An appeal by KENNETH NYAKUDYA (19) against a death sentence imposed in February 1976 on conviction of possessing arms of war was dismissed by the Appeal Court Salisbury in mid-May. Appeals by KUMBUKAYI PAT-RICK (18) and GOOD KANOKUNDA (22) sentenced to death for the same offence, were postponed pending police investigation of their claims to have been abducted by guerillas.
On 5 June it was reported that an appeal against conviction and sentence by BEN GIBSON, who was sentenced to death in February for allegedly identifying three men to guerillas as "sell-outs", had been dismissed.
Appeals by two men whose names were withheld for security reasons were reported on 9 and 10 June to have been dismissed. The first had been given a 2 year conditionally suspended prison sentence for failing to report the presence of guerillas "as soon as reasonably practicable". The Chief Justice, Sir Hugh Beadle, dismissing his appeal against conviction, said that although he had reported to the authorities within the statutory time period of 72 hours, he could quite reasonably have made the report 7 or 8 hours earlier and on this ground the trial magistrate's decision must stand. The second appellant, a teacher, had been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for encouraging his pupils to go for guerilla training. Orders were issued by the court prohibiting the publication of any names or locations, but press reports suggest that the appellant may have been JERVAS KARINDA (20), from Nyakuchene School, Mudzi TTL in north-eastern Rhodesia.
Official harassment of both wings of the African National Council has been stepped up in recent weeks, with the arrest of large numbers of ANC members and the announcement of a ban on the issue of donation receipt cards. According to ANC spokesmen, at least 200 supporters of Bishop Muzorewa were arrested during the months of May and April, most of them provincial and district level officials. They were reported to be held without charge at a detention camp near Gwelo. A number of provincial, district and branch officials of the Nkomo wing are also known to have been detained.
Specific incidents include:- * Three officials of the Muzorewa ANC, MOTON MALIANGA, national chairman, DR EDWARD CHITATE, national secretary for education, and CLAUDIO ZHU-WARARA, deputy secretary for youth, who were each fined R$40 or 40 days imprisonment, in Sinoia Magistrate's Court on 26 April. They were convicted of addressing an illegal public gathering under Section 7 of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act. 241 people had attended the meeting in St. Peter's Church Hall, Sinoia, 41 more than the official permitted maximum. Eleven other Muzorewa ANC officials who attended the meeting and one convicted of convening an unlawful public gathering were each fined R$30 or 30 days imprisonment. * An adviser to Joshua Nkomo, FINDO MPOFU, who was detained by Bulawayo police on 7 May, on the eve of his departure with Mr Nkomo on a tour of a number of African and European countries. * Two officials of the Nkomo wing of the ANC, GEORGE MARANKE, youth secretary, and WILLY SHAMINI, in charge of transport, who were arrested in Salisbury on 14 May, allegedly in connection with recent disturbances in the city's African townships. They were released the same day. * ARNOLD SAWANA, who was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment on conviction of using threatening words against "a class of persons" at the opening of a new office for the Muzorewa ANC at Sakubva African Township near Umtali. Four years of the sentence were conditionally suspended by the Appeal Court, Salisbury.
On 21 May, "in the interests of public safety", the regime imposed a ban on the issue of receipt cards for donations by both wings of the ANC. The receipt cards were introduced by the ANC in 1972 to get around a ban on membership cards on the grounds that they led to "intimidation". It is now an offence to be found in possession of an ANC receipt card and at least one person has already been prosecuted for failing to immediately destroy a card or hand it in to a police station. STELLA MPONDA was fined R$25, or 30 days imprisonment, by Harari Magistrate's Court ten days after the ban was imposed, for being in possession of a receipt card from the Nkomo ANC. She said that she had intended to destroy the cards on her husband's instructions, but had forgotten to do so.
