July 31, 1984

Just before dawn today, Susan Jezile, like other squatters outside this city, rose early from her bed and tore down the shelter of black plastic and brushwood that had been her home, exposing her sleeping children to the wintry winds of the Cape of Good Hope. She did so, she said, because she knew that if she did not dismantle her 10-foot-square igloo of a dwelling, the authorities would demolish it and confiscate the precious materials she needs to rebuild it when they depart. So, she said, she pre-empted them to insure they had nothing to pull down. A few hours later, officials from the Western Cape Development Board did indeed arrive with crowbars and tear- gas launchers and rubber-bullet guns to demolish some houses at the squatter camp known as Phase Two. Then they left, and Mrs. Jezile rebuilt her home and sheltered her children.

A shift on aid to El Salvador has been occurring among members of Congress since the May election of Jose Napoleon Duarte as the Salvadoran President. Representative Clarence D. Long, the Maryland Democrat who is chairman of a House subcommittee that exerts major influence over foreign aid spending, said he was now prepared to approve almost all the military and economic assistance sought by the Reagan Administration for El Salvador next year. (Page A1, Column 6.) Americans' success in the Games of the XXIII Olympiad continued with two more gold medals in swimming and one in shooting. In swimming, Mary Wayte of Mercer Island, Wash., won the women's 200-meter freestyle, and the men's 800-meter freestyle relay team captured a spectacular final from West Germany by four- hundredths of a second, or no more than 3 inches. World records were broken in the three men's finals. In shooting, the American gold medal came from Ed Etzel, of Morgantown, W. Va., who won the small-bore rifle competition with a near-perfect score of 599. Michael Gross of West Germany won the 100-meter butterfly by a foot from the favored Pablo Morales of Santa Clara, Calif. (A1:1-3.)

Five young bridge players from the Boston area, suspected of cheating by using illegal signals, have been suspended from competition by the American Contract Bridge League. They face a highly unusual hearing at which videotapes of their play are to be shown. The suspensions followed the national championships in Washington, where the team members were videotaped during play. They were subsequently shown the tapes and then withdrew from the tournament.

An article yesterday on the Bayreuth Festival misidentified the first black to sing there. It was the soprano Grace Bumbry - in 1961 in ''Tannh"auser'' - and not Simon Estes.

''New York City deserves to have the tallest and greatest building in the world and I would be very interested in doing it.'' - Donald Trump. (B1:1.)