State of Emergency Declared in the Natal Province
On 31 March 1994, apartheid President F.W. de Klerk imposed a state of emergency in the Natal Province, coinciding with a report by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that it had recorded 266 political killings in Natal since the beginning of March, the highest death toll in three years.
Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi vowed to fight the African National Congress (ANC) “to the finish” unless the elections scheduled for 27 April 1994 were postponed – as the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) recommended emergency measures to be proclaimed by the President within the following few days encompassing the whole of Natal and the KwaZulu Bantustan. The declaration was intended to halt the escalation of violence in the region as well as ensure free and fair elections in the following month of April.
According to De Klerk, the decision was taken to ensure that there was free political activity and that elections would take place in Natal. He disputed the rumour circulating that the decision was taken following the Transitional Executive Committee’s insistence that such action was necessary. In a move that was long overdue, security forces were given powers to detain people for thirty days without charge, to use the necessary force to maintain order and to search people and premises without a warrant. The measures also prohibited unauthorised military training a
