The trial of three Soweto women on Terrorism Act charges closed on 29 June with two convictions and one acquittal in Johannesburg Regional Court.
Mrs Montshidisi Kate SEROKOLO (aged 28 and pregnant) of Mahwelereng, Potgeitersruso was convicted and jailed for five years. Mrs Elizabeth GUMEDE (aged 57 and aunt to Mrs Serokolo) of Soweto was also jailed for five years. But Mrs Martha Matshediso LEGOABE (aged 56 and mother of Mrs Serokolo) of Mamelodi was acquitted.
The state alleged that the women harboured and assisted guerillas by giving them food, money and accommodation in their houses in August and September 1978. Evidence was given by state witnesses, whose names the magistrate ordered not to be published, to the effect that several students, having received military training in China and Tanzania, returned to South Africa and were fed and accommodated by the women. Mrs Legoabe was acquitted on the grounds that she worked at night and was not aware that the students were "terrorists".
The long trial of two members of the Soweto Students' movement, Linda Mario MOGALE (19) and Elias Jimmy MABASO (22) which began last September ended on 10 August in Krugersdorp Special Supreme Court with the conviction of Mogale and the acquittal of Mabaso.
Mogale was sentenced to an effective term of seven years' imprisonment. Mabaso is already serving a five-year sentence for alleged sabotage.
The two men were accused of arson, terrorism and murder (later altered to culpable homicide) following the death of a Soweto woman and two children in a fire in February 1978. They pleaded not guilty.
Several witnesses gave evidence of being tortured while in detention. Sibusiso Tshabalala (18) testifying for the defence, told the court that he had been interrogated by a Sgt. Mathee at Meadowlands police station. A sack was put over his head, doused in water and his hands were tied behind his back, he said. He then felt electric shocks on his neck and as the pain became intolerable he agreed to make a statement. Tshabalala, who was in detention for twelve months, said his statement was mainly lies.
After the defence case closed Sgt. Mathee was called by the state to rebut this and other evidence. Earlier in the case Linda Mogale told the court that Mathee had tried to pull out two of his front teeth with a pair of pliers. Cross-examining, defence counsel questioned Sgt. Mathee's veracity by showing how he had falsified police occurrence records relating to Linda Mogale. In his judgement, the judge accepted that Mogale had been assaulted by the police and his teeth broken, but said that confession was not thereby invalidated as it had been made voluntarily 'out of remorse'. He convicted Mogale under the Terrorism Act because he was present when a letter from Khotso Seatlholo, Soweto student leader in exile, was read to the Soweto Students League. The letter allegedly urged the SSL to form the South African Youth Revolutionary Organisation (SAYRO) and employ violence. In his evidence Mogale said he and others had rejected this idea.
Mogale was also convicted on some arson charges (details not reported) and sentenced to a total of 24½ years' imprisonment, to run concurrently.
