State of emergency declared in 27 townships

The government imposed a state of emergency in 27 townships in the Vaal Reef area and banned the carrying of all weapons. The regulations introduced by Minister of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok, gave the police and security forces wide powers of arrest and detention, but did not restrict the news-gathering activities of the press. Meetings could be banned and the townships sealed off in the event of new disturbances. Three days later, almost ten thousand residents of townships in the Vaal Reef area embarked on a mass stay-away to protest the unprecedented levels of violence in townships. The township residents were protesting over unfair police treatment. They claimed police orchestrated violence and shot people randomly as though they were provoked. Of the reported 515 deaths throughout the country, 126 were from the Soweto township. Following the declaration of the 27 townships as "unrest areas", the police were granted powers similar to those under the State of Emergency. F.W. de Klerk said on a televised telephone call-in program on 25 August 1990, that "we dare not allow radicals to send this country up in flames. Violence erupts with the click of a finger." Nelson Mandela responded to the imposition of the unrest regulations with a statement claiming that the measures would be counterproductive, that they had not helped in Natal and that the state of emergency "led to a great deal of dissatisfaction and an excuse for the police to abuse their rights." On 1 September 1990, in response to the pressure of mounting allegations, President de Klerk announced that he had requested Adriaan Vlok to conduct "an urgent and in-depth investigation" into the charges regarding the police fueling the fighting and their support of Inkatha in the recent township attacks. President de Klerk claimed that although individual policemen might have acted improperly, it was his belief that the force as a whole was impartial. Mandela's response to the proposed investigation was that the issue was too important to be treated as an internal police inquiry. He told the press: "There is no doubt in our minds that the police were deeply involved in fomenting this violence. This matter should be investigated by another judicial commission." The previous week, Bishop Desmond Tutu had submitted a dossier to President de Klerk which alleged that during one particular  night police had escorted a Zulu group intent on attacking the community. The police disarmed local residents while allowing the group to keep their weapons. By mid-October, emergency restrictions had been lifted in all the townships, but on 3 December, in response to two days of fighting that left 71 dead, curfews were imposed in Thokoza, Katlehong, Vosloorus and Bekkersdal.