On 24 February Natvarlal BABENIA (56) from Durban completed a 16-year prison sentence on Robben Island. Convicted with 18 other ANC members from Natal in 1964 under the Sabotage Act, Babenia left Robben Island on 20 February and was escorted home by a prison official and medical orderly, owing to a heart condition. He arrived at the home of his daughter in Durban on 24 February.
Of those convicted with Babenia only Curnick Ndhlovu and Billy Nair remain in jail. Both were sentenced to 20 years' and are due for release in 1984. Another comrade Ibrahim Ismail was released and banned in 1979.
It has been confirmed that E.M. SIGWELA, sentenced to ten years' in 1969, was released in 1979.
