Misconduct of Editor & Cartoonist

In a separate but not unrelated issue, two outspoken anti-apartheid students (white) were accused of publishing "obscene, insulting and defamatory" material in Wits Student, the weekly newspaper of Witwatersrand University. A disciplinary committee found both of them, Derek Louw, 21, the editor, and Franco Frescura, 26, a cartoonist, guilty of misconduct. Both were suspended for one year and forbidden to produce the Wits newpaper or any other student publication for "as long as they remain students at the University". The Students Representative Council called a meeting at which angry students voted to draw up a petition of protest against the disciplinary decision. The material which brought down the punishment on the students had consisted of bitterly humorous words and pictures critical of South African racial policies. The references to Government leaders, especially Prime Minister Vorster, were certainly obvious if not explicit.

Then on May 22, the two students were arrested and detained on charges of defamation and contravention of the Publications and Entertainment Act. Louw was released on bail the next day on condition that he report to the police every day. Frescura was also released on his second application.