A very large number of pupils have been appearing in courts in the Eastern Cape in connection with the school boycott campaign. The scale of what has been happening can partly be seen from the numbers in the following trials involving over 1100 pupils arising out of incidents occuring during July, August and September.
- 126 students from Zwelethemba Trade School appeared in Zwepitsha Magistrate's Court on 9 July on charges of assault arising out of incidents on 6 July. 60 were found guilty and given 90 days, suspended for 6 years.
- 28 pupils aged 18 and 19 appeared in Zwepitsha Regional Court on 24 September, on charges arising out of the stoning of a house on 8 September. The case was remanded till 3 October.
- 262 pupils from Ngcelwane High School appeared in Mdantsane Magistrate's Court on charges of attending a public gathering on 11 September. They were charged under Section 13 of the Ciskei emergency regulations. The case was postponed till 22 October. A lawyer who was to have represented them, Mr. SIWISA, was detained by Ciskei police.
- 252 pupils between 12 and 20 years old from Themba Labantu High School appeared in Zwepitsha Magistrate's Court on 24 September charged with illegal gathering. They paid admission of guilt fines and the charges were withdrawn.
- 427 people, including 418 pupils from 5 schools in the district, appeared in Whittlesea Magistrate's Court on 15 September charged with violence. The case was postponed to 22 September and then to 3 November.
- Six pupils from Khulani High School appeared in Mdantsane Magistrate's Court on 3 September on charges of sabotage. They were Zukiswa MAPEYI (19), Malisa MBIDLANA (29) and four others aged between 15 and 17. Their appearance was in connection with the burning of books at their school on August 13. The case was postponed till 3 October.
- 41 pupils appeared in Adelaide Magistrate's Court on 20 August charged with public violence. Charges against 10 were withdrawn and the case against the rest was postponed till September. Their bail was withdrawn when they failed to comply with one of the conditions of the bail, namely that they go back to school and attend classes.
- 33 pupils appeared in Fort Beaufort Magistrate's Court on 27 August on charges of public violence arising out of incidents in the township during the previous weekend. The case was postponed till 1 October. 10 other pupils, between 14 and 17 years old, also appeared in camera on charges of public violence.
- 18 pupils at Siseko High School appeared in Middledrift Magistrate's Court on 28 August on charges of public violence, after the burning of school books and stoning of police.
- 9 pupils from 2 secondary schools appeared in Alice Magistrate's Court on 28 August charged with burning departmental books and arson. All were remanded in custody.
24 pupils are facing trial in the Pretoria Regional Court facing charges under the Riotous Assemblies Act. The case arises from an incident following the ceremony of the unveiling of the tombstone of Solomon Mahlangu on 27 April 1980, when 32 pupils and two journalists were arrested.
After several postponements, and the dropping of charges against the journalists, Willie BOKALA and Willie NKOSI, and against some of the pupils, the case resumed on 26 August. The pupils are accused of public violence or alternatively with attending an unlawful meeting.
On 1 October the case was again postponed.
Benjamin MODISE METSING (24), secretary of the Congress of South African students (COSAS) was given an 18 month sentence after pleading guilty to causing malicious damage to 20 examination papers. Six months were suspended for five years. Metsing who was appearing in the Orlando Magistrates Court has been granted leave to appeal against the sentence and has been released on bail.
Thozamile GQWETA, National Organiser of the South African Allied Workers Union, and one of the trade unionists detained in November 1980 in the East London area, was charged earlier in the year under the Riotous Assemblies Act in two court cases.
After a strike by workers on a government project in Mdantsane in April 1980, he was detained and subsequently charged with inciting workers. After a strike by workers at Raylite Batteries in East London in August he was arrested and charged with preventing people seeking work at the firm. He was released on bail on 28 August.
The strike at Raylite Batteries, and an earlier one at the East London Plastics factory, National Converter Industries, occurred when the management refused to recognise workers' committees elected under the auspices of SAAWU. 128 workers at National Converter Industries were charged under the Riotous Assemblies Act. Four Raylite workers - three members of the workers committee and a union shop steward - were charged with inciting workers to strike or to proceed with a strike, and were released on bail on 28 August. The four accused, all from Mdantsane, were Ndiphipe MAKATALA, Lancelot BOOI, Vuyisile PATO and David TANDANI.
15 young men appeared in Strand Magistrate's Court in October on charges of public violence arising out of a strike at Kromrivier Apple Cooperative near Grabouw on 25 April 1980. Earlier convictions in the Grabouw Magistrate's Court in April, based on a plea of guilty, were withdrawn after the men claimed that the police administered electric shocks to obtain statements from them.
Several of the accused pointed out a security policeman stationed at Stellenbosch as the alleged torturer. He denied that he had administered electric shocks.
One of the accused also told the court that the prosecutor had told them to plead guilty as this would "make things easier for me".
The hearing was postponed to 18 December.
After more than two months in detention Zubeida JAFFER, a journalist on the Cape Times, appeared in Cape Town Magistrates Court on 15 October on 19 charges of being in possession of banned documents. She was released on R500 bail and the case was postponed till 5 November and then postponed again till 19 November.
Judgment was reserved in the Supreme Court on 3 November on an appeal by a printer against conviction and sentence for publishing a pamphlet by a banned person, Robert SOBUKWE. Abdul SAYED was convicted on October 29, 1979 and sentenced to 9 months suspended for 4 years. He said he had not read the pamphlet and had not known that its contents were offensive.
The Editor-in-Chief of Die Transvaler, Dr. Willem de Klerk, paid a R75 admission of guilt fine on 8 October for contravening Section 11 (g) bis of the Internal Security Act. The fine was the sequel to articles published in the pro-apartheid Die Transvaler in June 1980, quoting the vice-chairman of the ANC, Thabo Mbeki.
The ANC has been banned in South Africa since 1960, and legal opinion was that Die Transvaler and/or its executives could have been charged under any of a number of laws. Section 11 (g) (bis) provides for a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. Dr de Klerk had been due to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on 15 October.
Six pupils, five from Guguletu and one from Nyanga, appeared in the Athlone Magistrates Court on 16 October 1980 on three charges of sabotage, allegedly committed on 19 September 1980. The accused are: Oupa LEHULERE (20), president of the Fezeka High School SRC; Kent MKHALIPI (20), SRC vice-president; Gladstone Mandla BUTI (20); Lonwabo HASHE (20) and two youths. A seventh pupil, Cynthia NDUNA (20), had her case postponed in absentia until 17 October.
The case was transferred to the Worcester Regional Court on 26 January 1981 and the accused ordered to remain in custody. Lehulere and Mkhalipi are both being held under Section Six of the Terrorism Act.
