WORKERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS Continued industrial action throughout the country has resulted in large numbers of workers and trade unionists being arrested and brought to trial. Members of unregistered trade unions have been hardest hit in an attempt by the government to weaken their organisation and bring them under control.
- On 11 June, 36 SAAWU members and former Wilson-Rowntree workers, who were all fired after a strike last year, were arrested by armed Ciskeian police. They appeared in a Mdantsane court at the end of June and were charged under the Riotous Assemblies Act.
Another group of 21 members of SAAWU who were detained in March and held under Ciskei Emergency Proclamation R252, which provides for three months' detention without trial, appeared in a Mdantsane court in mid-June. They were all charged with public violence and released on R50 bail. They were to appear in court again on 13 July.
Danile TOKWE (41), a former Wilson-Rowntree worker, was charged in the East London Regional Court with threatening several workers with violence if they reported for duty. He was convicted on 11 June.
- Four former Toyota workers appeared in the Randburg Magistrates Court on 22 June as a sequel to a work stoppage at the factory in January.
The men are facing charges under a rarely-used section of the Riotous Assemblies Act. Lawyers believe it is the first time in decades this section, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, has been used against alleged strikers.
The defence claimed that the state had not provided full particulars of the charges despite the fact that the workers had appeared in court six times since January. The case was postponed until 5 October when it will be heard in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court.
EASTERN CAPE SCHOOL BOYCOTT In the last issue of FOCUS (OTHER TRIALS, p.5), were listed a large number of trials which had arisen out of the 1980 school boycotts in the Eastern Cape. Many of these trials have continued, having been postponed from earlier.
- A number of trials took place in the Mdantsane Regional Court in May. Two 17 year olds appeared on 5 May on a charge of possessing petrol bombs during last year's school disturbances. Both were released on bail of R50 and were to appear again on 5 August.
Mzimasi HAKA (18) could not be brought to court in Mdantsane on a charge of sabotage because he was being held under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act, which does not apply in the Ciskei. He is charged with three others in connection with an arson incident at a Mdantsane School last year. The three others were acquitted on 11 June.
Eleven pupils, aged between 13 and 19, appeared on charges of public violence arising out of the school boycotts last year. The hearing was postponed on 27 May until 16 June. The pupils were released on R50 bail.
- Two trials have taken place at the East London Regional Court as a result of incidents during the school boycotts last year.
33 Alice School pupils charged with public violence were discharged on 27 May. Five others still face charges of allegedly stoning to death the headmaster of the Imingcangathelo Junior Secondary School, Silverman Jara (35), in October last year. The trial was postponed to 6 July.
In the second trial nine Queenstown youths, six of them under 18 years of age, were charged under the General Law Amendment Act. They are alleged to have set fire to a school in Queenstown last year. They all pleaded not guilty to the main count, as well as to six alternate charges, which include, arson, robbery, malicious injury to property, and threatening violence. A bail application was heard on 18 May.
- In the East London Supreme Court on 27 May, two Queenstown men were sentenced to death for murdering a policeman last year. They were refused leave to appeal.
Five others were also found guilty of murder and were given prison sentences totaling 54 years.
ANTI-REPUBLIC DAY TRIALS A number of trials have begun across the country of persons charged with anti-republic day activities.
- ERNEST KGOANE, a second-year B. Comm. student at the University of the Witwatersrand appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on charges relating to the burning of the South African flag.
- On 3 June 57 pupils from Johannesburg Coloured townships were charged under the Riotous Assemblies Act and released on R30 bail each.
Their appearance is a sequel to a protest march they held in protest against the detention of Aziz Jardine, a student leader.
- Four University of Cape Town students appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates Court on 29 May on charges of theft after they allegedly tore down Republic Festival bunting. They were released on R20 bail each and the case was postponed to 26 June.
