In February four members of the Ministers Fraternal from Cape Town were acquitted on appeal to the Supreme Court on charges under the Publications Act relating to the production of pamphlets dealing with killing and arson by the riot police in Nyanga township over Christmas 1976.
The four were Rev. David RUSSELL, Rev. Monwabisi MATOLENGWE, Rev. Moses MOLETSANE and Rev. Dick O'RIORDAN, who were all acquitted on two charges; according to the Appeal Judge the pamphlets were not obviously harmful to the state or good order, being "moderate" in language and aimed at "reconciliation between the races". The pamphlets were banned on 4 February 1977.
Rev. Russell did not appeal against conviction on a further charge of possessing copies of the banned pamphlets but his sentence was altered from a fine of R150 and 90 days' jail (suspended) to a plain fine of R75.
Rev. Russell and Mrs Dorothy Cleminshaw, his secretary, also won their appeals on a charge of distributing the publication before its banning, the judge stating that it was not practical for persons to make daily enquiries in Pretoria to see if an 'undesirable publication' notice had been issued.
Dorothy CLEMINSHAW was later convicted of possessing banned publications (by Steve Biko and UCT students) and fined R100, which she refused to pay. She was taken into custody to start a one-month sentence on 28 March but released after friends paid the fine. She is to appeal against sentence.
