APPEALS

Prison sentences passed by a magistrate on 4 Africans in the Chipinga area for failing to report the presence of guerillas were all found to be "manifestly excessive" by the Appeal Court, at a hearing in mid-June. ELIAS HLUPE, a bus driver, who had been sentenced to 9 years imprisonment, and WASHINGTON ZIYACHECHA, a bus conductor, sentenced to 6 years, had their sentences reduced to 6 years, 2 years being conditionally suspended, in each case. A farmer, MUSA MHLANGA, sentenced to 6 years, 2 suspended, and a storekeeper, SAMSON MLAMBO, sentenced to 8 years, were each given reduced sentences of 5 years imprisonment, 3 years being conditionally suspended.

CALVIN GUDUZA, sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for attempting to leave Rhodesia for guerilla training, had his appeal against conviction dismissed at the end of June. He said that he had decided to go for training after hearing broadcasts on Radio Zambia, and had attempted to get out through Botswana.

Five men, referred to as SHUPAYI PIUS and "four others", had their sentences reduced to 4 years imprisonment, (2½ years being conditionally suspended for 5 years), in a High Court review judgement at the end of July. The men had each been sentenced in a magistrate's court to between 7 and 10 years imprisonment for failing to report the presence of guerillas.

The first reported hearing of an appeal against a judgement by the new Special Courts took place at the end of July, when LAZERUS GAHADZIKWA, 20, sentenced to death by a Special Court in Salisbury on 10 June, had his appeal dismissed. He had been found guilty of carrying arms of war in the Mtoko TTL in September 1975.

On the following day, STEPHEN CHAPUNGU, 30, sentenced to death by a Special Court in Umtali at the end of May for carrying arms of war, also had his appeal against conviction and sentence dismissed. He had been arrested after being severely wounded in the leg.

MASHAMA SIBILISIOS, the chairman of an ANC branch in Mtoko district, was reported to have lost his appeal at the beginning of August. He had been sentenced to death by a Special Court in Umtali on 26 May on conviction of recruiting for guerilla training. He was alleged to have transported large numbers of recruits from Mtoko to the Mozambique border.

THE COST OF MAINTAINING WHITE SUPREMACY

Public expenditure estimates for the financial year to 30 June 1977 show that the Smith regime is now spending nearly a quarter of its total national budget on the army, the police and other security measures. The defence vote, at R$84,427,000, is nearly 40% up on 1975/76 and has now replaced education as the second largest item of government expenditure - the biggest always being loan servicing. Other security allocations are

  • Police - R$44,117,000 (23% up on 1975/76) * A new amount of R$15,000,000 included in the Treasury vote as an unallocated reserve for "transfer to the appropriate security vote as required" * Ministry of Roads - R$7,100,000 allocated for special works in operational areas (such as laying down all-weather, tarred roads as a precaution against landmines) * Ministry of Internal Affairs - R$5,410,000 for security measures in the operational areas and civil defence. * Prime Minister's vote - includes a sum of R$5,960,000 for "special services", (the paramilitary Selous Scouts and Special Branch II of the Rhodesian Police, for example, come under the direct control of the Prime Minister's office).

These sums together amount to just over 23% of a total expenditure allocation of R$702,843,000. In his budget statement in the House of Assembly on 15 July, the Minister of Finance, Mr. David Smith, said that the increases in police and defence spending were "self-explanatory. We have a terrorist war on our hands which has to be won and winning will cost money."

ARREST AND DETENTION

Speaking in the Rhodesian House of Assembly on 24 June, Mr. J.Z. Maposa, the member for Insukamini, noted that in addition to 2 prisons, Gwelo and Connemara, his constituency contained the country's largest detention camp, Wha Wha. The number of Wha Wha inmates, he said, was increasing every day, and it "could easily become the biggest concentration camp on the continent of Africa." 26 detainees were housed in a single room "where they do not even have enough room to stretch their legs", while medical facilities were "very inadequate."

It is estimated that at least 1,000 people are currently held in detention without charge or trial by the Smith regime, and it has been confirmed by the Minister of Law and Order that additional accommodation is being erected at Wha Wha detention camp. Very few detentions, however, are ever reported in the press.

Several Rhodesian Front MPs have urged the regime in recent weeks to take yet tougher action against the African National Council. Speaking during the debate on the President's speech, Mr. Rodney Simmonds (Mtoko), called on the regime to institute proceedings for treason against Mr. Joshua Nkomo, to redeten other nationalist leaders in Rhodesia and to ban the ANC. The Minister of Law and Order, in reply, stated that the regime's attitude to both wings of the ANC was "constantly under review." As soon as it appeared that either organization as such supported "terrorism" or posed "a threat to public security", action would be taken against them.