Political trials continue to be held in Rhodesia both before the civilian courts and under the martial law regulations, in the latter case before special courts martial composed of serving members of the security forces. The petitions presented to the regime's president by Benchard Katumba and others (see pp.1, 3 & 4) contain disturbing accounts of the proceedings of special courts martial. That large numbers of people are being brought before these military courts is apparent both from IDAF's own sources of information and a statement issued by the regime's Ministry of Combined Operations on 2 October, revealing that:
an unnecessary burden has been placed on the facilities for the detention of martial law prisoners and detainees in the martial law areas. In order to remedy the situation it has become necessary to move a number of martial law prisoners and detainees to prisons situated outside martial law areas. To accommodate these moves all prisons in Zimbabwe Rhodesia are to be declared martial law areas. An announcement to this effect appears in today's Government Gazette. It is stressed that this will not affect the status of any other class of prisoner or detainee. (BBC 27.10.79)
Besides sheer weight of numbers there may be other reasons behind this announcement—for example, the possibility that prisons and concentration camps established for detainees in the martial law areas (see FOCUS 24 p.11) have been attacked by Patriotic Front guerillas (as have protected and consolidated villages). In June 1979 for example, Gwelutshena Police Camp in the Gwelo area, used as a detention centre, was reported to have been destroyed by guerilla action (Zimbabwe People's Voice 16.6.79)
