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• Violence Hits Central Johannesburg after Execution of Moloise

  International outrage and violent demonstrations in the centre of Johannesburg followed the execution yesterday in Pretoria of Benjamin Moloise, a black South African poet. The execution - carried out in spite of pleas from around the world for clemency - prompted an angry response from Commonwealth heads of government, meeting in Nassau. Efforts are under way there to draw up a joint policy aimed to end apartheid in South Africa. [Article continues to describe Margaret Thatcher's involvement, and the meeting of the Commonwealth leaders/how they plan to work to end apartheid.]
• Pretoria judge delays hanging

  A three week stay of execution was granted last night to Benjamin Moloise, who was due to be hanged shortly after dawn today for the murder of a black security policeman... Moloise, a poet and upholsterer, aged 30, was convincted in November 1983 of the murder of Warrant Officer Phillip Selope, who was shot in an ambush in a township outside Pretoria a year earlier. The African National Congress has said it ordered the "execution" of the policeman for his part in the arrest of three ANC guerrillas who were later hanged in Pretoria, but that Moloise had no part in it.
• Black poet will hang on Friday after Botha rules out retrial

  President Botha of South Africa turned down a petition yesterday for a retrial of a black man sentenced to death in June 1983 for the murder of a security policeman, also black, seven months earlier. The convicted man, Benjamin Moloise, aged 30, a poet and upholsterer by trade, who has been in "Death Row" in Pretoria Central Prison since his conviction, will be hanged on Friday. No further appeal is possible. ...Fears have been expressed that the execution could provoke a violent reaction from blacks at a time of serious unrest. A partial state of emergency has been in force in South Africa since July 20. [Article continues to describe other instances of violent unrest.]
• Black poet reprieved

  Lawyers won a 21-day stay of execution for black South African poet Benjamin Moloise who was due to have been hanged in Pretoria this morning for killing a policeman.
• Black poet defiant in face of death

  The mother of Benjamin Moloise, the poet convicted of killing a black security policeman, yesterday sang the song he intends to chant as he is led to the gallows in Pretoria Central prison today... Mrs. Moloise said her son gave a clenched fist black nationalist salute as he was led from the interview room back to his cell... The ANC said that if Moloise goes to the gallows his death would be avenged "in every corner of our land."
• Repressing the Rebels

  "When news that Benjamin Moloise had been hanged in Pretoria prison was confirmed on Friday, a Johannesburg businessman commented: "This government has a reputation for shooting itself in the foot. This time it shot itself in both feet.""