CHARLIMAGNE & SOBANDLA A former Robben Island prisoner, Tommy Ntoyake CHARLIMAGNE (50), of Mdantsane township, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for membership of the banned African National Congress and for taking part in its activities, in the East London Regional Court, in early January. He was sentenced to two terms of 8 and 4 years imprisonment, to run concurrently. He had previously served a five year sentence on Robben Island for ANC activities.
In a separate but related trial, which also took place in the East London Regional Court in the same week, Wellington Themba SOBANDLA (47) of Mdantsane, was jailed for 3 years for ANC membership and activities. (He was sentenced to two terms of three years, to run concurrently).
A lawyer, Mathemba Makapela, gave evidence for the State in both trials. He said that he was asked by Charlimagne to revive the ANC in Mdantsane, and he agreed. He was asked to form a committee of four members, he said, whom he had to instruct to form other underground cells. They were given literature to read by Charlimagne. Makapela said the purpose of the cells was to recruit people to undergo military training abroad.
A former Border rugby player, Sipiwo Batala, gave State evidence in the Charlimagne trial. He said the accused had asked him to make a list of police stations and army camps so that they could be attacked by freedom fighters when they entered the country. He was also asked to provide a list of informers.
In the trial of Sobandla, Makapela said he recruited Sobandla to serve on his committee, and that Sobandla had in turn recruited another man, Rufus Rwexu. Rufus Rwexu was also called to give state evidence. He refused to testify and was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. He refused to give evidence because he said he had been told by the police what to say. "I know nothing about the accused except that I was persecuted by the police. They suffocated and throttled me", he said. The Post reported that Rwexu appeared unstable and was staggering, when led in and out of court.
A former Robben Island prisoner, Sam Gajula, refused to give state evidence. He told the magistrate that the accused (Sobandla) had children and if he was convicted after his testimony the children would starve. Gajula was then sentenced to twelve months imprisonment.
SIPHO MANONDO An ANC guerilla, Sipho Aaron MADONDO (19), was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment on three counts under the Terrorism Act in a special court in Ermelo, on 20 March. After sentencing the man, the judge, Justice W.G. Boshoff, said to him: "You are lucky, because you could have been hung. This type of crime deserves the death penalty".
Madondo, who pleaded guilty, was captured at a hut in Pongola on 2 December 1977. The other man with him was burnt to death in the hut after a shoot-out with police. Police gave evidence in court saying the man burnt to death was Toto Skhosana, "an ANC commandant". In the hut police also recovered two scorpion machine pistols, ammunition and three hand grenade detonators.
Giving evidence in mitigation, Madondo said after the June 1976 uprising he left school. He came into contact with ANC members and received military training in East Germany. From East Germany he went to Luanda where he met Mr. Skhosana. The two of them then went to Maputo, entered South Africa via Swaziland and stored weapons near Pongola.
SABOTAGE SENTENCE Two unnamed youths, aged 15 and 16, were each sentenced to five years imprisonment for sabotage in a Port Elizabeth regional court on 15 March. The youths pleaded guilty to setting fire to Ben Sinuka School in New Brighton. The fire was said to have caused R6000 worth of damage. The State accepted their plea and no evidence was led.
TRANSKEI CASE A 21-year-old Umtata civil servant, Mzolisi HERMANS, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for contravening the Transkei Public Security Act, in the Umtata Regional Court in early February. Half the sentence was conditionally suspended for three years. Malolo GOGO (23), who was charged with Hermans was found not guilty and discharged.
The court found that Hermans had induced Gogo to produce copies of a news bulletin issued by the Human Rights Committee on 10 December, 1975, in which the concept of Transkei independence was described as a myth. The defence attorneys stated that the bulletin carrying the article was never banned, and if it was there was nothing suggesting so in the evidence before the court. The magistrate however held that the article ("Transkei myth") was a "poisonous pamphlet", which could "excite feelings of hostility likely to result in lawless action especially among the uneducated masses".
MOTHOPENG and 17 OTHERS The trial of 18 men accused of furthering the aims of the banned Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), which opened in January, continued in the Bethal Magistrates Court. The first accused is Zephania MOTHOPENG (65), a founding member of the PAC. All are accused under the Terrorism Act of taking part in "terrorist activities", conspiring to overthrow the government and furthering the aims of the PAC between 1963 and 1977 in different places and countries.
One of the accused in the trial is suing the Minister of Police, Mr. J.T. Kruger, for R20,000 as he alleges that he was assaulted and pushed out of a window during his detention last year. He is Johnson NYATHI (32) of Kagiso township, Krugersdorp.
At the end of February the judge granted the State-requested order for evidence to be heard in camera, saying: "There is every likelihood that the State witnesses - mostly accomplices of the accused - could come to some harm unless the hearing is heard in camera". Earlier, security policemen had told of intimidation of witnesses in other trials, and of the killing by unknown assailants of Security Police Sgt. Leonard Nkosi, a former ANC guerilla, who had given evidence for the State at a number of ANC trials.
After the judge's order, the public gallery was cleared. Reporters were allowed to remain, but were instructed not to publish the identity of the witnesses. The first witness, "Mr. X", then gave evidence related mainly to two of the accused, Zeph Mothopeng and John GANYA. Mr. X said that when he was on Robben Island, cell committees were formed among PAC members. After leaving prison he met Mothopeng regularly and was asked to recruit reliable people with passports who could be used to contact the PAC in Botswana and Swaziland. He said he recruited Mr. Mike Mzileni, who has been listed as a co-conspirator, and Mr. Samuel Malinga, who died in detention last year. Funds were received for the PAC from Switzerland, he said. Mr. X continued that Mothopeng had told him (Mr. X) that PAC headquarters in Tanzania had asked that the organisation be revived in South Africa and that recruits be sent to Tanzania for military training. The next witness, a "Mr. Y" told the court that Mothopeng was in charge of PAC and that Ganya recruited people for military training.
A later witness told the court that he was a member of the Young African Religious Movement (YARM), which was a cover for the PAC. The aim of this organisation was to unite the youth in black solidarity by teaching them the true interpretation of the Bible. The movement was launched in Kagiso township, Krugersdorp. Members would later be sent for military training. The witness gave evidence against six of the accused who were allegedly active in this organisation as well as in the Kagiso Student Representative Council (SRC) and the Kagiso African Parents' Association (Kapa).
On 20 March, two foreign diplomats, one from the Swedish Legislation in South Africa, and the other from the US Embassy, were barred from attending the trial. The defence made the request for a relaxation of the closed court hearing, arguing that the diplomats were attending as representatives of governments interested in political matters. The judge Justice Curlewis, ruled that neither diplomat had proper or legitimate interest in the case. "I am indifferent as to whether my decision pleases Pretoria, Washington or Stockholm", he said.
A "Mr. Z", alleged that Zeph Mothopeng visited Mr. Robert Sobukwe on two occasions. The witness said that he and a journalist, Mr. Joe Thloloe, president of the Union of Black Journalists now in detention, took Zeph Mothopeng to Mr. Sobukwe in Kimberley. Mr. Z. said he had acted as a courier for PAC and had visited Botswana and Swaziland with messages for PAC officials from Mothopeng.
