This issue of FOCUS reports on the activities of bantustan police forces in South Africa, their involvement in suppressing opposition, and incidents of violence in the Kwazulu bantustan, including attacks on UDF affiliates. It also outlines the objectives of the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and provides information on IDAF's international affiliates and publication programme.

This issue covers the imposition of strict military censorship in Namibia by the SADF, the deaths of detainees including Kasire Thomas and Johannes Kakuva, mass arrests under Proclamation AG9, forced labour of prisoners, torture trials and revelations, and systemic suppression of opposition to apartheid-era constitutional reforms. It highlights SWAPO resistance, the banning of the Namibia Report by Archbishop Denis Hurley, police raids on churches, the Mawaala sabotage trial, and trials of numerous ANC activists. A statistical roundup of detentions and court cases also illustrates escalating state violence.

Issue 50 covers the widespread rejection of South Africa’s new constitution by black communities, intensified state repression through arrests, treason trials, and censorship. It documents the brutal crackdown on the United Democratic Front (UDF), mass arrests in Namibia’s Kavango region, detentions of students and clergy, torture, trials under the Internal Security Act, and township resistance. The issue also includes coverage of Inkatha violence, the banning of political meetings, police shootings, and hanging secrecy policies. An obituary for Alex Hepple is included.