Three young people from Atteridgeville township were detained on 7 May, apparently in connection with a student petition on behalf of Solomon Mahlangu earlier in the year.
They were Raymond 'Strike' MORWANE (24) freelance journalist and former president of the Atteridgeville STC, Ronnie MAMOEPA (19) and Oupa MASUKU (19) both students arrested during a pre-dawn swoop. All appear to have been held under the General Laws Amendment Act and released on 19 May. Mamoepa was re-arrested on 1 June, together with four other students and Post reporter Thami MKHWANAZI.
Mkhwanazi is secretary of the Pretoria branch of the Writers' Association of South Africa (WASA) a Black journalists' organisation, and has been twice detained in BophuthaTswana while on press assignments. Following his detention in Pretoria in June his office was searched by security police and he was later taken there in handcuffs while his police escort checked files.
On 31 July, Zwelakhe SISULU, NASA president and news editor of Sunday Post (and also son of ANC leader Walter Sisulu serving a life sentence on Robben Island) was called to Pretoria Magistrates' Court to answer questions about telephone calls between himself and Mkhwanazi. Under Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act a pre-trial investigation may be ordered by the court. After a postponement, Sisulu appeared on 6 August in a closed hearing and was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for refusing to answer a question put to him.
The questions concerned alleged conversations about youths leaving South Africa for military training and intended disruptions of the boxing match between John Tate and Kallie Knoetze which took place at Mmabatho (near Mafeking) in BophuthaTswana.
Sisulu was granted leave to appeal and allowed R200 bail. Mkhwanazi is still in detention.
