SOLOMON MAHLANGU
ANC member Solomon MAHLANGU, who is awaiting execution for his role in the Goch Street shooting incident in June 1977, has been refused leave to appeal against his death sentence in the Rand Supreme Court on 14 June.
Mahlangu, although he himself did not take part in the shootings, was found guilty of murder through the doctrine of "common purpose". (see FOCUS 16 p.9)
Counsel for Mahlangu argued that the trial judge had erred in finding the State had proved beyond doubt that Mahlangu had a "common purpose" with Mondy Motloung to kill. He also submitted that the court had erred in not finding extenuating circumstances. Counsel for the State submitted that there was no reasonable prospect of success for Mahlangu in the Appeal Court. (RDM 15.6.78)
Apparently Mahlangu's legal representative is to petition the Chief Justice for leave to appeal. If that fails his only alternative is to petition the State President for mercy. (GN 15.6.78)
RAMUDZULI and DUMA
A 24-year-old Soweto teacher Aitken RAMUDZULI was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in the Krugersdorp Circuit Court on 31 May after being found guilty of being a member of the African National Congress and of being in possession of explosives.
He was acquitted of the other two charges of sabotaging a railway line and placing a bomb at Pretoria Post Office.
His co-defendant, "Sunday Times" reporter Enoch DUMA (36), was acquitted on all four Terrorism Act charges including conspiring with members of the ANC and of carrying explosives in his car. (MS 1.6.78)(see FOCUS 16 p.11)
MAYEDWA and SIMON
Two Mdantsane men were acquitted under the Internal Security Act in the East London Regional Court on 22 March of being members of and taking part in the activities of the banned Pan-Africanist Congress.
Joseph MAYEDWA (55) and McWilliam Siyeta SIMON (44) were alleged to have taken part in PAC activities between June 1974 and June 1977. (DD 23.3.78)
GLADWELL MBALI
A 43 year-old man from Mdantsane township near East London was found guilty on two counts under the Terrorism Act for membership of the Pan-Africanist Congress and taking part in its activities. (DD 4.3.78)
Earlier in the trial two men who were called to give evidence for the State refused to testify and were sentenced to one year's imprisonment. Although the magistrate had ordered that state witnesses should not be named, he allowed the press to name the two after sentencing them. They are Elias MZAMO and Henry SIVISA.
Gladwell MBALI, a former Robben Island prisoner, told the court he had ceased to be a member of the PAC when it had been banned. He denied trying to revive the organisation in Port Elizabeth between June 1974 and June 1977 (DD 17.2.78) Sentence was not reported.
13 MDANTSANE TEENAGERS
On 19 May ten teenagers from Mdantsane township near East London were sentenced to up to seven years imprisonment in the Grahamstown Supreme Court after being convicted of public violence. They were part of the group of 13 teenagers originally charged with the murder of two policemen after Steve Biko's funeral in September 1977.
Of the 13, ten pleaded guilty on 17 May to the alternative charge of public violence, one to theft and one to attempted theft. The 13th accused was discharged after the State conceded it had not made a case against him.
Five of the teenagers apparently admitted stoning the two policemen at a Mdantsane bus terminus.
Two of them, a 19-year-old woman Xoliswa ZEPPE, and Mzuphela NGWANE, also 19, were each sentenced to seven years, two years of which was suspended. The others, an unnamed 15-year-old youth, and two 16-year-olds, were each given four years jail with two years suspended. Andile JELE (19), Lumka NYAMZA (18) and a 16-year-old youth were given four-year jail terms (with two years suspended) for stoning buildings at the bus terminus. Another unnamed 16-year-old youth was given three years, with 18 months suspended for five years.
The 10th defendant, a 17-year-old youth who admitted stealing soft drinks from a looted store nearby was sentenced to three years, two years' suspended for five years. An unnamed 14-year-old youth, who apparently was caught in the store, was sentenced to 4 cuts for attempted theft, and Ntsekelelo VELLEM (19), found guilty of stealing cigarettes from the store, was sentenced to 6 cuts. (CT 18.5.78; RDM 19.5.78)
JENKIN & LEE
Two Cape Town men, Timothy Peter JENKIN (29) and Stephen Bernard LEE (26), were sentenced to jail terms of twelve and eight years respectively after being found guilty of producing and distributing pamphlets on behalf of the banned South African Communist Party and African National Congress, at the Supreme Court in Cape Town on 15 June. (T 16.6.78) (see FOCUS 16 p.11) The judge refused leave to appeal. The two men are to petition the Chief Justice for leave to appeal, it was reported. (RDM 17.6.78)
They pleaded guilty to distributing by post and by pamphlet "bomb" 18 different pamphlets on behalf of banned organisations over a two-and-a-half year period. (These "bombs" are in fact harmless, being small explosive devices designed to hurl leaflets into the air). They were alleged to have constructed 26 timing devices for pamphlet "bombs". The pamphlets were all apparently prepared by Tim Jenkin, and advocated amongst other things, the overthrow by armed means of the apartheid regime. Lee admitted helping in the preparation of eight of the pamphlets. They also admitted displaying the banner "ANC lives" from the seventh floor of a Cape Town building. (CT 8.6.78; Citizen 10.6.78)
Both men were acquitted of a second count of taking part in the activities of the two banned organisations, the judge saying that conviction on this count would mean "a duplication of convictions". (CT 14.6.78)
In Britain the uncle of Stephen Lee, Mr. Rowland Mansthorpe of Felixstowe, said after their conviction that he would be writing to the Foreign Secretary urging him to carry out an urgent inquiry into "worrying and disturbing aspects" surrounding the case.
"I have heard from South Africa that the sentence was passed by an acting judge trying his first case and who has refused leave to appeal. Furthermore I understand Stephen went on a limited hunger strike having had his post withheld for many weeks and also has not been permitted a visit from a priest notwithstanding an appeal from the Archbishop of Cape Town," said Mr. Mansthorpe. (MS 20.6.78)
GILBERT & NGOSASHENG
Two men were each sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in the regional court at Pietersburg in the northern Transvaal on 5 May for attempting to undergo military training in Botswana. The two men, Lisibe GILBERT (21) and Modima NGOSASHENG (20), who pleaded guilty, were allegedly arrested near the Botswana border in 1977. They were acquitted on an alternative charge of attempting to recruit young people to undergo military training. (BBC 8.5.78; SA TV 5.5.78)
VUSUMUZI MBATHA
A high school teacher from Ngutu in Northern Natal, Vusimuzi Lucas MBATHA (23), was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court on 16 June, after being convicted on one count under the Terrorism Act.
He was found guilty of attempting to recruit people to leave the country for military training. He was found not guilty on one other charge under the Terrorism Act and on two charges under the Internal Security Act. (RDM 17.6.78)
The two ISA charges related to "the execution of actions calculated to further the realisation of any of the aims of communism", and the distribution of banned literature.
Mbatha was alleged to have said he was a member of a Marxist group named the "People's Organisation Front for the Liberation of South African Blacks". The State led evidence that the aims of the organisation included recruitment of people for military training abroad, and the State said that the accused had tried to recruit new members for this organisation "and/or the African National Congress". (NW 13.4.78)
During the trial, the defence filed an affidavit in which Vusumuzi Mbatha alleged he was "subjected to torture, assaults and threats of physical harm and even death during the period of 3 to 24 January, 1978", while he was in detention. Security police apparently told him that he would die in jail like Steve Biko if he did not speak the truth (Daily News 19.4.78).
PANTSHWA AND OTHERS
Students from the Guguletu township near Cape Town have appeared in a series of separate but related sabotage and public violence trials at the Hermanus Regional Court. Some of the students have appeared in more than one case. Most of them appeared originally on 3 March (see FOCUS 16 p.11).
Three of the students were sentenced to five years each for sabotage in the Hermanus Regional Court on 27 April. They were found guilty of setting fire to a high school in Nyanga East, but were acquitted on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The students are: Joseph PANTSHWA (24), Mziwonke JACK (18) and Sipho SINGISWA (19). The three had pleaded not guilty to both charges at the beginning of the nine-day trial.
The magistrate said he found the three accused to be unreliable, especially Singiswa who had replied "I cannot remember" to 24 questions put to him. He said, however, that he would have suspended three years of the five year sentence for each man if it were in his power to do so. In terms of the Sabotage Act no portion of the minimum sentence of five years may be suspended.
Leave to appeal was noted and bail of R1000 was granted to each man on condition he reported to Guguletu police station daily and did not leave the area of Langa, Nyanga and Guguletu. (CT 28.4.78)
The magistrate commented in his judgement that the charge should have been arson, and not sabotage, as under the latter he was compelled to impose a five year sentence. (Voice 6.5.78)
Earlier in the trial a witness told the court that when he was in solitary confinement, police wrapped plastic around his toes and lit it to force him to make a statement. He also said that the police kicked him and assaulted him with batons. (CT 20.4.78)
Two students who were reported to be part of a group which set alight a classroom of the I.D. Mkize high school in Guguletu were sentenced to five years each for sabotage in Hermanus on 5 May. The students, who pleaded not guilty, were Lawrence MVULA (19) and an unnamed 17-year-old youth. (CT 6.5.78)
In another trial which ended on 12 May, Lawrence MVULA and Kildas BOGWANA (18) were sentenced to five years each for sabotage, at the Hermanus Regional Court.
The Regional Magistrate refused a request by the defence counsel for Mvula's sentence to run concurrently with his earlier five year sentence. They were found guilty of setting fire to a classroom at Fezeka High School in Guguletu. (CT 13.5.78)
ANTHONY GAZI
A young man, Anthony Mabelandize GAZI (19), of Guguletu near Cape Town, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the Pretoria Regional Court on 5 June, for attempting to leave South Africa for military training.
The State led evidence that on 15 November, 1976 a truckload of people attempted to avoid a roadblock near Breyten in the eastern Transvaal. State Witnesses told the court that Gazi had said he was going to Swaziland to undergo military training. Apparently the accused had said: "How do you think of school when our brothers in the Cape are dying." (RDM 6.6.78)
ZOLILE MSENGE
A 20 year old man Zolile MSENGE was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in the Port Elizabeth Magistrates Court on 11 May after being convicted on four counts of arson, and two counts of malicious damage to property.
Msenge was sentenced to a total of twenty years on the six counts, ten years of which would run concurrently with the other ten. (RDM 12.4.78)
SAMPLE & NZOTOYI
Two men were each jailed for five years on 12 April by a Port Elizabeth Regional Magistrate who found they had gone to a block of Department of Community Development flats with the intention of burning it down. (RDM 13.4.78) Two two, Michael NZOTOYI (35) and Peter SAMPLE (18), were charged with sabotage alternatively malicious damage to property. (DD 13.4.78)
ELLECK NCHABALENG
Elleck NCHABALENG (20) was sentenced to six years jail in mid-June in a regional court in Nelspruit after being convicted under the Terrorism Act for arranging military training for two young men. He was found not guilty of possessing a sub-machine gun, a Russian pistol and 29 rounds of ammunition.
Evidence was led that Nchabaleng arranged for two men to meet a "Brother Joe" in Sekhukuniland who offered to inform them about the ANC and to lecture them on assembling and dismantling Russian-weapons. (Post 16.6.78)
MOTHOPENG & 17 OTHERS
The trial in Bethal of 18 alleged members of the Pan-Africanist Congress has continued with more unnamed witnesses appearing for the State. (see FOCUS 16, p.10)
The accused are Zephania MOTHOPENG (65), Moffat ZUNGU (48), John GANYA (48), Mark SHINNERS (37), Bennie NTOELE (38), Hamilton KEKE (42), Michael KHALA (24), Michael NTSHALITSHALI (47), Julius LANDINGWE (30), Jerome KODISANG (26), Michael MATSOBANE (36), Mothlageji THALE (22), Rodney TSOLETSANE (20), Daniel MATSOBANE (31), Themba HLATSHWAYO (21), Zolile NDINGWA (26), and Goodwill MONI (24).
All are accused under the Terrorism Act with taking part in terrorist activities, conspiring to overthrow the government and furthering the aims of the PAC, in a number of offences alleged to have taken place between 1963 and 1977 in different places and countries. The list of co-conspirators includes Robert Sobukwe, late President of PAC (who died after the trial commenced), Potlako Leballo, PAC general secretary in exile and 12 other PAC leaders in exile. (see FOCUS 15, p.4)
The case continued in April with a witness telling of the reasons for the founding of the Union of Black Journalists. Earlier another State witness a "Mr. Z", said he had been asked to take a message concerning recruiting to the PAC in Swaziland by Zeph Mothopeng. (RDM 5.4.78). The trial is being held in camera.
Soon after this the Johannesburg afternoon daily The Star withdrew its reporter from the trial because the State insisted that he should hold a police press card. The judge upheld this view. The prosecutor said the "special circumstances" of the trial demanded a "security screen" for all reporters, as the court wished to protect the identity of witnesses. (NW 11.4.78)
Another incident involving the press took place on 26 April when the motel room of a young woman reporter from the Afrikaans newspaper Die Beeld had her room searched by five or six policemen. Apparently one uniformed policeman and four or five other men in civilian clothes searched her room at 11 p.m. telling her that they had "heard something". (RDM 28.4.78)
A witness told the court how he had travelled to Libya for military training with five other PAC recruits. They had travelled via Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, he said. (RDM 13.5.78) The witness said that the accused Jerome Kodisang was one of the six and as part of a group of 56 they all received military training at a camp at Fenghazi between September 1975 and February 1976. The recruits were apparently dissatisfied with the training. The witness said he was sent to Uganda and then Tanzania, Zambia and eventually Botswana. In Botswana, he said, the group would have sought political asylum if they could have remained in the country. They stayed at a refugee camp in Botswana. (RDM 16.5.78)
One of the accused was examined by a psychologist after an outburst against a witness which disrupted the trial (RDM 25.5.78). John Ganya was removed from the court screaming after a second outburst later the same week. At his second outburst on the 29 May, he began shouting that the witness was lying and was influenced by the police. He repeatedly continued shouting while being removed by the police. A psychiatrist then allegedly visited the accused. After this, another State witness told the court that on two occasions he drove young black men from Cape Town to Soweto. One of the accused, Julius Landingwe, told him the men were to go to Swaziland for military training, he alleged. (RDM 30.5.78) On a return trip to Cape Town Landingwe had accompanied him. Police had stopped them, and found a parcel of Landingwe's in the car which included books by Marx and Engels. (RDM 31.5.78)
The Rand Daily Mail reported on 8 June that summonses totalling R131 000 for alleged assault and ill-treatment had been issued against the Minister of Police by 13 of the 18 accused, alleging they were beaten, kicked and given electric shocks by the Security Police. The demands range from R8 000 to R20 000. The 14th accused apparently issued a summons of R25 000 a month previously. (RDM 9.6.78)
A young student state witness told the court that Zeph Mothopeng had said at a meeting in May 1976 that riots were being planned which would result in a countrywide revolution. Schoolchildren would start them by stoning and burning Government buildings. (RDM 13.6.78)
MUKHEZI, MUDAU AND 3 OTHERS
On 22 May five people appeared in the Pietersburg Regional Court, northern Transvaal, on nine charges under the Sabotage Act.
They were Livingston MUKHEZI (21), Mashudu Jonathan MUDAU, also aged 21, and three unnamed minors all reported to be students at a Venda school. All pleaded not guilty.
The State alleges that in October 1977 the accused set fire to Venda Government cars, government and school buildings and a clinic, and that they cut telephone wires in Sibasa. (RDM 23.5.78)
MPHONSU, MATSOBANE & THINANE
Three men serving five year sentences for setting fire to a school, were sentenced by a Johannesburg magistrate on 8 June to eight years in jail for sabotage for allegedly trying to burn down another school. The eight years will run concurrently with the earlier five years.
Solomon MPHONSU (23), Johannes Mphutle MATSOBANE (21) and Abram Sello THINANE (43) pleaded guilty to the charge of sabotage. (Post 9.6.78)
They were sentenced in May to five years jail in the Vereeniging Magistrate's Court together with Sophini HLANGARE (19), Elias MABASA (20) and Thabiso RATSOMO (19), on charges under the Sabotage Act. (RDM 19.5.78)
ST. AUGUSTINE STUDENTS
Three students from St. Augustine High School in northern Natal are to be charged with murder following the death of a teacher during disturbances. Louis MANATHA and two unnamed 17-year-old youths were reported to be due to face murder charges on 26 June.
These three are among the 19 St. Augustine High School students, earlier found guilty of public violence, who were five five year suspended sentences by a Dundee magistrates court. (Post 15.6.78)
TWO 16-YEAR-OLDS
Two unnamed youths of 16 are appearing in the Johannesburg Regional Court, charged under the Terrorism Act of attempting to leave the country for military training. They have pleaded not guilty.
A youth giving State evidence said he joined five people in a vehicle, after being asked for directions. He said he was later told that the three were on their way to a military training camp in Botswana, and he apparently agreed to go along. (RDM 16.5.78)
MANKOE & MASHELE
Two young men from Pimville appeared before a Johannesburg magistrate at the end of March accused of being members of a banned organisation and of furthering its aims. The organisation is the recently-banned South African Students Organisation (SASO).
Edwin MANKOE (22) and Thomas MASHELE (21), both pleaded not guilty to charges under the Internal Security Act. The case apparently arises from an incident in the offices of the Union Corporation Company where both men are employed, when a secretary at the corporation allegedly 'caught' Mashele making photostat copies of a SASO document. (DD 30.3.78)
According to a report in Februay in the Voice, this is not the first case of this kind. The newspaper reports that a former SASO member, Tebogo Paul MAKWELA, was convicted of contravening the Internal Security Act for being in possession of a SASO membership card. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, but the court ruled that he should serve only seven days of the sentence (Voice 18.2.78)
GERALD & PIET THEBE
Two cousins, Gerald THEBE (20), of Soweto, and Piet THEBE (19), of Atteridgeville, are appearing in a Transvaal Regional Court on charges of encouraging or persuading others to undergo military training outside South Africa.
They are alleged to have persuaded people in Mafeking, Pretoria and Soweto to undergo military training. (Post 15.6.78)
HECTOR NCOKAZI
The leader of the Transkei Democratic Party, Mr. Hector NCOKAZI, was committed for trial after appearing at the Engcobo Magistrate's Court on 27 April on two counts under the Transkei Public Security Laws.
He is charged with "propagating a view" which defies the "constitutional independence" of the Transkei. (RDM 28.4.78)
MADLAVU, RIXANA & MADELA
Three men are appearing in the Grahamstown Supreme Court on charges of sabotage, alternatively of public violence. The accused, Desmond MADLAVU (25), Mayimbo RIXANA (20) and Nkwenkwe MADELA (20), have all pleaded not guilty. (RDM 31.5.78)
