The South African Government, embittered by local newspaper coverage of the unrest in black townships, has threatened to impose new restraints on the press.
Connie P Mulder, the information Minister, told a congress of the ruling National Party in Durban that the Government attached great importance to press freedom. But he said that society had the right to expect loyalty and partiotism from newspapers. The Minister was critical in particularly of two of Johannesburg's principal newspapers, The Rand Daily Mail and The Sunday Times. He said The Sunday Times was one of the papers that had described apartheid, not black unrest, as the real danger to the country. "In a country where relations between peoples are as loaded as ours, it is irresponsible to say this" he declared.
Mr Mulder said one of the restraints he had in mind was a requirement that all opinion formers be South African citizens competent in both English and Afrikaans, the language of the dominant white group in South Africa. He said this would eliminate foreigners who could take the first plane home if trouble erupted as a result of their writing.
Newspapers already operate under a web of legal restraints affecting security and defense matters, among others. Two weeks ago, four journalists were arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act, which provides for detention without trial.
The minister's warnong came in the aftermath of the arrest of at least 20 black opposition leaders, including Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, the black nationalist leader who was jailed 14 years ago. Some reports put the number arrested by the security police in swoops across the country yesterday as high as 50.
The Government has given no reason for the arrests.
Source: New York Times
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