14 appeals against the death sentence have been reported by the Rhodesian press to have been dismissed during the period February-March 1977. On 4 February, the Rhodesia Herald reported that death sentences on five captured guerillas ONISIMO CHARAMBA, NICHOLAS MANGWEZA, GILBERT MUTSANHURA (or MATASANHURA), RUGERE MUTAMBA and JASPER MUTUMBARA (or MUPHAMBARA), had been confirmed by the Appellate Division of the Salisbury High Court. All had been convicted on various charges of guerilla activity and possessing arms of war.
On 9 February, the Rhodesia Herald confirmed that an appeal against the death sentence by WIRESI BUROMBO had been dismissed. Burombo's companion ALFRED JOHN, also had his appeal against a sentence of life imprisonment turned down.
CRISPEN KADENGE, sentenced to death at an in camera trial by a Special Court in December 1976 for urging others to go for guerilla training, had his appeal dismissed in February. An application had been made by the defence for the case to be remitted for further evidence, on the grounds that, as the trial had been held in camera, certain potential witnesses had been unaware of the proceedings and did not present themselves before the court. Mr Justice Macdonald, presiding over the appeal, dismissed the application because, he said, it was Kadenge's responsibility to make sure his own witnesses were present. Kadenge was described as an official of a "political organization".
ERIC KASEKE, sentenced to life imprisonment by a Special Court on two counts of failing to report guerillas and committing a guerilla act, had his sentence reduced on appeal in February to 12 years. He was alleged to have complained to a group of guerillas about the behaviour of a cattle dip attendant. The court was told that the attendant had later been killed by the group.
CLEVER MUREMEREDZO, a Manicaland farm worker sentenced to 5 years imprisonment (2 suspended) for assisting four men to leave the country for guerilla training in Mozambique, had his sentence reduced on appeal to one year (6 months suspended). He had been sentenced by a Special Court in Umtali in September 1976. The Appeal Court recommended his immediate release on the grounds that he had already served more than 5 months of his sentence.
A 62-year-old man, MSENGE, sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for assisting guerillas and failing to report them had his prison term cut to 12 years by a reviewing judge in the Salisbury High Court. Mr Justice Smith said that 16 years imprisonment would "bear no man of that age."
PHILLIMON JIRIGURU, sentenced to death by a Special Court for committing guerilla acts and possessing offensive weapons, including mortar bombs, had his appeal dismissed in March. Appeals against death sentences imposed for acts of guerilla warfare were likewise turned down in the cases of TAFIREYI KANYAMA, NAISON DHLIWAYO (previously reported as NAISON ZHIWAYO) and PETER DAWANYI.
A youth aged 16 years and 9 months at the time of his capture, and sentenced to death on charges of laying a landmine and possessing weapons of war, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The youth, who had been wounded before capture, was alleged to have been a member of a large group of guerillas.
TWOBOY KATANI DUBE, sentenced to death by a Special Court in February, had his sentence confirmed after the Appeal Court had rejected evidence that he had been in a mental home in Zambia.
Two more convicted guerillas, DAVISON CHINDIWANA and KEPHAS NCUBE, were reported in mid-March to have had appeals against the death sentence dismissed. Chindiwana, aged 19 at the time of his capture, had been wounded in the course of two skirmishes with security forces. He had been convicted of having offensive weapons, including a landmine. Ncube, described as a "dedicated terrorist", had been sentenced to death for exploding a device on a railway line, to life imprisonment for robbing a beerhall in Bulawayo; life imprisonment for attempting to steal a vehicle belonging to the regime and for firing shots at regime employees; and to 22 years for possessing an AK rifle. He was said to have operated largely on his own.
Father PAUL EGLI, a Swiss Roman Catholic priest sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in January for failing to report guerillas, had his sentence cut to one year on 6 April.
