SOUTH AFRICA DISPENSING WITH JUDGES IN 1960 CHOCOLATE-SKINNED ROBERT SOBUKWE, 38, HEAD 
OF THE BLACK NATIONALIST PAN-AFRICAN CONGRESS, WAS SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS 
IN JAIL FOR " INCITEMENT TO RIOT . " AS HIS 
RELEASE DATE DREW NEAR LAST WEEK, SOBUKWE, A SLIM ONETIME UNIVERSITY 
LECTURER, WAS HUSTLED FROM THE MAXIMUM-SECURITY PRISON IN PRETORIA TO A 
BLEAK DETENTION CAMP ON ROBBEN ISLAND IN TABLE BAY, SIX MILES 
FROM CAPE TOWN . THERE HE LEARNED, JUST THE DAY BEFORE 
HE WAS TO RECEIVE FREEDOM, THAT SOUTH AFRICA'S PARLIAMENT HAD RAMMED 
THROUGH A NEW SECURITY ACT EMPOWERING JUSTICE MINISTER JOHANNES VORSTER TO 
KEEP POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUSTODY INDEFINITELY, EVEN AFTER THEIR SENTENCES HAVE 
EXPIRED . SHRUGGED SOBUKWE : " IF YOU BELIEVE IN FREEDOM, 
YOU MUST SUFFER FOR IT . " ENDLESS REPETITION . THE 
NEW MEASURE, WHICH WAS DEMANDED BY PRIME MINISTER HENDRIK VERWOERD TO 
MEET A " CRISIS OF SURVIVAL, " MAKES LAST YEAR'S SABOTAGE 
ACT SEEM TAME BY COMPARISON, HAS ALREADY BEEN DUBBED THE " 
NO TRIAL " BILL . IT PROMISES THE DEATH PENALTY FOR 
CITIZENS WHO RECEIVE TRAINING IN SUBVERSION ABROAD OR URGE INTERVENTION BY 
FORCE IN SOUTH AFRICA . POSTAL AUTHORITIES CAN OPEN, READ AND 
HOLD SUSPICIOUS MAIL . ANY POLITICAL SUSPECT, WITHOUT TRIAL, CAN BE 
PLACED IN 90-DAY DETENTION, WHICH MAY THEN BE ENDLESSLY REPEATED . 
COMMENTED JUSTICE MINISTER VORSTER : " THIS IS AS MUCH POWER 
AS I NEED FOR EXISTING CIRCUMSTANCES . IF NECESSARY, I WILL 
TAKE EVEN STRONGER STEPS . " ONLY ONE MEMBER OF THE 
ALL-WHITE PARLIAMENT VOTED AGAINST THE BILL . AMID GOVERNMENT JEERS, THE 
LONE PROGRESSIVE PARTY REPRESENTATIVE, BRUNETTE HELEN SUZMAN, WARNED THAT BLACK NATIONALISM 
AS WELL AS WHITE NATIONALISM FEEDS " ON THIS TYPE OF 
KRAGDADIGHEID (TOUGHNESS) . " ALTHOUGH PRIME MINISTER HENDRIK VERWOERD AND VORSTER 
DESCRIBE THE MENACE FACING SOUTH AFRICA AS " COMMUNISM, " THE 
BILL IS CLEARLY AIMED AT TWO AFRICAN NATIONALIST GROUPS CALLING THEMSELVES 
POQO AND SPEAR OF THE NATION . POQO (PRONOUNCED PAW-KAW AND 
MEANING " FOR OURSELVES ALONE / IN THE XHOSA TONGUE) PATTERNS 
ITSELF AFTER THE DREADED MAU MAU, WHICH TERRORIZED KENYA IN THE 
1950S . IT FIRST ROSE TO PROMINENCE LAST NOVEMBER, WHEN SOME 
OF ITS MEMBERS RIOTED IN THE WINE-GROWING CAPE COMMUNITY OF PAARL, 
HACKING TWO WHITES TO DEATH WITH PANGAS . LATER, OPPOSING THE 
TOTAL APARTHEID SCHEME TO MOVE MOST OF SOUTH AFRICA'S 11 MILLION 
BLACKS INTO NINE TRIBAL RESERVES, POQO BUTCHERED FIVE WHITES IN THE 
TRANSKEI . INTO THE SEA . ACCORDING TO BLACK NATIONALIST POTLAKO 
LEBALLO, WHO FLED TO THE BRITISH-RULED ENCLAVE OF BASUTOLAND, POQO IS 
A TERRORIST OFFSHOOT OF SOBUKWE'S MILITANT PAN-AFRICAN CONGRESS AND IS DETERMINED 
TO " MURDER THE WHITES OR CHASE THEM INTO THE SEA 
. " AS IT TURNED OUT, LEBALLO'S BIG MOUTH DID POQO 
MORE HARM THAN GOOD . EMBARRASSED BRITISH OFFICIALS ORDERED HIS ARREST, 
AND HE BARELY ESCAPED INTO BASUTOLAND'S RUGGED MOUNTAINS, LEAVING BEHIND HIM 
A LIST OF 10,000 BLACK REBELS IN SOUTH AFRICA . THANKS 
EITHER TO COINCIDENCE OR TO BASUTOLAND'S CONNIVANCE, SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE ROUNDED 
UP 2,000 REBELS, AND POQO WAS ON THE RUN . SPEAR 
OF THE NATION, WHICH OPERATES WITH MORE FINESSE THAN POQO AND 
AT PRESENT TRIES TO SPARE HUMAN LIFE, IS THE MILITANT ARM 
OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, WHOSE NOBEL PRIZEWINNING LEADER, EX-CHIEF ALBERT 
LUTHULI, IS UNDER HOUSE ARREST IN RURAL NATAL . SPEAR'S MOST 
SPECTACULAR COUPS TO DATE HAVE BEEN THE BOMBING OF THE AGRICULTURAL 
MINISTER'S OFFICE IN PRETORIA AND THE BLOWING UP OF SEVERAL GIANT 
POWER PYLONS AROUND JOHANNESBURG . SABOTAGE TRIALS CONTINUE UP AND DOWN 
THE COUNTRY . IN THE EAST RAND TOWN OF BENONI, A 
BLACK PRISONER DISRUPTED THE COURT BY SHOUTING " SHOOT ME NOW 
! SHOOT ME NOW ! " THE " NO TRIAL " 
BILL HAS A PROVISION AIMED DIRECTLY AT SPEAR'S SABOTEURS : IT 
PROVIDES UP TO 15 YEARS' IMPRISONMENT MERELY FOR UNAUTHORIZED PRESENCE IN 
KEY FACTORIES OR ANY OTHER INSTALLATIONS WHICH THE GOVERNMENT MAY CHOOSE 
TO DESIGNATE AS " NO-ENTRY AREAS . " 