Death toll mounts in South Africa

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By MICHAEL March 21 marks the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre. On that day in 1960, South African police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of thousands of Black people protesting against the pass laws. At least 69 people were killed, and hundreds were wounded.

On the 25th anniversary of Sharpeville, last year, police trained their automatic weapons on a group of funeral marchers in Langa township, in the Eastern Cape. At least 43 people died in the massacre that followed.

Since that time, violence in South Africa has almost disappeared from the news headlines. But there is no let-up in police repression. About 25,000 people were arrested last year on charges related to political unrest, according to the Parents Support Committee, a civil rights group. Close to 1200 have been killed in the last 18 months and as many as 200 since the beginning of 1986.

Last month was one of the bloodiest on record. Protests spread throughout the country to Black communities that had been untouched by previous demonstrations against the apartheid laws. The police responded with force, using armored cars and helicopters. Not even little children escaped their savagery.

The unrest centered on Alexandra, a Black township abutting Johannesburg's affluent white northern suburbs. Riot police attacked residents on Feb. 15 after a mass funeral for two members of the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO). Young people båttled the police from barricades constructed of burning cars and delivery trucks.

After three days, as fighting continued, army troops threw a cordon around the township. Anti-apartheid organizations in Alexandra have claimed that the death toll may reach 100, with hundreds more wounded. In an unprecedented move, on Feb. 23, the government confiscated the medical records of the wounded in hospitals.

Government officials refused Black demands to withdraw the police from Alexandra and release the hundreds of people who had been hauled from their homes in the middle of the night. On Feb. 21, a meeting of 40,000 angry residents jeered Bishop Desmond Tutu after he reported to them that he was unable to obtain concessions from government authorities.

Instead, the government is confronting the Black townships with plans to virtually double the size of the police force. "We are absolutely determined to destroy the forces of violence and anarchy," proclaimed Law and Order Minister Louis LeGrange. "The government will not hesitate to tackle any situation with even greater forces than have been used in the past."

LeGrange's saber-rattling gives the lie to claims by President P.W. Botha that apartheid is being "dismantled." In his Jan.