Four professional people, who were detained in May and June 1976 were brought to court in October charged with being members of the ANC and furthering its objects. They are: Sibusioso Joel NDEBELE, 32, librarian at BLS University in Swaziland; Tintswalo Godwin MASHAMBA, 28, philosophy lecturer at Turfloop; Happy Joyce MASHAMBA, 27, library assistant at Turfloop and wife of above; Percy TSHABALA, 41, high school teacher.
All four were alleged to have associated themselves with the aims and objects of the ANC at diverse place (Manzini, Swaziland, Turfloop, Madadeni, Ngoye, Tzaneen) between August 1975 and May 1976. Ndebele was further alleged to have recruited or attempted to recruit members for the ANC, and encouraged others to obtain information on the location of police stations, military camps and safe bases for ANC members. Mashamba was further alleged to have shown pamphlets on 'Sharpeville Shootings' and 'Struggle for Mozambique' to a student at Turfloop, where he taught, and to have travelled in the Transvaal seeking information on police stations and military camps.
When the trial began in December one witness was Sibusiso Gabriel Nkosi, a social worker of Madadeni, Newcastle, who stated that he had been invited to Swaziland by Ndebele and that while there he had been urged by Stanley Mabizela to start an ANC cell at Madadeni. The purpose of the cell was to assist and protect ANC members on their return to South Africa after military training. Dawn Ngobesi, a Newcastle teacher who was detained in May and apparently also travelled to Swaziland, spoke of Mabizela and Ndebele visiting him in Manzini and talking about the ANC and the formation of small 3-4 person cells. Mabizela allegedly described the structure of the organisation.
