Word: pretoria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...cracking down on the rebels and their supporters. Later in the week Lesotho, one of the neighboring countries the South African government has long accused of harboring A.N.C. rebels, claimed that its territory had been raided by South African commandos who gunned down nine A.N.C. members and sympathizers. Officially, Pretoria denied any involvement, but, warned the State Security Council, South Africa's neighbors "must be urged to realize that if this menace is allowed to continue, all the people of southern Africa will pay a heavy price...
...Pretoria, however, seemed to be more preoccupied with Mandela's wife Winnie, 51, who is known as "the mother of the nation" by black activists. In 1977 the government banished her to Brandfort, a remote settlement in the Orange Free State. Since then she has not been permitted to live in her home in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. Even so, she returned there in August after unidentified arsonists fire bombed her Brandfort residence. Not surprisingly, Mandela blamed the government for that bombing. When police officers arrived last week with new orders that ended the forced exile in Brandfort but still prohibited...
First, the good news: the South African government reversed itself and decided not to expel three CBS crewmen whose network had broadcast news film of the funeral two weeks ago of 17 victims of police gunfire in the black Alexandra township near Johannesburg. Pretoria had charged CBS with acting in defiance of a government ban on the use of cameras and recording devices at the mass funeral...
Under the new policy, blacks will no longer be required to carry passbooks that stipulate where they can live, work and travel. Parliament, which is dominated by Botha's National Party, still must approve the new proposals. But in a gesture of goodwill, Pretoria released 245 blacks who had been imprisoned for pass-law offenses. The hated passbooks will be replaced with identification cards issued to all South Africans over 16 years of age. Although the new documents will indicate the bearer's race, no one will be penalized for failure to carry them...
...government also renewed its promise to end a controversial program that has forcibly relocated some 3.5 million blacks to the homelands in the past 25 years. For the moment, the 8 million blacks who live in the four homelands that have accepted independent status from Pretoria--Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana and Ciskei--will still be considered foreign nationals. They are expected to receive dual citizenship by the end of the year. Other blacks living in rural areas are basically free to seek jobs in cities whenever they choose, although they remain barred from residing in areas reserved for whites. That worries...