A Botswana citizen, Kitso Michael DINGAKE (52), was repatriated on 5 May to Botswana after serving a 15-year prison sentence on Robben Island.
Dingake was kidnapped in 1965 in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) by Rhodesian Police while en route from Botswana (then Bechuana-land), where he lived, to Zambia. He was handed over to the South African police. He refused to enter a plea during his trial or take part in the court proceedings because of his illegal deportation to South Africa.
He was charged with one other in April 1966 under the Suppression of Communism Act for furthering the aims of the SACP and the ANC, for encouraging people to undergo military training and for procuring information for the SACP, the ANC and its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. After his conviction the South African authorities refused to accept to requests by the British Government to deport him to Botswana.
On his arrival in Botswana he was welcomed by the President, Dr Quett Masire. The President noted that the unfortunate circumstances of his abduction and his incarceration occurred at a time when Botswana was not yet an independent country. Representations for his release after Independence were not entertained by the South African Government.
Mkathali LOLIWE (58), a former member of the PAC was released from prison on 30 March after serving 16 years on Robben Island.
Lolibe was arrested in Duncan Village, near East London and sentenced for PAC activities in the Supreme Court in Grahamstown in 1965.
Two former members of the now-banned Soweto Students' Representative Council (SSRC) completed their two year sentences on 10.5.81. The two are Seth MAZIBUKO (21) and Sibongile MTHEMBU (24). They were among the four jailed in the marathon trial of 11 SSRC leaders in 1978-9. Mazibuko served his sentence on Robben Island while Mthembu served most of hers at a prison near Potchefstroom.
The "SSRC eleven" were charged with sedition and blamed for having spearheaded the 1976 uprisings in Soweto. Seven of the eleven were freed with suspended sentences on 11 May 1979.
