Natal.

-- Mandela met with Gavin Relly, chief executive of the giant Anglo American mining conglomerate, and reaffirmed his support for nationalization of the nation’s mines. Relly said such a policy is “not practical to make modern economies work.”