At the UN Special Committee meeting in New York on 26 March 1980, IDAF General Secretary Mrs Phyllis Altman spoke of the continuing need for assistance for political prisoners. As well as commenting on the position of political prisoners in Zimbabwe on the eve of independence and on the situation in Namibia, Mrs Altman described the changing nature of political trials in South Africa:
"In the past, in those Terrorism Act trials which took place, the accused were charged with sabotage and with alleged plans to overthrow the state by violence, as in the Bethal trial of members of the Pan-Africanist Congress. Now, however, the more serious charges of sedition and treason have been introduced, based on the following: military encounters, returning to the country after military training, recruiting or being recruited for military training abroad."
In many of these trials there are also charges of conspiracy to overthrow the state. Eight trials of this nature are in progress at present, with six other trials alleging recruitment, and over 50 people are charged. The majority of the accused in these 14 trials are members of the ANC. The South African Minister of Police recently announced that there will soon be more trials involving 'active terrorists'. Linked to these trials are the terse announcements in the South African press and on the radio and television of the finding of arms caches, the bombing of police stations and the hold-up and taking of hostages in a bank in Pretoria. South Africa has changed from a police state to a garrison state. The nature of these trials and the charges indicate that the South African regime is becoming increasingly engaged in military confrontations with trained guerillas, as was the case in Zimbabwe. In that country, as the war escalated, charges of recruitment were regarded so seriously that many of those convicted were sentenced to death. This changed situation in South Africa makes the question of obtaining the status of 'prisoners of war' for South African political prisoners of the utmost significance. James Mange was sentenced to death in the first of these new treason trials...
We also have information on the increasing number of political trials in progress in the 'independent' Bantustans or those about to be granted 'independence'. There are six such trials in the Transkei, in terms of the Transkei Constitution Act and the Transkei Public Security Act, both of which are modelled on the South African Terrorism and Internal Security Acts. In BophuthaTswana there is a trial of five men in terms of the BophuthaTswana security laws, another trial in which the charge is illegal entry into the territory and another of public violence involving 31 workers after a strike. In Lebowa there is currently a trial of seven people on a charge of public violence while in the Ciskei there are trials in terms of the Ciskei Emergency laws. What is very significant in the majority of these trials is that many of the accused are well-known public figures who oppose the formation of and the policies of the 'independent' Bantustans.
It is the view of the IDAF that these trials open up a new chapter in political repression in South Africa and that they are clearly linked with the escalating war situation."
