SPECIAL COURTS 23 March: Bulawayo: Nkosana Norman Ncube, described as a herdboy on Penelope Farm, Mphoengs, contiguous to the Botswana border, was gaoled for 3 years for failing to report guerillas.
28 March: Bulawayo: SIGANYANA KHALANGA MOYO (31), a Zimbabwean who had lived in Botswana since 1968, was sentenced to life imprisonment on conviction of possessing offensive weapons in Botswana and Rhodesia between July and December 1976, and harbouring and helping a guerilla. In a statement, Moyo said that he had allowed a guerilla to stay at his kraal in Botswana and had taken him weapons and ammunition supplied by residents of the African National Council house in Francistown.
30 March: Bulawayo: KENNETH NGWENYA, a Bulawayo mechanic, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for failing to report the presence of one of his relatives who had become a guerilla.
12 April: Bulawayo: The chairman of the women's movement of the Bulawayo district of the ANC, MNELLIE DUPUTE, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for assisting guerillas and for helping them in their recruiting campaign. Dupute (32), a mother of four, was alleged to have helped two guerillas who had visited her Mpopoma home in August 1976.
21 April: Salisbury: EDWARD KONDA, vice-chairman of a section of the United African National Council (UANC) in Highfield, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on conviction of recruiting or encouraging three people to go for guerrilla training in Mozambique at the end of 1976.
26 April: Salisbury: An unnamed youth, whose age was fixed by the court as between 16 and 17, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on conviction of possessing arms of war. He had been found wounded and in possession of the weapons after an engagement between guerillas and the security forces in the Sabi TTL in October 1976.
28 April: Salisbury: The Midlands North provincial chairman of the UANC, LAMECK MUKUZE, was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for failing to report the presence of guerillas.
4 May: Salisbury: ISAAC MUNIKWA (30), a member of the UANC from Mufakose village, Triangle, was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, (4 years of which were conditionally suspended), for failing to report a guerilla who had - unarmed - allegedly attended UANC meetings in Triangle in December 1976. Two witnesses told the court that they had been beaten and tortured by detectives to force them to admit to have been recruited by the accused. One stated that he had been blindfolded and that something hot had been applied to his feet. The witnesses had also seen detectives beating Munikwa on the soles of his feet, making the feet so swollen that the accused could hardly walk.
10 May: Salisbury: The national organising secretary of the ANC (Zimbabwe), JOHN CHIRISA (48), was acquitted of a charge of recruiting and encouraging 36 people to go for guerilla training, on the grounds of inconsistencies and contradictions in the evidence submitted by state witnesses. Despite the not guilty verdict, Chirisa was kept in police custody and almost immediately served with a detention order by the Minister of Law and Order.
20 May: Salisbury: The Gatooma youth organising secretary of the UANC, LEVY CHIKWAMA, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on each of three counts of acts of terrorism, and 20 years for failing to report a guerilla, the latter to run concurrently, making an effective prison sentence of 30 years in all. In evidence, Chikwama said that police had threatened to shoot him and take his body to the border, where they would say he had been killed by guerillas.
25 May: Bulawayo: NDABIEZINHLE DUBE (23), a driver for the ANC(Z), was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for recruiting.
OTHER CONVICTIONS 3 April: Harari Magistrates Court: 37 officials and supporters of the ANC (Zimbabwe) who had attended a meeting addressed by the party's national organising secretary, John Chirisa, on 20 March, were given suspended prison sentences and/or fined. On 19 May, in a review judgment in the Salisbury High Court, the sentences were converted to fines only.
4 April: High Court, Salisbury: SIMON MUYAYISO, aged about 50 and employed as a cook on a white-owned farm in the Bikita area, was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for failing to report the presence of guerillas.
15 April: Gwelo Magistrates Court: Four unnamed residents of the Belingwe area were each sentenced to 2½ year prison terms (one year suspended in each case) for failing to report guerillas.
29 April: Harari Magistrates Court: Passing of sentence was postponed for 5 years in the case of 8 Salisbury schoolgirls convicted earlier in the year of attempting or conspiring to go to Mozambique for training in November 1976.
29 April: Marandellas Magistrates Court: 8 members of the ANC (Zimbabwe) youth wing were sentenced to a total of 46 years imprisonment for attempting to go to Botswana for guerilla training. The sentences were: NORMAN KUBENDA (22) - 4 years; FERDINAND ZINYOME (26) - 8 years; LUKAS SANDU (22) - 4 years; IGNATIUS CHIBONGORI (27) - 4 years; ABEL NGIRANDE (24) - 8 years; TEMBA WIWI (22) - 8 years; PERKINS SANDU (24) - 4 years; an unnamed juvenile - 6 years.
2 May: Umtali Magistrates Court: An unnamed 18-year old youth who had been seriously injured in a landmine explosion was given a suspended prison sentence of 7 years for attempting to go to Mozambique for training.
