FIRST

DRAFT

JUNE 1976
UPRISING

THE EVENTS THAT SHOCKED

AFRICA AND THE WORLD

First published by First Draft

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8 February 1976

13 June 1976

The resignation of all members of Meadowlands Tswana School

Board threatens to result in the withdrawal of more than 12 000 Tswana
schoolchildren in Meadowlands as protests against the Department of
Bantu Education.

Two thousand pupils from seven Soweto

schools are now on strike in protest against
the enforced use of Afrikaans as a medium
of instruction.

Today the 14 Tswana school committee representatives, drawn from all

the Tswana schools in the area meet to make resolutions on the crucial
matter.
On Friday night the school board members resigned en bloc after
the surprise dismissal of the chairman of the Tswana School Board, Mr
Joseph Peele, and another senior member, Mr Abner Letlape, by Mr
W.C. Ackermann, Regional Director of Bantu Education.
The two mens dismissal has been interpreted as a direct result of the
Tswana School Boards resistance to the departments directive to have
Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
The rest of the board members, including four Government-nominated
members Mr S. Modise, Rev. J. Mothlaga, Mr S. Thoane and Mr Peter
Hans resigned in sympathy and in protest.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Feb 8, 1976;Section:None;Page:93

This week pupils of one Soweto School set

fire to a police car and stoned another
vehicle when police came to the school to
make an arrest.
This is not just a present-day restlessness
and rebellion of youth. It is specifically
Black and relevant to the entire South
African situation.
The children had the support of some adult
groups, but the strikes were spontaneous.
Speaking about the present unrest, Mrs
Phukathi said: One can understand the
childrens resentment. For one thing it
is harder to learn a subject, which may
already be difficult, in a new language.
And children feel that Afrikaans has
been made compulsory because it is the
language of the Government.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 13, 1976;Section:None;Page:126

13 June 1976

13 June 1976

The blame for the recent spate of disturbances at

Soweto schools which include two murders, class
boycotts and violence and the burning of a police
car is placed on Black parents by students who
claim their elders are ignoring their plight in the
field of education. Students in Soweto declared they
had had enough.

One of the several incidents in Soweto involving students was last year
when a group in Phiri attacked men in the area allegedly because
they molested girl students.

A leading educationalist and schoolmaster, Mr T.W.

Kambule, headmaster of Orlando High, has warned
that the situation is more serious than most people,
including the Department of Bantu Education, seem
to realise.

In January boys from Musi High School, angry because they were
missing history lessons because their teacher was always drinking
raided a shebeen and forcibly removed a teacher to class.

We, the people who are looking after the students,

are very worried because we dont know when
things will blow up.
The students must not be regarded as children.
They know what is good for them and they are
becoming more and more restless.
I have been approached on a number of
occasions by students whove told me plainly:
You parents have let us down. You never had to
obtain your education through a system like Bantu
Education.
Now another obstacle forcing us to study in the
medium of Afrikaans is placed before us. And
youre doing nothing about it. We realise that we
are on our own.

One of the men was killed during the attack by the students.
Another death occurred last month in Orlando West when two youths
robbed an Orlando West School teacher. Students gave chase and
stoned one man to death.

Towards the end of May more than 1500 Soweto students were on
strike against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. The
four schools involved were Orlando West Junior, Secondary, Bele,
Thulasizwe and Emthonjeni Higher Primary schools. The students were
protesting against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
Within a week 300 more students from Pimville Higher Primary School
joined the strike for the same reasons.
Students stoned police at Mantu Higher Primary School in Pimville
when they tried to arrest one of them after a school teacher was
stabbed in a row over the medium of Afrikaans instruction last month.
Yet another school joined the protest at the beginning of this month
when pupils of the Senaoane Junior Secondary School left their
classes after being told that in future history and mathematics would
be taught in Afrikaans.
At one of the protesting Soweto Schools Bele Higher Primary pupils
ranging in age 12 to 16 years stoned the school buildings and other
children who had returned to classes.
At Naledi High School students overturned and burned a police
vehicle this week when two policemen called at the school to detain
a student.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 13, 1976;Section:None;Page:126

13
June 1976
Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 13, 1976;Section:None;Page:126

13 June 1976
The Soweto Parents Community Association was
formed this week and teachers, school committee
members and school board members have
been barred from being elected to office in the
association.
Dr Aaron Matihare, the associations chairman,
said that Soweto parents would be invited to a
meeting to be held shortly where everything
about the association would be fully explained.
But he added: We are sorry that school
committee members, school board members
and teachers and other people connected with
Bantu Education wont be allowed to hold office
in the association.

Mrs Winnie Nomzamo Mandela, wife of Robben Island prisoner Nelson

Mandela and a member of the interim committee of the newly-formed
Soweto Parents Community Association, says Afrikaans as a medium
of instruction was so unpopular that even Chief Kaizer Matanzima the
governments star had rejected it in the Transkei.
And, said Mrs Mandela, if anybody wanted to suggest that the protest
against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction by Soweto students was
agitation then the blame must first be borne by the Transkei.
Mrs Mandela was speaking on Friday night in Soweto where the aims of the
ne association were being announced.
At the same time she denounced school boards, school committees and
all people working within the system of Bantu Education saying that they
cannot be allowed to hold office in the new association because the
people had rejected them
She emphasised that before school committee and school board members

are confirmed into office by the Department of Bantu Education to make

sure they are suitable.

This is unfortunate, but it cant be helped.

And as a result, these members found it very difficult to represent the views
and feelings of parents and students properly.

The decision was taken in view of the fact that

these people work within the system and have so
far failed to better the lot of the Black students.

Referring to the new association, Mrs Mandela said: We are forming our
own Black association for the benefit of our children

Some of them just go along with everything they

are told. They cant put their foot down.

Our children reject Afrikaans as a medium of instruction and we as parents

have no choice but to support the children, even if it means marching to
Pretoria to make our voices hear!

Dr Matihare said that the formation of the

association came about because of the growing
awareness by parents that they were not taking
an active role in the education of children.

Asked what would be the associations attitude of the government took a

strong stand on the Afrikaans row Mrs Mandela said: We will call upon the
Black people in the country to decide their fate.
Dr Aaron Matihare the chairman of the interim committee said: If the
Government takes a strong stand, they can rather close the schools. We will
use church halls for our childrens education.

He said concerned parents felt they should not be

blamed by their children as they are doing now

of neglect.
One of the first people on the scene at Naledi
High School when students burned down a police
car with the police retaliating with teargas and
police dogs, was Dr Matihare.
He said: It was a pathetic sight. Some policemen
held their guns in their hands.
I had one girl in my car who was bitten by a
police dog.
At first the police wouldnt let me through into the
school yard.
But I insisted. A senior policeman was saying
something to m in Afrikaans and I told him I did
not understand the language.
Another one came and addressed me in English,
saying I must treat one student who had been
injured during the skirmish.
I refused and told them I was not a police doctor.
I demanded that they rush the student to hospital
in their van which they did.
Such things should never be allowed to happen.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:3

20 June 1976

20 June 1976

It began two years ago with a department circular. Until then

secondary schooling for Blacks was done in English.Now half the
subjects would have to be taught in Afrikaans.

Riot-torn Black townships are facing a weekend of hunger.

The circular, issued by the Bantu Eduation Departments regional

director for the Southern Transvaal, was clear: arithmetic,
mathematics and social studies had to be taught in Afrikaans:
science, woodwork, arts and crafts in English.

Deliveries have been reduced to a trickle since Wednesdays bloody

outbreak.

That neither tongue was the home language of South Africas four
million Black pupils didnt matter; not that there was bitter opposition
to the switch to Afrikaans.
Bloody Wednesdays toll was shattering:
Twenty-three people were killed 21 Africans and two Whites.
Of the 219 injured, 69 had bullet wounds, 148 were wounded by
rioters and two were hit by teargas containers.
All 10 offices of the West Rand Bantu Affairs Administration Board
were burnt down. Also up in flames were two hostels, one office of
the Urban Bantu Council, six liquar stores and two schools.
Twenty other buildings were damaged two clinics, a hostel,
bank, library, post office and community centre, two shopping
centres, nine liquor outlets and two private houses.
Twenty police and eight Bantu Administration Board vehicles and
a private vehicle were damaged, and four Putco buses and a
roadscraper set on fire.
Eleven police were admitted to hospital with injuries, and two
police dogs were hacked to death with pangas and burnt.
This devastation set the pace for worse outbreaks of violence. By
Thursday, the death toll had risen to 58 56 Blacks and two whites.
The injured list swelled to 788.
By Friday the explosion of urban violence had spread, from Soweto
to Alexandra, Tembisa, Vosloorus, Kathehong, Natalspruit, Kagiso and
the University of Kwazulu in Natal.
By Saturday, the death toll had exceeded Sharpevilles 69, rising to at
least 90 with 1000 on the injured list, before the lull began setting in.

Stocks of bread, milk, mealie meal and groceries are running out
and serious food shortages are looming.

Some bakeries, dairies and wholesalers have refised to make

deliveries, despite offers of police protection.
In parts of Soweto where there are a million mouths to feed, bread,
milk, meat, mealie meal and groceries are virtually unobtainable.
The big hunt for food has started. Droves of people have been going
to town to do their shopping. Fire and damage have drastically
rediced the number of supply points. Looting has cleared many
shelves.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:17

20 June 1976
The 55-year old doctor, who was chief officer for the West
Rand Administration Board the body which administers
virtually all aspects of life in the Black city rolled the
opinions of Black pupils in their matriculation years. He
found they did not like tribal division in Sowetos residential
area make-up, wanted to be taught in English, wanted to
live in South Africa under a multiracial government and
would rather work in an urban area than a Government
homeland. Most complained of poor education facilities.
Chief Gatsha Buthulezi declared this week: Whites
cannot say they have not been warned. South Africa
has reached the moment of truth and my worst fears are
being confirmed. Three years ago the Minister of Bantu
Education, Mr M.C. Botha, reprimanded me because I
spoke of violence. But I was warning that non-participation
of Blacks in decision-making could lead to violence.
The Very Rev Desmond Tutu, Anglican Dean of
Johannesburg: The immediate cause of events this
week was the language issue, which was an irritant. But
in fact it represented the authorities utter rejection of any
reasonable appeals for modification and changes in their
policy. It is clear they regard acceding to requests as a
confession of weakness and don want negotiations or to
have dialogue.
Sharpeville 16 years ago saw Blacks first self-assertion over
White dominance and there were lessons to be learnt
from it.
Consultation is the lesson of the Soweto riots.
It is being written in seven townships and two provinces of
South Africa.
In Black and White blood.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:15

20 June 1976
When the last echoes of gunfire die down over Soweto and the last
school child has been buried, one man will find himself at the centre
of the storm as to whether or not the bloodshed could have been
averted.
He is Mr W. C. Ackermann, Regional Driector of Bantu Education, and
the man responsible for the Soweto area.
Mr Ackermann has the final say over the medium of instruction in
Black schools. Community leaders say he has persistently refused
to listen to the demands of the school boards and adopted a highhanded and arbitrary method of dealing with Black people.
The question which will now be asked is, could Mr Ackermann have
adopted a more flexible attitude and thus alleviated a situation
which was becoming increasingly tense.
Mr Ackermann himself says that any person who believes that
Afrikaans has anything to do with the outbreak of rioting is a fool.
I will only say this: that no school board discussed this matter with
me. I have reported to my secretary and he is quite aware of what is
going on.
It should be clear that Afrikaans has nothing to do with these riots.
Only one of the secondary school offers instruction through the
medium of Afrikaans. The Black universities are all 100 per cent
English.

20 June 1976
The Soweto riots, with their heavy death toll, are a tragedy that White
South Africa should think about very deeply this week, because
they represent, for the whole of South Africa, a watershed in race
relations.

20 June 1976

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:5

The question here is not merely a matter of language as some

people tend to believe. It goes much deeper than the refusal of
Sowetos students to be taught in Afrikaans.
It was an expression of rejection of something associated with
Afrikaner people who have become, in the Black mind, responsible
for all the hardships Blacks have to endure under the policy of
apartheid.
But it is not merely a matter of rejecting a language. It is much
more serious than that and it would serve South Africa much more
positively to acknowledge that the laws which dictate the lives of
Black people from day to day are what the riots were all about this
black week in our countrys history.
The need for White people especially the Afrikaner people who
it must be readily admitted, showed the rest of Africa in their fight
against British oppression to begin now, in 1976, to think as South
Africans and not merely as Afrikaners.
Blaming agitators for situations like Soweto, UWC and Sharpeville
will do nothing to restore the Afrikaner people to their rightful place
in South African history as people who feed our country from
Colonialism.
It will only drive the wedge deeper between them and the rest of the
people who compromise the South African nation.

Black high school principals in Soweto yesterday emphatically denied

the claim by Bantu Administration Minister Mr M.C. Botha that they had
opted for the sue of Afrikaans in their schools.

he said that in recent months the Black teachers association, Atasa,

had met the Secretary of Bantu Administration to express dissatisfaction
over the language issue.

Mr L M. Mathabathe, principal of the Morris Isaacson School and

chairman of the Post-Primary School Principals Council in Soweto
challenged Mr Botha to give details of the alleged meeting at which
the principals agreed to the use of Afrikaans.

The only reason Afrikaans was not used in six of the seven schools
involved in the riots was resentment over the issue and the dire
shortage of teachers competent in the language.

On the contrary, he declared, several memoranda expression

concern at the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction have been
submitted to his department.
Speaking for the principals of six of Sowetos eight secondary schools,

A statement issued by the six principals said they were not aware
of any factors other than the use of Afrikaans in schools which had
contributed to the riots.
They denied ever having met the Minister to agree to the use of
Afrikaans.

20 June 1976
The crisis talks between the Government and Sowetos Black leaders
ended after three hours at the Department of Bantu Administration
and Development offices in Pretoria yesterday.

20 June 1976

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:6

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:79

The leader of the Black delegation, Mr T. J. Makhaya, chairman of

the UBC, said he was very satisfied with the outcome.
However, a joint statement would be issued later and he could not
comment further.
Representing the authorities at the talks were the Minister of Bantu
Administration and Development, Mr M. C. Botha; the Deputy
Minister of Bantu Affairs, Mr W. a. Cruywagen; and Mr Manie Mulder,
chairman of the West Rand Bantu Administration Board.
Soweto representatives included Mr Makhaya, Mr R. J. P. Mopanya,
Mr Sipo Motah, Mr L. M. Mosola, Mr P. M. Lengene, Mr L. L. Mlongi (all
UBC).
The churches, schools and students were also represented.

For some the rioting has come to an end victims of Sowetos violence wait in
the casualty section of Baragwanath Hospital before being wheeled into the
operating theatre. One was wounded by police bullets, another stoned and
stabbed by roving gang.

But with the hospital following an Operation Disaster procedure, and dedicated
staff working up to 36 hours at a stretch, each victim received immediate attention.
Dr P. J. Beukes, the superintendant, said the casualty section was working flat out
24 hours a day to cope with the casualties.

20 June 1976
Please God, help us. The instigators from Soweto are here. These were
the first words that I heard when I arrived at Alexandra Township early on
Friday morning.
The pleas came from dozens of schoolchildren aged between 10 and
15 who said they were fleeing from drunken thugs who threatened to
killed them unless they burned down a school.
But the reign of terror had only just started. In the five hours I was there I
saw:
Five Black people die in clashes with the police
And entire shopping complex looted, smashed and finally burned
Four buses set on fire and a fleet of Bantu Administration cars stoned
overturned and fired
Government buildings stoned and looted
Masses of Blacks marching through streets shouting Black Power
and This is the end of the whites
Hundreds of Indian and White employees evacuated under police
guard from businesses near the township.
As police tried to force them back, violence flared. Blacks used dustbin
lids as shield and stormed closer. They were warned numerous times to
disperse.
As they advanced, so we withdrew. Suddenly the mob attacked, and
the police fired, aiming above their heads. Still they came on. The police
fired again. Three Blacks fell. About 10 were wounded.
After this, violence erupted from all parts of the township, and sporadic
rifle fire could be heard. The rioters seemed to be using hit-and-run
tactics, taunting the police, then withdrawing.
Smoke poured from burning buildings and buses. Police were powerless
to stop the rioters, in most cases getting to the scene only after the
damage had been done.
Each time they made their way to a trouble spot they ran a gauntlet of
flying rocks, bottles and sticks.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:7

20 June 1976
The riots in South Africa dominated the front pages of severy
serious Fleet Street newspaper yesterday. Under the headline
Vorster in rioting crisis Kissinger summit may be put off the
Daily Telegraph reported that the rioting has left 90 dead and
at least 1000 injured.
Most newspapers carried photographs of a youth shot dead
in Alexandra. Financial pages reported the influence the crisis
is having on Shouth African shares.
Mr Vorsters gloves-off order to the police to quell the riots at all
costs was reported in all papers.
Most TV and radio reports on the BBC have carried the South
African situation as the main item. There have been chilling TV
pictures of the scale of teh violence.
The media throughout Europe has given prominence to the
situation, particularly German newspapers. Since teh outbreak
of the rioting almost every major political party and trade
union in Britian has condemned the police for their handling
of the riots.
In Europe, the World Council of Churches has declared its
intention to maintain and increase if possible the no-stringsattached cash aid it gives to guerilla movements in Southern
Africa.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:15

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:16

20 June 1976

20
June
1976
Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:3

They were riots looking for a place to happen. The Afriaans-in-schools issue
was but the trigger ingredient in a bloody chemistry that, sooner or later, was
going to set our urban Black townships aflame.
The violence is mindless, the loss of life tragic and the wanton destruction
terrifying. But it is at their peril that White South African remain deaf to the
message being so crudely , so menacingly transmitted through the smoke
and the cordite. It reads: Peaople are living here. Notice us!
eIn our tinder-box society only madmen will seek solutions through violence.
And this week has shown how chaos can be compounded by vandals.
The highest priority now is to end the disorder. Each new day of turmoil brings
greater destruction of precious facilities, loss of life and injury. But it would be
folly if the emphasis were only on suppression and not on reform. It should
be realised, in fact, that the policemen now restoring the peace have been
dragged into an issue that really belongs with others.
The solution does not lie in Umtata or any homeland capital. It lies in Pretoria,
in Cape Town and in the offices of Government officials.
And in the minds of all White South Africans who dare no longer ignore their
Black, urban and permanent neighbours.

Black leaders who met teh Minister of Bantu administration

and Development, Mr M. C. Botha at crisis talks in Pretoria
yesterday asked him to review the question of Afrikaans in
Black schools.

policy to enforce the 50/50 principle.

This was one of the major points to emerge in a joint

statement issued after the three-hour meeting.

The Black delegates gave Mr Botha the assurance that they

would like Afrikaans as a subject, but claimed that there were
not enough teachers fluent in Afrikaans.

It was decided to hold a further meeting next week

between the Black delegation and Mr J. Rosseau, Secretary
for bantu Education, at which the Blacks would submit
recommendations on the issue.
Mr Botha would then make a final decision. According to
the statement it is Mr Bothas view that it is not departmental

The joint statement said both sides agreed that the tragic
occurrences in Soweto were caused by misunderstadning
and confusion.

After the talks Mr Botha declined to add to the statement.

Mr T. J. Makhaya, chairman of the UBC and leader of the
Black delegation, said he was very satisfied with the
outcome of the talks.

20 June 1976

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 20, 1976;Section:None;Page:80

27 June 1976
The Government is expected to soften its attitude to the use of
Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in African schools.
This was the view of many who attended the top-level talksat
the West Rand Bantu Affairs Administration Board when the
Secretary for Bantu Education, Mr Gideon Rousseau, met
Black civic and education leaders.
Black leaders said after the meeting that they believed the
hard line would be softened.
Meanwhile, there is a crisis in Soweto in regard to health and
hygiene. Hospital staff are scared to return to the eight clinics
which served over 3000 patients daily before the riots.

Violence. Small bodies writhing in pools of blood in the dust. Screams of anger
and pain. These are my memories of the day I will never forget.
I arrived at Orlando West about 11am. The children were marching with
banners. Police troop carriers arrived. Men poured out of the vehicles and fired
teargas.
At this stage there was no hint of the trouble to come. The children were
laughing and joking. The children advanced on the police, but when they saw
guns held at the ready turned and walked back towards Orlando West school.

What frightened me more than anything was the attitude of the children. Many
seemed oblivious of the danger. They continued running towards the police
dodging and ducking.
I began taking pictures of the boy who was dying next to me. Blood poured
from his mouth and some children knelt next to him and tried to stop to flow of
blood.
Then some of the children shouted that they were going to kill me. A young boy
grabbed me by the hand and pulled me away.

The sick can only turn to Baragwanath Hospital which is still

treating riot victims and trying to cope with the overflow from
the clinics.
Meanwhile gangsters are still trying to cash in on the
situation. Several shopkeepers and homeowners have been
threatened that if you do not pay money to a man who will
call for it, we will burn your shop down.
Conmen, too, are trying to operate in the wake of the riots.

At this stage the children passed under a bridge and were met by another
group of demonstrators.

I ran, jumped over fences and walls to escape but they surrounded me and
two boys drew knives.

Posing as plain-clothes policemen, they have been

demanding anything from R50 to R200 from relatives for the
release of the bodies from the mortuary.

The police circled round the marching children who had swelled to a mob of
about 12 000. They fired teargas again.

I begged them to leave me alone. I said I was a reporter and was there only
to record what happened. A young girl hit me on the head with a rock. I was
dazed, but still on my feet. Then they saw reason and led me away.

Employers, approached by their staff for loans, phoned the

police to check whether one had to pay to get a body from
the mortuary.

The children began stoning the police. Some surrounded the policemen and
stoned them from all directions.
Shots were fired. I remember looking at the children in their school uniforms
and wondering how long they would stand up to the police.
Suddenly a small boy dropped to the ground next to me.

I returned to the Sunday Times office some time later. My camera had been
taken by the children and I was shocked. But I was alive.

27 June 1976

27 June 1976

Isolation of South Africa through economic and other boycotts.

Kaizer Chiefs star Ariel Pro Kgongoange, was given

a huge funeral at his hometown in Mooidorpie,
Lichtenburg, yesterday afternoon.

Concerted political and diplomatic action by the OAU against

South Africa.
Increased support to liberation movement.
Establishment of a committee to work out concrete steps to deal with
the problem of South Africa
Mr Onu said the Ministers felt that as long as apartheid persisted
the massacres will continue not only in Soweto and Sharpeville but
elsewhere in that oppressed land.
The consensus was that mere condemnation was not enough. An
immediate programme of action was needed.
The most effective action was to support the two banned liberation
movements, the ANC and the PAC.
A South African journalist, Mr Chris Vermaak, was refused
accreditation and asked to leave the conference premises.

Pro, a victim of the Soweto riots, was mourned by

more than 10 000 people most of whom came from
Johannesburg.
Among them were supporters of both Kaizer Chiefs and
Orlando Pirates.
In 1971 he captained the first ever Black XI to play
against Whites. He will live long in our memories.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 27, 1976;Section:None;Page:123

27 June 1976

27 June
1976
Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jun 27, 1976;Section:None;Page:4

The 56 000-member African Teachers Association

of South Africa (ATASA) has asked that English be
the only medium of instruction in African schools
and that Afrikaans be dropped as a medium of
instruction from July 20 at the start of the second
term.

Over 400-million viewers in all parts of the world saw an

uncensored version of SABC-TVs coverage of the Soweto
riots, according to Mr Jan van Zyl, director of news services of
the SABC.
We sent two 10-minute satellite beams into the Eurovision
network, and exclusive beam to the BBC in London, and ITN,
Britians independent TV service, took direct satellite film for
their nightly newscast, Mr Van Zyl said.
The three big American TV networks also carried the ITN film
and this means that 400-million people saw our coverage.

Asked if any relevant facts had been edited out of the film by
the SABC before beaming, Mr Van Zyl said emphatically: No.
We sent a completely factual film report.
Representatives of overseas TV networks from Britian, the
United States, Germany and other countries have praised the
SABCs coverage of their first major world story.
Mr John Platter, of United Press International, said: They did
an extremely professional job. Any TV service would have
been proud of what they produced.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jul 4, 1976;Section:Front page;Page:1

4 July 1976
A sorrowful Soweto yesterday mourned the dead
killed in the riots a fortnight ago.
The urban heart of Black South Africa in flames and
red with anger just a few weeks back was calm and
peaceful as weeping fathers and mothers, brothers
and sisters buried loved ones.
From about 11 in the morning, in brilliant sunshine,
processions of mourners could be seen moving
along their own Via Dolorosas through the giant Black
city on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
Sunday Times reporters who flew overhead could
clearly hear the singing of about 2 000 mourners
grouped around an open grave in a in a cemetery
in the south-eastern corner of the townships endless
sprawl.
With passions forgotten and the death and
destruction now but a dark memory hovering over
the townships. White police appeared to be keeping
a low profile and to have stayed away from the
funerals. Black plainclothes policemen, however,
mingled with the crowds.
Roadblocks at entrances to Soweto appeared to be
heavily guarded but all within the township remained
calm. There was no tension around the gutted shops
and buildings where rioters had looted and stoned
cars.

4 July 1976
Whites were turned away. Police produced an order
forbidding even White doctors and clergymen from
entering Soweto yesterday and today.

Mr Jimmy Kruger, Minister of Justice, has opened

the door for Blacks to advise the commission of
inquiry into the Reef riots.

Funeral processions of buses, trucks and cars ,

drove slowly through the streets to converge on
roads leading to carious cemeteries. Momentary
congestion followed.

The regulations, promulgated on Friday, allow

the Commissioner, Mr Justice Cillie, to invite other
people to sit with him as advisers.

At Baragwanath Hospital all was quiet. Black hospital

police guarded barriers and a hippo manned by
Black police in camouflage uniforms was seen
passing through the hospital grounds.
The Minister of Justice, Mr Jimmy Kruger, this week
refused a request by the Black Parents Association
to hold a mass funeral, but a crowd of about 250
gathered at St Pauls Anglican Church White City
where a symbolic funeral service was held.
The crowd, including many Black dignitaries, paid
tribute to Hector Peterson, a 13-year-old schoolboy
believed to have been the first riot victim.
A multiracial gathering of about 45 attended a
requiem mass for the riot victims at St Marys Anglican
Cathedral, Johannesburg, at noon yesterday. The
service was conducted by Father L. Bakale.

For instance, when the commission sits in Soweto,

he can invite the chairman of the Urban Bantu
Council to advise him. He could ask other Black
representatives to sit with him in Alexandra and
other trouble spots.
If Mr Justice Cillie needs further background
information, homeland leaders could ne called.
Although there will be no permanent Black
assessors helping the commission, I understand
that Blacks will be given ample opportunity to
make their views known.
Observers see the move as an attempt by
the Government to dispel any idea that the
investigation will be White-oriented and therefore
one-sided.
However, leading Blacks say it would be
unfortunate if only UBC chairmen and homeland
leaders were called since they are seen as part
of the apartheid system and do not have the
confidence of the people.

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Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jul 4, 1976;Section:None;Page:68

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jul 4, 1976;Section:None;Page:65

4 July 1976
Soweto mourned yesterday for victims of the rioting which swept the
townships 18 days ago but the expected thousands did not attend
the funerals.
Instead, the crowds at most of the funerlas numbered in the
hundreds.
Apart from the symbolic funeral of 13-year-old Hector Peterson,
who was believed to be the first riot victim, there were five others
for riot victims, held at different churches, but all ending at Avalon
cemetery.
Permission for a mass funeral of riot victims was refused.
About 300 to 400 attended Hectors funeral service held at St Pauls
Church on White City Jabavu.
Among dignitaries at the service was Winnie Madela and Dr Manus
Buthelezi, who made a speech. The service was presided over by
him and the Rev David Nkwe.

The general atmosphere in the townships, although the funerals had

not been as well-attended as expected was one of deep sorrow.
The streets were crowded as is usual on a Saturday, but an air of
mourning hung over them all.

4 July 1976

11 July 1976
Blacks will soon be given significant powers in
the running of Soweto. Sowetos mayor, Mr T. J.
Makhaya, forecast yesterday. He believed that
the Urban Bantu Council would soon be granted
executive powers.
In the past the council has been able to act
only in an advisory capacity and our advice
was often not taken. But now the time is fast
approaching for us to have our say, he said.
Mr Mahhaya told me the Government had
given the West Band Administration Board the
go-ahead to hand over powers to the UBC in the
following fields:
Amenities
Trading and transport
Housing and general purposes
Education and health

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Jul 11, 1976;Section:None;Page:22

8 August 1976
By late yesterday everything was calm in Soweto and other Black
urban areas.
The only reported trouble was in Dobsonville early yesterday
when one African was shot in the leg and 34 were arrested.
Roadblocks were still up on the outskirts of Soweto yesterday
morning. But in Alexandra a reporter was able to drive
unhindered through the township.
Meanwhile, police yesterday reported sporadic disturbances
during the night at Doringspruit Mission School near Pietersburg;
on Friday at a school in Mamelodi, near Pretoria, and a college
at Athlone in the Cape.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Aug 8, 1976;Section:None;Page:67

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Sep 19, 1976;Section:None;P

8 August 1976
Is Afrikanerdom doomed, was the headline to
Professor Dreyer Krugers lecture last week. It
depends entirely on the Afrikaners because they are
masters of their own fate.
For three centuries the Afrikaners were a God-fearing
people. Their downfall, if it comes, will be caused
mainly by their failure to love the letter and spirit
of the Book which sustained the Voortrekkers. They
have utterly failed to apply its message in the field of
human relations.
Professor Kruger has a point about the Afrikaans
language. Its imposition by force, causing the loss of
many lives in the Reef towns recently, has sounded its
death knell as far as Blacks are concerned.
Black people have learnt Afrikaans to communicate
with the majority White group.
But the shooting in Soweto over the language issue
has created revulsion for Afrikaans in every Black
heart. Afrikaans has become the language of
slavery and oppression.
I agree with Professor Kruger that what Blacks regard
as the whole machinery of oppression seems
manned onlu by Afrikaners. This may not be fair to
the Afrikaner, since he only seems prepared to teach
and teaching is a noble profession.
However, this image is obliterated by the police.
When Black people think of the police, the words
Waar is jou pass, jong? ring in their ears.
After Sharpeville, and after the recent riots, the police
who should be protectors are looked on as

19 September 1976
predators of the Black community.
It is the Afrikaner who harasses the African
commuters on the trains.
It is the Afrikaner who drives the Railway buses, and
it is the Afrikaner who serves in post offices, where
etiquette to Blacks is conspicuous by its absence.
Afrikaans culture would have had a chance
of survival if it was not being imposed on the
conquered Black or White and if Afrikaans were
not so preoccupied with its preservation.
Because of this preoccupation, the Afrikaner is giving
his culture the kiss of death.
The resentment caused by the forcible imposition
of Afrikaans has been exacerbated by the
almost entirely Afrikaans-speaking staff and Black
universities.
The Black student realizes that the Afrikaner despises
him as a fellow human being. So however good or
well motivated the individual lecturer may be, the
student knows that these universities were erected
in the first place to separate him from other young
South Africans because he is a kaffir.
The cult of exclusiveness which the Afrikaners have
made an ideology spells doom in a continent where
the majority are against such an ideology.
But doom can be avoided if only the Afrikaner will
repent and seek guidance from the Book which
meant so much to him during the Great Trek and
apply its message to his neighbours.

Colonel Theunis Swanepoel, known as Rooi Rus

(the Red Russian), led a 58-man task force into
Soweto during the first 24 hours of the June riots
personally shot and killed five rioters and fired
more than a third of the total ammunition used
by his unit.
Col Swanepoel, of the Hillbrow police, giving
evidence before the Cillie Commission in
Pretoria, said his men were told to use their
weapons only on orders from officers, and
a close check was kept on the rounds of
ammunition used.
He said he fired 78 shots while his task force
used 154 during 11 confrontations with mobs,
looters and agitators on July 16 and 17.
He said he had personally shot and killed five
rioters. His task force had killed 14 and had
wounded 11. The ratio of people killed to the
amount of ammunition used was normal, since
the police only shot when necessary he said.
Col Swanepoel, was forced to leave Soweto less
than 24 hours after arriving when his left eye was
badly injured by a thrown bottle.
Dressed in full riot camouflage gear, the former
chief security police interrogator and man at
the forefront of the Fox Street siege, said at no
time did police fire at school children.
There were children present on one occasion

when I fired over the heads of a crowd. But I told

my men when shooting to choose a specific
target and only to shoot when people attacking
us, which is what I did, he said.
Col Swanepoel, who has been in the police
for 29 years with 12 years intensive training in
guerilla warfare, described how he saw the use
of one communist tactic for the first time in South
Africa.
After firing warning shots at a stone-throwing
mob of more than 4 000 in Orlando West, he
saw one man standing in front of the crowd with
his arms outstretched, fists clenched.
It was a sign resembling the horns of an ox,
and I noticed the crowd had suddenly closed
in on us, approaching in flanks from the left
and right. I fired directly at the leader, who
staggered back and vanished in the crowd and
then I fired at the lieutenants on boths flanks,
he said.
Leaders of several groups of the Soweto
rioters used the ox-horn sign a well-known
communist tactic to surround a group of
police and kill them, Col Swanepoel told the
commission. He said it was a method used in
England and America.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Oct 17, 1976;Section:None;Page:83

17 October 1976
Alf Kumalo, Sunday Times Extra photographer, told
the commission he believed there would have been
no trouble during the Soweto student march on
June 16 if the police had not fired on the students.

Black police armed with revolvers and sticks

charged the students, but were forced back.

He said:

At one stage a placemans revolver appeared to

have jammed and watching people laughed as he
tried to fire it. A policeman fell as he retreated from
stoning students.

During my work as a Pressman, over more than 20

years, I have seen adults demonstrating on very
many occasions.
When the police have ordered demonstrators to
disperse, and they have refused, I have seen police
baton charge them without firing a single bullet.
Most of these demonstrations involved political
bodies PAS and ANC as well as Wits students.
Because of this I was shocked by the police
brutality on this occasion, the more so because I
found the police knew in advance, so they could
have used better means to stop the march.

Police began using their vehicles for cover as they

fired. Children fell, Kumalo said.

Police could not take more son they drove away

fast.
On a street near Orlando West high School, there
were shots and a small boy fell writhing in pain,
Other students moved fast to pick him up. There was
anger and screams of pain as more bullets tore into
the crowd.
There seemed to be no pan, the police were
blasting away at the mob.

Kumalo said he and reporter Ezra Mantini met the

students marching east, then the students turned
north.

What was remarkable was that the children

were so incensed that many seemed oblivious of
danger.

They were confronted by police who ordered them

back. When students tried to continue their advance
police fired tear gas.

Kumalo said he was attacked by students while

taking pictures of Hector Peterson, a boy who was
killed. They said he should be beaten up because
I represented the adult folk who should have fought
the struggle long ago.

One White policeman fired shots at boys who had

advanced further forward than the rest.
Students then stoned the police, who fired more
shots as they hurried to their vehicles and drove
away.
Later, at Orlando High, Kumalo saw a huge, singing
crowd of students marching east holding banners
attacking the use of Afrikaans. They went jampacked into the school.
Suddenly shots rang out and students scattered.
Kumalo said he dashed out of the line of fire, and
later photographed police firing into children, and
children stoning the police.

Then one student came to his rescue and they ran

hand-in-hand until the student was hit by a stone.
I ran alone into different yards. Students shouted I
must be stopped and one drew a knife.
I saw no chance of running anymore as the mob
was big in front and there were more behind.
Then, when I mentioned my name very fast a man
spread his arms holding a knife and said This is Bra
Ali and you are not touching him.
Finally, he left in safety with one of the students.

17 October1976
Enoch Duma, a Sunday Times Extra reporter told
the Commisssion of Inquiry into the Soweto riots
that he rescued two schoolboys who were being
fired at by three policemen in Orlando on June
16.
He said he saw the shooting as he was driving
along Mooki Street, near Orlando Stadium. He
went on: I saw five young men, between 14 and
18, walking casually.
Suddenly three policemen two Whites and
one Black stopped their car and ordered the
boys to stop.
The boys panicked and ran away. I stopped
my car and tried to take pictures of what was
happening. The police fired at the fleeing boys.
I could see from where I was standing that the
police were aiming at the boys who all ran into
the premises of Khanya Communal School.
Duma said other children in the neighbourhood
scattered and ran way.
I feared for the boys safety, he told the
Commission in Pretoria. So when two of them
emerged from the school building, I opened the
door of my car and called them, saying: Come
in! Come in! Youre going to be killed. They both
jumped in. They were terribly frightened. They
both said They (the police) have killed so-andso (mentioning the boys name).
As they were driving away Duma said he asked
the students why the police were after them. One
of them said: Weve done nothing. We were just
walking in the street when the police attacked
is.

workmen repairing a derailed passenger train

near Ikwezi station. The policeman was posted
at Ikwezi footbridge to protect workmen against
possible attack.
The policeman, who apparently thought he was
about to be attacked, fired at the crowd without
warning.
I watched the shooting from a distance. I was
trapped in my car, waiting for my colleague,
Sidney Mahlangu to return from taking picture of
the derailment.
Bullets whizzed past me. Finally, I took the risk
and drove past a hail of bullets.
I nearly overturned at the Ikwezi bridge where I
was forced to drive with my head resting on the
dashboard to avoid being hit by stray bullets.
Duma described another shooting incident in
which he and photographer Sidney Mahlangu
were caught in crossfire in Dobsonville.
We stopped dead in our tracks during the
shooting. The police armed with pistols and rifles
fired at a crowd without issuing a warning. We
were able to take photographs.
Duma, who was asked for his opinion of the
unrest, told the commission that the unrest was a
spontaneous reaction by Blacks living under a
repressive society.
The unrest was not organized by any political
party. Even the rejection of Afrikaans by students
was not the real cause. This was just the tip of the
iceberg.

Mr Justice Cillie asked: Did you know of

a building that had been set on fire in the
neighbourhood? Duma replied: No.

The real cause of this situation is the repressive

society in which we find ourselves. Black
students have openly said: We are tired of being
dehumanized.

He said he let off the boys at DOCC, where they

mingled with another group.

We want quality education. Pass laws must go.

We demand good wages.

Suma told the inquiry about a White policeman

who, he said, fired at a crowd watching a tam of

We want absolute freedom, one man one vote.

Publication:Sunday Times;Date:Oct 17, 1976;Section:None;Page:83

26
December
1976
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Times;Date:Dec
26, 1976;Section:None;Page:49