Work in Progress Issue no.29 - Caught in the crossfire

Title: Work in Progress Issue no.29 - Caught in the crossfire
Creator: WIP
Subject: WIP
Date: July 1983
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/111411
Identifier: vital:33449
Description: During July 1983? the Ciskei Transport Corporation (CTC) announced that it intended increasing bus fares on certain routes. A committee representing commuters objected to the proposed increases, arguing that commuters could not afford them, given the recent price rise in the cost of basic foodstuffs. The CTC - partly owned by the Ciskei government - dismissed these objections, and the committee duly called a boycott of all buses owned by the company. On 19 July the boycott began. The following day the press reported an 80% drop in the use of CTC buses. From this point on, police, the army, and a private army of vigilantes were used by the Ciskei administration to force commuters to use buses. In the past two months, Ciskeian authorities have indicated their willingness to use any official and unofficial, legal and extra-legal forms of violence to break the boycott. Violence has escalated, and the conflict has now become a test of strength between bantustan rulers and their unwilling subjects. The first concerted attempt to break the boycott was directed at private car owners and taxi drivers. Police established road blocks on routes in and out of Mdantsane. From then on, vigilantes under the control of police harassed car passengers, car drivers and taxi drivers. Police manhandled car passengers, using sjamboks on some occasions. Cars have been confiscated, and passengers forced to alight and return to bus stops. The brunt of the tactics used to break the bus boycott have been borne by train commuters. As with vehicle commuters, the means used to prevent them from catching trains appear to know no bounds. Civilians have been attacked, assaulted and fired on by police and vigilante groups under police control. Residents of Mdantsane put the death toll at over 60. By September, at least 67 people - most of them trade unionists - had been detained under Ciskei security legislation. In addition, over 1 000 commuters have been detained for technical offences such as curfew breaking. In September, the South African Allied Workers' Union was banned by the Sebe administration. On 4 August, the Ciskei's minister of justice declared a state of emergency. No person may be on the streets without permission between 22h00 and 04h00. No more than four people may congregate together in houses or on the streets. There have been numerous reports of assaults and torture of detainees held in the Ciskei, and a number of detainees have been admitted to hospital at various stages of their detention. As disturbing as are the number of people hospitalised are reports of the failure to hospitalise or treat other detainees injured in assaults. This is the context in which SARS, in conjunction with the Development Studies Group, is publishing a detailed report on the Ciskei. Produced by Nicholas Haysom, a research officer at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, the report covers the political history of the Ciskei, security legislation, torture and repression in the past years, background to the current bus boycott, and methods used by the Ciskei administration to crush the boycott. There is also a section on the current schools boycott in the Ciskei, the involvement of South African security police and firms in the Ciskei crisis, and the response of people resident in the area. Subscribers to SARS publications will receive this report as part of their subscription. Copies will also be available at bookshops stocking Work In Progress, or directly from SARS
Format: 58 pages, pdf
Publisher: Work in Progress (WIP)
Language: English
Rights: Work in Progress (WIP)
Rights: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher

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