In April this year, the Rhodesian Ministry of Justice announced that, in future, no public announcements would be made when executions of convicted prisoners took place. A Ministry spokesman explained that the decision had been taken because the whole question of executions was "an emotive one".
Previously, the Government Gazette had normally published notices confirming that death sentences had been carried out. Since April however, the difficulties of monitoring the progress of political trials in Rhodesia have been compounded by the regime's clampdown, under section 403A of the Criminal Code, on the publication of court proceedings. That the Smith regime has continued to execute persons convicted under the Law and Order Order (Maintenance) Act, in particular, seems all too likely, despite undertakings given at the Lusaka talks in December 1974 to release political prisoners, revoke death sentences that had been imposed, and halt political trials. Instead, the Ministry of Justice said in April that when a death sentence has been passed and the appeal turned down, it must be accepted that the sentence has been carried out.
In Jan/Feb. this year, 6 men were executed at Salisbury Central Prison. On 24 January, Mahobo Kabondo and Eirya Kamire were hanged for assisting 'terrorists' to murder. Then, on 8 February, Jerowa Sibanga was executed for murder, and on 28 February, Katsara Matabajira-Momo, Alfred Changiri and John Matairu were hanged for acts of "terrorism" and for possessing arms of war. Two months later, the Ministry of Justice refused to confirm whether the sentences on 2 Africans, reportedly executed on 18 April, had in fact been carried out.
Persons who have probably been executed since the April ban on publication include:
- Clever Mabonzo and Baya Tsauke - appeals were turned down on 6 March after both were sentenced to death for murder and possessing arms of war. * Kariba Herbert Tobias - appeal against death sentence dismissed on 21 March after conviction on charges of murder, ambushing a vehicle and possessing arms of war. * Elly Wandiawona - sentenced to death on 18 March for murder and firing on security forces.
In June, Edson Sithole, publicity secretary of the ANC, claimed that executions were being carried out secretly and at night in Salisbury prison. He cited the case of two men who had recently been hanged at 7 o'clock in the evening. Formerly, he said, people who were to be executed were given advance notice and allowed a last opportunity to see their relatives and friends. This practice had now been abolished, so that prisoners were being told only an hour or so before their impending deaths.
On 15 August Benson Ncube and Robbie Nyambabvu were sentenced to death on charges of recruiting six youths for 'terrorist' training. Appeals were noted in the Salisbury High Court. That the regime intends to continue meting out the death penalty on the nebulous charge of "recruiting" was made clear by Mr. Justice Beck on 16 September in the Salisbury High Court. Sentencing Philip Foya to life imprisonment for assisting recruitment, he emphasised that in future, others could not assume that they would be let off so lightly.
On 15 October, Chireza Wayeni was sentenced to death on charges of taking part in a "terrorist" raid on a European farm in north-eastern Rhodesia in October 1974, and involvement, with other guerrillas, in murder. In both his case, and those of Benson Ncube and Robbie Nyambabvu, appeals have been noted. Two weeks later, at the end of October, a 65 year old man, John Hlengani, was sentenced to death for having taken three of his nephews across the border into Mozambique. The prosecution alleged that Hlengani had told the three boys that he was taking them to find jobs in Mozambique, while intending to hand them over to the freedom-fighters for training. Following Ncube and Nyambabvu, Hlengani is the third person this year known to have received the mandatory death sentence for the offence of "recruiting", under the November 1974 amendments to the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act.
Barely a week after the decision on Hlengani, and as white Rhodesia was preparing to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Ian Smith's illegal U.D.I., the Salisbury High Court sentenced 3 more guerrillas, Elliot Dube, Reza Nyamarupa and Ignatius Moto, to die on charges of killing members of the security forces, "terrorism", and being in possession of arms of war. The total number known to have been executed or sentenced to death this year has been raised by these latest convictions to 22. Between UDI in 1965 and April 1975, at least 30 freedom fighters were hanged by the regime.
