South Africa : Iwin Crises Grow
Socialist Press1976 1976-07-28Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 3 →
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Since the brutal suppression of last months' riots which left hundreds of black workers and school children dead or wounded, Vorster's racist government has completely withdrawn the measure which sparked off the disturbances (the compulsory use of Afrikaans in schools) and it has sacked the officials responsible for the policy.
But the signs of black discontent nave never ceased. And it has now boiled up once again. At Kinross near Johannesburg on July 19th, 1000 gold. miners went on strike after a day of rioting in which six were killed and many others wounded; similar incidents had taken place a few days earlier at the St. Helena mine.
CLOSED
The blac universit: of Fort tions in which students barricaded themselves in a hostel.
The violent demonstration was followed by attempts to set buildings alight. Other South African government buildings have suffered arson attempts and one white official in Soweto was shot dead.
mounted as some of the sehoon mounted as some which had been closed at the time of the Soweto events were reopened. In a gesture of continued protest, many students stayed away from school.
"CONFUSION"
The authorities hopefully attributed this to "confusion" over which day the schools were to open since many of them, especially in Soweto were kept closed until the 23rd.
The black areas were patrolled by thousands of police who had been put on full alert.
The so-called Minister of Justice, Jimmy Kruger, announced that the new security law which permits trial would come into effect im mediately and that all meetins would be forbidden for a month.
GOLD
While the regime faces thes mounting political attacks, thi economic situation shows signs o worsening very rapidly. Last week' sudden new fall in the price of gol means a new crash in South Africa' export earnings.
The 40% fall in the gold pria over the last year has already forcer one devaluation on the Soutl African government.
The balance of payments is i further trouble because of thi beginning of a panic outflow o funds produced by the curren political upheavals. And the lates economic figures show that th slump is rapidly gathering speed i South Africa and inflation i accelerating.
All this is bound to intensify thi forces which are driving the Africa masses into head-on collision wit]