FBIS3-25118 "drafr026_c_94016"
FBIS-AFR-94-026 Document Type:Daily Report 8 Feb 1994
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Human Rights Commission Reports January Violence

MB0802061194 Johannesburg SAPA in English 2010 GMT 7 Feb 94 MB0802061194 Johannesburg SAPA Language: English Article Type:BFN [Report issued by the South African Human Rights Commission on 7 February on the SAPA PR Wire Service] [Text] The January death toll, while still very high, maintained the downward trend since the highpoint of July 1993. If the trend continues, violence levels should reach manageable proportions by election day. The use of unrest area declarations seems to be declining and currently is only in operation in the Eastern Cape, where ironically, political violence is minimal. The use of detention without trial, on the other hand, continues in operation, in spite of the declared undertaking to scrap Section 19 of the Internal Security Act, which so far has not materialised. No major massacres occurred during January. Amongst January victims were 2 commuters, 22 women, 22 children, 2 white civilians and 17 members of the security forces; reports identified 34 ANC [African National Congress] supporters and 14 IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party] supporters amongst the dead. Form of Repression January 1994 Total Yr 1994 Monthly 1993 Monthly to Date Average Average Formal Repression Detentions Without 57 57 57 60.6 Trial Death in Police 4 4 4 3.2 Custody Political Arrests 117 117 117 428.7 Political Trials 5 5 5 12.1 Death Sentences 1 1 1 4.5 Political Violence Incidents 498 498 498 463.5 Death: PWV 142 142 142 166.8 [Pretoria, Witwatersrand, Vereeniging] Natal 161 161 161 167.4 Elsewhere 14 14 14 32.3 Total Deaths 317 317 317 366.5 Injuries 269 269 269 361.6 There was a marginal drop in the PWV deathtoll from 158 in December to 142 in January. The region was responsible for 45 percent of countrywide deaths in January, with the East Rand sub- region again figuring prominently. The provisional figure of 161 deaths in Natal during January, suggests an encouraging downward trend from the 228 in December; however it remains to be seen if this trend will be confirmed and sustained. Other regions accounted for 14 deaths during January or only 4 percent of national total. Security force actions resulted in 11 deaths and 51 injuries in the course of 46 incidents during January. Attacks on security force members resulted in 17 death and 23 injuries in the course of 69 incidents. Right wing activity is on the increase with 22 incidents reported during January resulting in 1 death and 3 injuries. Industrial conflict claimed 1 life. A low level of taxi conflict & educational conflict did not result in any loss of life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Incidents |Deaths |Injuries | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |General Incidents |351 |287 |185 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Security Force Ac-|46 |11 |51 | |tion | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Hit Squad Activity|-- |-- |-- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Right Wing Activi-|22 |1 |3 | |ty | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Taxi Conflict |2 |-- |1 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Industrial Confli-|6 |1 |3 | |ct | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Educational Confl-|1 |-- |1 | |ict | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |496 |317 |269 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commuters suffered 2 deaths and 13 injuries in January. Women and children figured prominently; death: 22 women and 22 children (combined 14 percent of all deaths); injuries: 18 women and 15 children. Security force members - see above. White civilians recorded 2 dead and 3 injured. Political affiliation of the victims was reported in about 15 percent of deaths during January: ANC [African National Congress] -- 34 killed and 58 injured; IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party] - 14 killed and 7 injured. Although the national deathtoll in political violence is still at the high level of around 10 deaths a day on average, nevertheless January recorded the sixth successive declining month since the explosion of July. If the trend continues, the country could be experiencing a controllable level of violence by the date of the elections. During January, HRC [Human Rights Commission] recorded 498 incidents of political which is a little in excess of last year's average incident count of 463. The deathtoll in January of 317 is nearly 50 percent down on the highpoint of 605 last July., but still very much higher than last January's figure of 175. The injury count for January was 269, a low figure in relation to the deathtoll. No major massacres were reported in January. During January the magisterial district of Hoopstad in the OFS [Orange Free State] was deproclaimed as an unrest area. This left 14 unrest areas at the end of the month, all of them in the Eastern Cape. On 28 January, the Abolition of Restrictions on Free Political Activity Act came into effect on the advice of the TEC [Transitional Executive Council] but excluding the clause abolishing Section 29. Thus detention without trial under Section 29 is still in force. During January 57 persons were detained without trial,including 39 under Section 29. At month end, 2 persons were still being held. During January 4 deaths in police custody were reported. The total of 117 political arrests During January was substantially lower than the monthly average for last year. During January another 5 political trials were completed, with a further 38 trials ongoing at month end. Only one person was sentenced to death during January. Death row now has 326 occupants. A number of incidents during January indicate clearly that the Bophuthatswana government has no intention of allowing free political activity to take place in the territory.