CONFIDENTIAL
SOUTH AFRICA
Report by HM Embassy, Pretoria
General Observations
The human rights situation in South Africa is characterised by the Government's denial, in the name of separate development, of a number of basic human rights, such as the liberty to move freely within the country, to own property, or to marry a person of a different colour, to the Black majority of the population. This policy is supported by ever-more draconian security legis- lation which the government claims is a response to the threat of communist-inspired terrorism and subversion.
Right No.
(i)
Over 100 Blacks have been held in preventive detention for varying periods, during 1976; a further 400, mainly non-White detainees, are being held in investigatory detention under other security legislation, ie approximately 500 South Africans have this year been held in detention without trial out of a total popula- tion (including Namibia) of 25 million. Hundreds more are subject to arbitrarily imposed banning orders against which there is no appeal.
Rating suggested by Post
(ii) There is no evidence of an official
policy of torturing detainees, but much circumstantial evidence suggest- ing that security policy frequently subject suspects to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment",
(iii)
or worse.
There is no evidence of the existence of slavery in the classical sense in South Africa, although the treatment of Black farm workers and migrant ur- ban workers might be considered akin to slavery.
Comment by Central & South African Dept We should have given a rating of under this heading.
(iv) The state-controlled Television and
Radio propagate official policies but the press is often outspokenly critical,
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CONFIDENTIAL
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