Blacks clash with police in South African township

August 5, 1983

The turmoil over a bus boycott in South Africa's second-largest black township has escalated, with at least five people reported killed and 22 injured. Local reports from Mdantsane in the Ciskei tribal ''homeland'' said police had clashed with residents.

The bus company, owned by the Ciskei government, recently raised fares by several cents. For Mdantsane residents, bus fares have unusual political significance. Mdantsane serves mainly as a labor dormitory for the white South African city of East London, about 10 miles away. And many of the commuters resent having to make this trip.