Sharp Drop in Crime Prompts Police to Lift Soweto Curfew
Police today lifted a 10-day-old, nighttime curfew in the black township of Soweto because a sharp drop in political violence and crime no longer made the restrictions necessary.
Police imposed the 9 p.m.-4 a.m. curfew Sept. 25 in Soweto and other nearby townships to halt black factional fighting around Johannesburg that has claimed 800 lives in the last two months.
Only scattered incidents have been reported in recent weeks, and Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok said serious crime in Soweto had dropped by about two-thirds compared to the 10 days before the curfew.
Vlok praised residents in Soweto for “outstanding cooperation” with the police.
The curfew will remain in effect in several other townships, police said.
The African National Congress, the leading black opposition movement, had opposed the curfew, saying it was implemented to weaken the normal organizational activities of the ANC.
In other developments today, Nelson Mandela and other ANC officials met leaders of five black homelands at Mandela’s home in Soweto. However, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Zulu homeland and head of the conservative Inkatha movement, declined to attend.
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