Seven Cape Town pupils have been acquitted of charges of sabotage in the Worcester Regional Court.
President of the Fezeka High School SRC, Oupa Pule LEHULERE (20) and Lonwabo HASE (20) were acquitted on 2 February for lack of evidence.
Cynthia NDUNA (20), Kent MKALIPI (20) Gladstone BUTI (20) and two youths aged 15 and 17 were acquitted on 11 February. The Court found that the State had failed to prove guilt. The evidence had been contradictory and some of the witnesses could not confirm their allegations. The State case was also weakened by the refusal of two witnesses to testify against their friends. Both were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
The trial lasted two and a half weeks and was marked by several incidents. On 26 January police with dogs and wielding batons chased a crowd of 200 people who marched outside the court waving clenched fists and singing freedom songs. After the acquittals a cheering crowd was again baton charged by police. Shortly after the trial Kent Mkalipi and Oupa Lehulere were detained.
Arthur Elliot PHALATSE (22), Thabo Simon NDLOVU (19), Jannitjie Malaya CHILOANE (24), William Ntwape MAMPURU (18), Tshepo Albert MOTLANA (23), Ezekiel Oupa MASUKU (24) and Matome Joseph MASUKU (24), were all acquitted on 24 February in the Pretoria Regional Court on four counts of contravening the Terrorism Act.
All had pleaded not guilty to State allegations that they had enticed, encouraged and instigated others to undergo military training outside South Africa and that they themselves had attempted to leave the country to receive military training by leaving their homes and travelling to the Swaziland border.
Ezekiel Masuku was also charged with 'recruiting' the others to join Umkonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC.
In their denial the seven said that at the time of their arrest they had intended going to Potgietershoek, which is near the Swaziland border, to attend a funeral and to open a new branch of the Funeral Brigade, a youth organisation which assisted adults with funeral arrangements.
In his judgement the magistrate said that the State had relied on the evidence of a single 'accomplice' witness whose evidence could not be corroborated.
Joseph MAVI, president of the Black Municipal Workers' Union, and the two BMWU officials who led the strike in July last year of 10,000 Johannesburg municipal workers, Phillip DLAMINI and Gatsby MAZWI, were acquitted on 4 March of charges of inciting an illegal strike.
The three were first charged under the Sabotage Act but these charges were withdrawn in November last year, reducing the seriousness of the original charge. Later they were charged under the Riotous Assemblies Act and the Black Labour Relations Regulation Act.
The Court found that the work stoppage by the municipal workers did not constitute a strike because the Johannesburg City Council had breached its contract of employment by failing to pay wages.
All 24 of the students and five others who appeared with them in the Pretorial Regional Court were acquitted on 23 January of taking part in an illegal procession.
The 24 students and seven others, including two Johannesburg journalists, Willie BOKALA and Willie NKOSI were charged with taking part in an illegal procession during the unveiling of the tombstone of executed ANC guerilla Solomon Mahlangu in April last year. Warrants of arrest were put out for two men who failed to appear in court during the trial.
The magistrate described the evidence by the state witnesses, all policemen, as contradictory and some of it as "unlikely".
Zubeida JAFFER (23), the Cape Times reporter who was detained for nearly two months last year, was acquitted on 20 February of charges under the Publications Act.
She first appeared in court on 15 October last year on 19 charges of being in possession of banned documents, and was released from detention on R500 bail. She appeared again on 19 November 1980 but the trial was postponed to 20 February 1981. The State was unable to prove that she knew she possessed three banned books, nor could it prove that she knew they were banned.
On her acquittal she was subpoenaed by the State to appear as a witness in the trial of Guy Berger and Devan Pillay.
