The leaflet discusses Wattville, whose residents have expressed an interest in establishing a sister-city relationship with Boston. Wattville is a black township about 35 kilometers east of Johannesburg established in 1941 to accommodate blacks working in the "white" industrial cities of Benoni and Brakpan. Wattville has struggled to establish a cohesive, secure, and well-organized community. Among its successes has been establishing the residential areas of Tamboville 1 and 2 on land that had been unused since 1948; Tamboville is named after former ANC (African National Congress) president Oliver Tambo. Traditionally a peaceful area, Wattville has experienced new levels of organized violence,...
The leaflet discusses Wattville, whose residents have expressed an interest in establishing a sister-city relationship with Boston. Wattville is a black township about 35 kilometers east of Johannesburg established in 1941 to accommodate blacks working in the "white" industrial cities of Benoni and Brakpan. Wattville has struggled to establish a cohesive, secure, and well-organized community. Among its successes has been establishing the residential areas of Tamboville 1 and 2 on land that had been unused since 1948; Tamboville is named after former ANC (African National Congress) president Oliver Tambo. Traditionally a peaceful area, Wattville has experienced new levels of organized violence, apparently intended to undermine the work being done by its progressive civic association, the Wattville Concerned Residents Committee. Wattville has been declared an "unrest area," allowing for a curfew and giving the police and military extensive power to arrest and detain people. Even more worrying is increased activity in the area by Inkatha, which has been implicated in government-sponsored violence across South Africa. The leaflet discusses Armstrong Yisake, Abie Nyalunga, the Langaburg Canning Factory, the United Workers Union of South Africa, Food and Allied Workers Union, and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The leaflet asks people to write to President F.W. de Klerk and Minister of Law and Order Hernus Kriel and demand that they lift the "unrest area" designation from Wattville, prevent the police and military from intimidating Wattville residents, and prevent Inkatha from mounting an attack on the community. • VIOLENT REPRESSION • WHAT YOU CAN DO
