1985: BLACK POLICEMEN IN SOUTH AFRICA: TARGETS OF INCREASING BLACK RAGE By ALAN COWELL, Special to the New York Times Published: April 2, 1985
JOHANNESBURG, April 1— The yellow police van pulled to a stop across the dirt road in one of South Africa's black townships, and an officer bearing a rifle tumbled out to block the path of the approaching sedan. To the rear, a second police car cut off retreat. The sedan's occupants were trapped. In another incident, this time on the border with the independent, black- ruled country of Lesotho, a South African officer searched a private car entering the country and found documents that he believed subversive, so the driver was summoned for questioning by a man who identified himself as a member of the security police25. The papers were seized. Departure from Stereotype The images might be familiar to those who keep up with the twists of South Africa's racial confrontation. But there was, in both episodes, a difference from the stereotype of white police officers crushing black dissent. In both cases the policemen were black, and their quarry were whites suspected of violating South Africa's extensive body of law. By official estimates, blacks constitute about 40 percent of the 45,000-member South African police force. And of late, their position among their fellow blacks seems more precarious than ever. Black officers were among the policemen who opened fire on a funeral procession of 4,000 people on March 21 in Langa, a black township of the southern city of Uitenhage, killing at least 19 blacks. President Reagan took note of this at a news conference that day, calling the shootings ''tragic'' but adding that there ''was rioting going on'' and that ''it is significant that some of those enforcing the law and using the guns were also black - black policemen.'' Last year, as unrest spread in the nation's myriad black townships, black activists sought to draw distinctions that offered various categories of opprobrium to the police. There were, said Patrick Lekota, spokesman of the United Democratic Front, blacks recruited as township policemen to protect black community councilors, and they were viewed as quislings, since the councils are seen by many blacks as fronts for continued white influence. In contrast, he said, there were black members of the South African police, who, except for officers who had gained personal notoriety for attacking fellow blacks beyond the call of duty, were looked upon as men just doing a job, albeit in the pay of white masters.
25
The correct term is “Security Branch” - HBH
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