First S. African Exiles Return, Some After Decades in Refuge

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The first planeload of exiled African National Congress supporters returned Thursday to South Africa, greeted by hundreds of singing and cheering relatives and friends.

“It is very good to be back,” said Joel Diamond, 48, thrusting his fists in the air as he entered Jan Smuts International Airport. “The struggle continues.”

Outside the airport, police at one point used dogs to try to disperse the waiting crowd. One person was arrested and nine were treated for bites, the South African Press Assn. reported.

More than 90 exiles, some of whom left South Africa decades earlier, arrived on the flight from Lusaka, Zambia, the first of thousands of political exiles expected to return. Journalists on the plane said a dozen people changed their minds at the last minute and stayed behind.

Five more flights carrying about 550 exiles are expected in the next few weeks.

Tens of thousands of people left South Africa illegally in the past three decades to avoid prosecution for involvement in the anti-apartheid movement and membership in banned organizations such as the ANC.

The government agreed in August to permit exiles to return, meeting a key ANC demand for proceeding with negotiations on ending white minority rule.

Home Affairs Minister Gene Louw said 5,967 exiles had applied to return so far and that 2,874 requests had been processed. No applications were rejected, he said.

The government has required any person who committed a crime before fleeing to apply for immunity from prosecution. Those cases were being decided individually.

Meanwhile, testimony continued in the trial of Winnie Mandela, wife of ANC leader Nelson Mandela. A man who claims that Winnie Mandela beat him testified Thursday that he was forced to hold down a struggling man while her chief bodyguard stabbed the victim in the neck.

Winnie Mandela and three co-defendants are accused of abducting four young men and beating them at her home in December, 1988.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney George Bizos accused Kenneth Kgase of being a publicity-seeker who hoped to profit from making up stories about Winnie Mandela.