Up to 1,450 people are believed to have been detained without charge or trial by the Smith regime at the start of the internal settlement talks in November 1977. The total at the beginning of March 1978 may have been higher than this, although for various reasons, notably the regime's tight control on information of this kind, it is difficult to give precise figures. A substantial number of people, many of them members of the African National Council of Zimbabwe, led by Joshua Nkomo, are known to have been arrested while the negotiations have been in progress. While some have been charged, others appear to have simply disappeared without trace.
Under the terms of the internal settlement agreement, Rhodesia's transitional government is required to "determine and deal" with a number of matters, including the release of detainees. The 6 April announcement from the Executive Council records that "much progress in this direction has been made and a programme for the release of a substantial number of detainees has been drawn up. Releases will be phased and will be subject to essential security safeguards". The statement concludes: "The release of detainees has been made possible by the new circumstances brought about by the settlement agreement, as many of them are now prepared to support a cease-fire and work within the principles of the agreement".
On 12 April the regime's Secretary for Law and Order told a news conference that the release of 461 detainees, currently held at a number of detention centres around the country, would start on the following day. Local and foreign journalists were taken on an official visit to Wha Wha on 13 April to see 100 detainees, ranging in age from 18 to 69, leave the prison camp. According to the London Times, they comprised 37 members of Bishop Muzorewa's United African National Council, 29 from the African National Council (Sithole), 30 from the African National Council of Zimbabwe led by Joshua Nkomo, three who said that they supported the co-leader of the Patriotic Front, Robert Mugabe, and one man who said that he was a chief and supported Chief Chirau's Zimbabwe United People's Organisation (ZUPO). Wha Wha, outside Gwelo, is the largest detention camp in Rhodesia and in March 1978 held 688 detainees.
The regime's Ministry of Law and Order has stated that detainees are being selected for release on the grounds of whether they would be a possible "threat to law and order" and whether they had had "a change of heart" while in detention. All those released have been required to sign a pledge not to engage in "subversive or unlawful activities".
According to the Executive Council's announcement, "various restrictive conditions" imposed on 254 former detainees are to be or already have been lifted. It is usual practice for the regime, on releasing a detainee, to issue a restriction order confining him or her to a limited area - often this has the effect of preventing the person from seeking work in the urban areas. With the greater part of the country subject to curfew regulations and other security measures applicable to all residents, such restriction orders have lost much of their relevance. The figure of 254 may well represent the cumulative figure of detainees released over a period of some years. Few people are known to IDAF to have been released in the past year - out of one group of 279 detainees known to have appeared before Review Tribunals for reassessment of their status over the 12 months to the end of January 1978, for example, only 12 were recommended for release.
