ILLEGAL ARRESTS SIR--The shanghaiing of Mr. Dennis Higgs from Lusaka
to Johannesburg is the fourth case of this nature to become public in recent years. Only last month there was the alleged abducting of Mrs. Rosemary Wentzel from Swaziland. In 1963, Dr. Kenneth Abrahams, Mr. Andreas Shipanga and two companions were abducted from Bechuanaland, gaoled in Gobabis, South West Africa, and then returned, after British protests. to Bechuanaland. In 1960 there was the kidnapping of Mr. Anderson Ganyile from Qacha's Nek, Basutoland, which was followed by his return to Basutoland when it was found that he had been assaulted and dragged over the Basutoland-South African border by South African police.
The seven men and women concerned were all wanted in connection with political crimes. In all cases British territory was violated and the authority of the British Government flouted. Surely the time has come for the South African Government to be told, as forcibly as possible, that violations of the High Commission Territories, Northern Rhodesia or any other British protected area will not be tolerated in future. In addition, Britain should do much more to control the entry of white South Africans into these territories. It is well known that at present alien Africans entering Bechuanaland are carefully screened and subjected to strict control when in the territory, whereas whites drive in and out almost at will. Especially, members of the South African police should not be allowed to operate freely in these territories. A letter from a political refugee making his way from Bechuanaland, written on August 19, runs: 'I am terrified of being taken back to the Re- public forcibly. They are abducting people from under the noses of the authorities.' These may be the words of a man in a state of terror, but his own experience is evidence of this activity: he was questioned in Lobatsi by South African policemen, accompanied by a relative of his, who sought to persuade him to return to South Africa, offering him an indemnity against prosecution, but also threaten- ing to put a close relative in solitary confinement if he did not. These police were not accompanied by a member of the Bechuanaland police.
It would be interesting to know how anyone came to know that Mr. Higgs was wanted for sabotage, when the general public in South Africa did not. The case of Mrs. Rosemary Wentzel must not be allowed to rest either; the fact that she is not a British subject in no way minimises the offence committed by those who abducted her from Swaziland, as her lawyers allege.
6 Lynghanz Court, N6
MALCOLM PIKE
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