NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6402

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: South Africa: Bisho Massacre
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/** reg.safrica: 200.0 **/
** Topic: Bisho Massacre **
** Written  6:50 am  Sep  8, 1992 by sapp in cdp:reg.safrica **
From: Southern Africa Partnership Project <sapp>
Subject: Bisho Massacre


****  ACTION ALERT **** ACTION ALERT **** ACTION ALERT ****

by Chris Benner
Global Exchange/US SA Sister Community Project
PO Box 5328
Johannesburg 2000
[phone]  fax: [phone]  Email:sapp@igc


        CISKEI DEFENSE FORCE OPEN FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS

           AT LEAST 24 PEOPLE KILLED AND 195 WOUNDED

     Without any warning or provocation, soldiers of the Ciskei
Defense Force opened fire on a demonstration near the 'capitol'
city of Bisho yesterday, killing at least 24 people, and injuring
at least 195.  The massacre occurred when soldiers launched two
barrages of sustained automatic weapons fire on a crowd of 60,000
demonstrators.  No warning shot was fired, and no tear gas was
used--simply sustained automatic weapons fire.

     The march had been organized by the ANC/COSATU/SACP alliance
to protest against the lack of free political activity in the
Ciskei.  It was the launch of the fourth stage of the alliance's
mass action campaign aimed at establishing a democratic govern-
ment in South Africa before the end of the year.  Brigadier
Gqozo, ruler of the Ciskei, had tried to have the march declared
illegal, but a court decision on the evening of the march gave
its approval, but said that demonstrators could only enter the
Bisho stadium, not downtown.

     Approximately 40-60,000 people gathered for the march,
including Cyril Ramaphosa, Steve Tshwete, Ray Sutner, Chris Hani,
John Gomomo and other members of the leadership of the alliance.
The firing started without warning, as the demonstrators reached
the stadium.  Some reports have claimed that a group of the
demonstrators were in the process of moving beyond the stadium
towards the city, but this has not been confirmed and is coun-
tered by the fact that most of the casualties occurred in and
around the stadium.  In any case, numerous eyewitness accounts
confirm that no warning shots were fired, no tear-gas was used--
soldiers just began firing with live ammunition.   The sustained
automatic weapons firing began at approximately 1:30 pm and
initially lasted for two minutes.  After a short break, the
firing resumed for another 3-4 minutes.   Most of the demonstra-
tors killed or injured were shot in the back as they tried to
flee the stadium grounds.  The fact that the firing came in
widespread, sustained bursts suggests that firing came from on
direct order, not just from random soldiers out of control.

     Brigadier Gqozo claims that his troops were fired on first
by people in the crowd, but this is not supported by eyewitness
statements.  Gqozo claims that the one Ciskei Defense Force (CDF)
soldier who was killed was the initial casualty--killed by
attackers in the crowd.  But eyewitnesses who were within a few
dozen yards of the soldiers claim the man was shot in the back by
CDF forces as they withdrew.

               PATTERN OF REPRESSION

     The response of the Ciskei troops is entirely in keeping
with the repressive nature of the Ciskei.  A similar march held
in August faced a tense stand-off between demonstrators and
troops also armed with live ammunition.  The Ciskei is perhaps
the most repressive 'homeland' in South Africa, with continual
harassment of ANC activists, frequent detention of leading
organizers, and repression of demonstrations or organizing in the
homeland.  There is an effective ban on residents association and
ANC branch meetings.

     With possible elections looming in the future, the lack of
free and fair political activity in the Ciskei and other home-
lands has become particularly problematic.  The ANC has called
for the removal of homeland leaders who have refused to allow
open political organizing in their territories, and has launched
this campaign to demand basic political rights throughout South
Africa.


               SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT FULLY RESPONSIBLE

     The South African government must be held fully responsible
for the tragedy yesterday.  The Ciskei is a creation of the South
African policy of apartheid and continues to exist only with the
heavy financial backing of the South African government.  It is
recognized nowhere as an independent country.

     South African Defense Force (SADF) officials have played and
continue to play a central role in the training and deployment of
Ciskei Defense Force personnel.  The head of the Ciskei Defense
Force (CDF), brigadier Marius Oelschig, is still employed by the
SADF and seconded to the CDF.

     Other SADF officers and former SADF officers currently in
leadership position in the CDF include:  Second-in-command
Colonel Dirk van der Bank; head of Military Intelligence Ockert
Swanepoel and his deputy Hendrik Chris Nel (both of whom are
alleged to have links with the notorious Civil Co-operation
Bureau (CCB); Chief of Staff--Finance, Commandant Raymond Wil-
liams; Chief of Staff--Logistics, Colonel Martin de Toit; Chief
of Staff--Personnel, Colonel Chris Meyer; commanding officer of
the Air Wing, Colonel R Pehhall; and Brigadier BH Muller, a close
advisor to Gqozo.

     The South African Embassy to the Ciskei has listed other
South African officials in the Ciskei, including the Commissioner
of Police, Minister of Finance, Minister of Posts and Telecommu-
nication, Director-general of the Department of Finance, Secre-
tary of the Treasury, Commissioner for Inland Revenue, and
Director of Organisation and Workstudy.

     On the day of the massacre, the officer in charge was Chief
of Staff--Operations, Colonel Horst Schubersberger, also a former
SADF officer.


     The South African government has prioritized propping up the
discredited Gqozo regime as a base for destabilization of the
entire Border/Eastern Cape region.  This area is strongly sup-
portive of the ANC, and the government has tried to undermine
this base of support, using the Ciskei regime as it's base of
operations.

     In the wake of this tragic massacre, the South African
government must be held responsible for the actions of the Ciskei
Defense Force.  Brigadier Gqozo and leaders of the Ciskei Defense
Force should be forced to resign immediately, and steps begun to
reincorporate Ciskei into the rest of South Africa.  Free and
fair political activity in the Ciskei must be guaranteed.

     Letter and statements from the international community are
especially important at this time.  The South African government
is trying to lay thE 3lame on the ANC for organizing the demon-
stration, but the ANC was merely trying to uphold democratic
rights throughout all of South Africa, the right of free assembly
being a key right which has been refused in the Ciskei.  It is
the South African government which must be held responsible for
this atrocity.

     Letters and statements should be sent to:

State President F.W. DeKlerk
FAX: [phone]

Foreign Minister Pik Botha
FAX: [phone]

South African Embassy
Washington, DC
Phone: [phone] (call for fax number)

It would be also useful to send letters to the U.S. Ambassador to
South Africa, urging him to hold the South African government
fully responsible for the massacre, in line with their policy of
not recognizing the homeland governments.

Ambassador Princeton Lymon
FAX: [phone]


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