Three young men, Norman Vusi THUSI (20) of Soweto, Prince Mzimkulu DUBE (20) of Tembisa and Mthunzi Colombus MAZIBUKO (25) of Soweto, were convicted under the Terrorism Act of undergoing military training in China and returning to South Africa to overthrow the government. The three, members of the Pan-Africanist Congress, were sentenced in Krugersdrop Circuit Court to between five and seven years' imprisonment each on 14 June. All three were sentenced to five years under the Terrorism Act, but Thusi and Mazibuko were found guilty of possessing explosives and firearms, and sentenced to a further five years' three of which will run concurrently, making an effective sentence of seven years. All three were acquitted of a further charge of incitement.
It is alleged the three men, all former students, left South Africa in 1976 and went to Swaziland where they joined the PAC. Later they went to China for military training. Evidence was led that they were associated with another former student, Kenneth Mkwanazi, also an alleged PAC member, who was shot dead by police in a Soweto house reportedly when he tried to throw a hand-grenade at them.
Vuma Dennis MAKEKE (22), of New Brighton Port Elizabeth was convicted in the Port Elizabeth Regional Court under the Terrorism Act of recruiting three persons for military training and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in May. He was reported to have been released on bail of R500 pending an appeal against his conviction and sentence, on condition he report twice daily to the police.
A Soweto woman, Mrs. Nto Mitta MAPHIKE (43) was convicted at the end of March under the Terrorism Act in a Johannesburg Regional Court on charges of inciting four youth to leave the country for military training. She was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. She is appealing against the sentence. Her application for bail while on appeal was turned down in a Johannesburg Regional Court in May.
The former leader of the opposition Democratic Party in the Transkei, Hector Bongani NCOKAZI was convicted on two counts under Transkei security laws and was given a three year sentence and a fine of R500, suspended for three years, in the Supreme Court in Umtata in May. This was the first case under Transkei Public Security Laws in which an accused was charged with questioning the sovereignty of the Transkei Bantustan. It was alleged that in a speech to the Democratic Party Congress on 31 December 1977 Mr. Ncokazi 'uttered certain words which ... defied or was (were) repugnant to the sovereignty of parliament or the constitutional independence of the Transkei'. On the second count he was alleged to have made a statement which interfered with the authority of the State or any officer of the State. The judge, Mr. Justice Munnik, sentenced Mr. Ncokazi to three years suspended on the first count and 18 months on the second count.
On 7 May the Appeal Court in Pretoria suspended the one year sentence for perjury passed on Thami MAZWAI in August 1978. Thami Mazwai, chief reporter on the Post newspaper and national secretary of the Writers Association of South Africa (Wasa), was originally convicted of perjury after the evidence he gave at the trial of two UBJ officials after the organisation was banned on 19 October 1977 along with other black consciousness organisations. The two were charged with theft of money belonging to the State, because they allegedly withdrew money from the UBJ account after knowing that the organisation was banned. The two were acquitted and Mazwai was charged with perjury for making two conflicting statements. Defence counsel for the accused said on the question of sentence that the motive of the accused was "not personal gain but a sense of loyalty to his fellow journalists". In suspending the sentence the appeal judge said that he found two "compelling factors to suspend the sentence" - that Mr. Mazwai's first statement was made under compulsion and that he would lose his profession if he were to go to jail.
A sentence being served by a youth for sabotage was reduced by three years in the Cape Town Supreme Court at the end of April. The three years of a five year sentence has been ordered to run concurrently with another five year sentence the youth, Lawrence MVULA (19), is currently serving on Robben Island. He will now serve a sentence of seven years from the date of his original conviction for the first alleged offence on 5 May 1978. Lawrence Mvula was convicted with another youth, Kildas Bogwana (19) in the regional court in Hermanus of setting fire to the Fezeka High School on 22 September 1977, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on 12 May 1978. The Appeal Court at the end of April, 1979, dismissed their appeal against conviction and sentence, but ordered that three years of Mvula's sentence run concurrently with the earlier sentence. The earlier sentence was on 5 May 1978, for helping to set fire to a classroom at I.D. Mkize High School in Guguletu on 11 September 1977.
Two students, Simon MAMPURU (19) and John PETA (18), both of Atteridgeville had their convictions and sentences set aside in the Pretoria Supreme Court in April. They had been convicted of arson and sentenced to five years' imprisonment by a local magistrate on 14 August 1978. It was alleged that the two had burnt down an Atteridgeville school. In passing sentence in their trial, the magistrate had equated their charges of arson with terrorism and sabotage for the purposes of sentence.
Four men charged with taking part in the activities of banned organisations, including BPC, were found not guilty and discharged at the East London Regional Court at the beginning of May. The four, Mandla GXANYANA, Kaya MYOLI, Bonile TULUNA and Buyisile MAPISA, were acquitted on charges of contravening the Riotous Assemblies Act and the Internal Security Act. They were alleged to have taken part in the activities of the Black Peoples Convention (BPC), SASO or Asseca. They were alternatively charged with furthering the aims of these organisations through the Vukani Cultural Organisation, the African Cultural Art Association and the Steve Biko Memorial Service. Several people refused to give evidence for the state in the trial and were sentenced to six months' imprisonment; they were: Mzwandile Msoki and Mthunzi Ronald Ndima. Two other people were also arrested after giving evidence: Mpumelelo Cogwana was arrested on a charge of perjury and Rev Phillip Sizwe Diko of the Mdantsane Methodist Church was detained by security police immediately after giving evidence for the state. Another witness who refused to take the oath and testify was sentenced to two months' imprisonment - Mbulelo Ceko. He told the court he had made his statement to the police under duress and it contained untruths. He feared to commit perjury. Msoki earlier told the court his statement had been extracted by the police "through pressure and harassment". During the trial, a Lieutenant Venter, was questioned by the defence advocate about mistreatment of one of the accused while in detention in December. Buyisile Mapisa claimed police men had hit and kicked him and had stood on his shouldres. Lt Venter denied knowledge of this and said he had no recollection of taking Mr. Mapisa to Frere Hospital for treatment for his injuries.
Two alleged ANC guerillas are being charged with high treason as well as with three Terrorism Act counts and two Riotous Assemblies Act counts. The two men, Mandlenkosi Christopher HADEBE (27), and Mandla Jack MTHETWA (22), appeared initially on the same charges in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrates Court on 15 June. At this preliminary hearing, the men who were not represented by a lawyer, in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act were obliged to plead and they pleaded guilty to all counts. However, three days later when they appeared again, their lawyer made an application to the court for the men to have their pleas changed to not guilty. The lawyer said the men had not been given an adequate opportunity to understand the allegations against them which were first served on them just two hours before they were asked to plead. In granting the defence's application, the magistrate said he had taken into consideration the right of the accused to be represented from the time of arrest and the need to allow defence counsel to prepare the defence. Hadebe is alleged to have undergone military training in Angola and/or other countries, and Mthetwa in the Soviet Union both as members of the African National Congress. They are also alleged to have assisted in establishing caches of arms, ammunition and explosives in the Nduma and Nongoma districts, and to have "conspired and incited others to murder white people", in the Msinga district and elsewhere in the Republic. Hadebe told the court at the first hearing that he had received 18 months' training in Angola. He said to the magistrate: "I was fighting for freedom ... What I have done is what anyone fighting for freedom would have done". At the end of this hearing the men were led out of the court chained together by the ankles. At the second hearing, a postponement was granted to 26 June.
In May the trial of two young men, Linda Mario MOGALE (19) and Elias MABASO (22), both members of the Soweto Students' League, re-opened in the Krugersdorp Circuit Court. Since then a number of allegations of torture have been made by the accused, and other disquieting features of the trial have emerged. The youths face three charges of murder, three of attempted murder, three of malicious damage to property, three of arson and one of terrorism, arising out of petrol bomb attacks on houses during 1978. In February 1978 a Soweto woman and two children died in a fire allegedly started deliberately. However it was revealed in court that another man had already been charged with the deaths of the woman and her two daughters, and he had been acquitted. This emerged when the woman's husband, Mr. Johannes Nkosi headmaster, was being cross-examined by the defence. Linda Mogale told the court that he had been assaulted and tortured by the security police while in detention on many occasions. He said that attempts had been made to pull two of his teeth out with pliers, and that he had been hit, kicked and thrown to the ground. He said an attempt had been made to strangle him and that a sack was pulled over his head and water poured over him, and then he was given electric shocks. Mogale told the court that the SSL was a non-violent organisation that wanted the removal of Bantu Education. Under cross-examination he told the court that Bantu Education promoted the oppression of blacks. A tape recorded statement made by Mogale was played to the court, but Mogale claimed this had been rehearsed with the police beforehand. He said he had been forced to make a statement and the tape recording against his will. He said he had made a false statement to the magistrate because "I had two options - either making a false confession, which would shorten my period of detention and discontinue assaults, or tell the magistrate the truth and face intensified assaults and face indefinite detention". Linda Mogale's mother, Mrs. Joan Mogale, a teacher, broke down and wept in court when she described seeing her son's condition in detention. She told the court: 'I found my son in a bending position. The right side of his face was swollen and one tooth was broken. I thank God that though my son was in this condition he was still alive. The condition of his clothing gave me a great shock. His T-shirt had dark brown spots on it which I assumed could have been blood.' Mrs. Mogale said she was not allowed to speak to her son. She then went to the South African Council of Churches for help. An attorney, Ms. Debbie Dyson, told the court she had gone to investigate after Bishop Tutu, general secretary of the SACC, had telephoned her for legal advice. "When I saw Linda he looked very emaciated, not at all healthy, very dirty and had teeth missing", she said. The following day a witness in the trial claimed the police had beaten him with a sjambok (hidewhip) while interrogating him about whether he knew Linda Mogale. Earlier several state witnesses had given evidence in camera. A security police lieutenant was ordered by the court to submit notebooks and a diary he used when detaining Linda Mogale. He told the court that Mogale was arrested in connection with three murders. The defence counsel protested about the detention and asked why Mogale was not charged within 48 hours if he was arrested for murder.
