Since the end of 1982 no trials have been reported involving accused who have been engaged in armed actions against the regime. Most of the trials reported in this issue involve accused who are charged with offences relating to the activities of the African National Congress.

While there is no discernible pattern in the trials reported, the Financial Mail of 18 March reported that a number of trials involving people who have attempted to leave South Africa to join the ANC were expected to commence in the near future. One such trial is reported in this issue.

The trial of veteran trade unionist and community leader, Oscar Mpetha, and 17 others, continues into the third year. This trial has attracted world attention. Another trial which has received much attention is that of Cedric Mayson. In an uncommon occurrence in a political trial the judge had dismissed a statement made by the accused while in detention.

CONVICTIONS AND ACQUITTALS

RADEBE AND OTHERS

The trial of four members of the South African Youth Revolutionary Council (SAYRCO) ended in the Kempton Park Regional Court on 7 April. The nine-month trial came to an end when the four, Stanley RADEBE (27), Mthuthuzelani Ephraim MADALANE (24), Labana Ernest MOHAKALANE (23) and Innocentia Nkululeko MAZIBUKO (20), were acquitted. The four had been charged for various offences under the Terrorism Act.

The magistrate found that state witnesses had been forced to give false evidence by the security police. The witnesses had been assaulted and some of them held incommunicado for up to three weeks before being interrogated.

The magistrate also said that if dockets were not opened against a police informer who said he was made to lie in court by a security police major, and against the major who is alleged to have forced him to lie he would recommend prosecution to the Attorney-General.

LILIAN KEAGILE

Lilian KEAGILE (24), was jailed for an effective six years after she was found guilty in the Johannesburg Magistrates court on 18 March 1982 of contravening the Terrorism Act and the Internal Security Act.

Keagile, of Molapo, Soweto, who pleaded not guilty to the three charges against her, was found to have furthered the aims of the ANC by acting as a courier. The magistrate also found that she had sent plans of strategic targets to the ANC in Botswana. She was also found guilty of receiving training which would be of use to anyone attempting to endanger the maintenance of law and order.

During the trial evidence was given of how she was assaulted and molested in front of three young children by security police the day after her arrest.

REV. IVOR SHAPIRO

In FOCUS 42 p. 3, the trial of Rev. Ivor SHAPIRO was reported. No further details were reported in the press but it now appears that the charges under the Internal Security Act were withdrawn in September last year.

Rev. Shapiro, who is the editor of Seek, the newspaper of the Anglican Church in South Africa, was arrested in May 1982 after security police searched the offices of the newspaper.

LUSIZI AND NTIKINCA

Charges of Terrorism against a former Transkei government clerk, Nomthandazo LUSIZI (35), were withdrawn in the Umta Magistrates Court in February.

Lusizi appeared in January with another former Transkei clerk, Vumankosi NTIKINCA, on charges under the Transkei Public Security Act. The magistrate then ordered a separation of trials and Ntikinca will now appear in the Transkei Supreme Court.

Lusizi was charged under a section of the Act which prohibits the rendering of assistance to 'terrorists'.

NKOSENYE NDLOVU AND YOUTH

Judgement in the case of Nkosenye NDLOVU (23) and a 17 year old youth was due to be given on 10 December 1982. No details of the outcome of this trial have appeared in the press. An answer given in parliament on 24 February to a question about youths detained under the security laws, revealed that the youth in this case was acquitted of the charges of furthering the aims of communism and participation in the activities of an unlawful organisation.

CONTINUING TRIALS

OSCAR MPETHA AND 17 OTHERS

When the lengthy trial of Oscar MPETHA (73) and 17 others resumed in the Cape Town Supreme Court on 8 February, defence lawyers predicted that the trial would last another three to four months. The last of the defence evidence is still to be heard. After the evidence has been completed, there is likely to be a postponement before judgement.

The 18 were detained under Section 6 of the old Terrorism Act in August 1980 following the death of two motorists during unrest at Crossroads. They were charged in December 1980 and their trial commenced on 3 March 1981.

Mpetha's health has been so bad that he has been excused from court appearances for long periods during which the case went ahead without him, yet the state has refused to grant him bail.

CEDRIC MAYSON

The trial of a former Methodist minister, Cedric Radcliffe MAYSON (55), was postponed on 18 February to 18 April in the Pretoria Supreme Court. Mayson, who faces a charge of high treason, and one under the Internal Security Act, was granted R1,000 bail. The case was postponed until the State was able to find a key witness, the former student leader, Auret van Heerden.

In a rare legal outcome, the judge earlier ruled that a 29 page statement made by the accused while in detention was inadmissable. Although no reasons were given for the decision the finding appears to reject by implication some of the evidence of 13 policemen who denied Mayson's allegations of mistreatment while in detention.

Mayson told the court that he had been stripped naked, mocked about his faith and interrogated for several days and nights with his hands handcuffed behind his back and with only a blanket around his shoulders. One of the police witnesses claimed: 'If Cedric Mayson had swollen ankles it was not because he was forced to stand for two days, but because he chose to stand for reasons best known to himself'. Mayson stressed that he made the statement 'which contains exaggerations and untruths' to satisfy his interrogators and because he was motivated by fear.

SISTER BERNARD NCUBE

A Catholic nun appeared in the Krugersdorp Regional Court on 21 March charged with promoting the aims of the ANC.

Sister Bernard NCUBE (48) is also charged with being in possession of banned publications. She was not asked to plead and the case was postponed to 6 May, when the charges will be read. She is out on R300 bail.

NTSATHA AND PETER

A trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of confessions allegedly made by two accused, was postponed to 14 March in the Zwelitsha Regional Court on 28 January.

Nomakhephu Jane NTSATHA (25) and Mncekekeli Lawrence PETER (21) have pleaded not guilty to being members of the ANC, of recruiting for the ANC and being in possession of banned literature.

MAPEKULA, MAKONE AND NKOSI

The trial of three members of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) charged under the Internal Security Act for furthering the aims of the ANC, continues in the Springs Regional Court.

The accused, Vulindlela MAPEKULA (22), Andrew MAKONE (19) and Mzwandile NKOSI (21) are charged with furthering the aims of the ANC by forming an ANC cell, distributing ANC literature, receiving money from the ANC, and conveying information for the ANC.

Much of the trial has been taken up with two trials within the trial concerning the admissability of statements made by the accused to a magistrate. Both Makone and Mapekula allege that the statements were not made freely and voluntarily.

LAZARUS MOLEDI

A high-school teacher from Soweto, Lazarus Mohau MOLEDI (27), is alleged to have promoted the ideals of the ANC by possessing a tape recording containing a speech by the ANC president.

Judgement was reserved when he appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 6 March. It is further alleged that he possessed banned literature and had disseminated it under the direction of the ANC.

MOKABA, MAAKE AND NHLAPO

Three students at the University of the North, Peter MOKABA (23), Jerome MAAKE (23) and Portia NHLAPO appeared in the Petersburg Regional Court on 14 February to face charges under the Internal Security Act and the Terrorism Act. The trial was postponed to 11 March.

Mokaba has been charged with gathering information and sending it to the ANC. It is also alleged that he underwent military training and encouraged others to do the same. He was allegedly found in possession of ammunition.

Maake is also alleged to have joined the ANC, received military training outside the country, and recruited several people. Nhlapo is charged with being a courier for the other two.

Before the trial was postponed, two state witnesses denied the validity of statements they made in detention, claiming they were made under duress.

A third state witness, Benedicta MONAMA, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for refusing to testify against the accused.

NOMVALO, CEBISA AND XOLELISWE

The trial of three men, Simon Cyprian NOMVALO, David CEBISA and George XOLELISWE, began in the Ladybrand Magistrates Court in the second week of February.

The three are charged under Section 54 of the Internal Security Act with attempting to leave South Africa to join the ANC. They have pleaded not guilty.

APPEALS

LERUMO AND MAPHETO

Thabo LERUMO (19) and Akile MAPHETO have been found guilty of Terrorism and sentenced to three years imprisonment each.

They were arrested while leaving the country in October 1981 and were later charged with attempting to undergo military training and recruiting others to do the same.

Lerumo gave evidence in June 1982 in the inquest into the death in detention of Neil Aggett. He told how he had been chained around the neck and threatened with death.

Both have appealed against their sentences.

MAQUBELA, MAQHUTYANA AND GABA

Three members of the ANC who were found guilty of high treason in September last year, were refused leave to appeal in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court on 24 February.

Patrick Ntobeko MAQUBELA (32), Mboniswa MAQHUTYANA (29), and Seth Mpumulelo GABA (24) were found responsible for seven bomb blasts in Durban in 1981. They were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment each. The judge, in refusing the application, said there was nothing in the papers before him to convince him that another court would come to a different conclusion.

JAILED WITNESSES APPEAL

The Appeal Court has granted five men who refused to testify in a trial that involved charges of high treason and contravention of the Terrorism and 'Sabotage' Acts leave to appeal against their sentences.

The five are Litha JOLOBE (25), Bulelani NGCUKA (28), Mbulelo HONGO (26), Mpilo TAHO (28) and Luyanda MPAHLWA (23). They had been called to give evidence in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court in the trial of Maqubela, Maqhutyana and Gaba.

JOSEPH GUMBI

The appeal of Joseph Bheki GUMBI (23), convicted of taking part in 'terrorist activities' in December 1981, was turned down in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court on 29 October 1982.

Gumbi who was found to be a member of the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe, was found to have encouraged another person to undergo military training in 1980. Under the Terrorism Act he was given a mandatory five year prison sentence.

OTHER TRIALS

WORKERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS

  • The Intimidation Act is being used against more and more workers, according to the Federation of South African Trade Unions.

At the time it was passed – June 1982 – the new Act did not attract much attention as it seemed to contain the same provisions as the Riotous Assemblies Act which it partly replaced. The new Act, however, has given the police much greater freedom to act against workers and others, such as demonstrators and protesters.

An Intimidation Act case against six former workers at the Teltron electronics firm in Johannesburg was postponed until 3 March at the Johannesburg Magistrates Court. The charges followed a strike at the firm in December last year when 180 workers downed tools over the dismissal of a colleague. The six were released on R200 bail each.

Two members of the African Food and Canning Workers Union appeared in court in Queenstown on 14 March in connection with charges under the Intimidation Act.

Thandi MADIKANE and Charlie MABONA were remanded in custody for further investigation. They were arrested following a two-day strike at the Eastern Cape Agricultural Co-operative in March.

He was acquitted after the magistrate found the evidence of the state witness 'contradictory, conflicting and vague' while Khumalo's evidence was convincing.

YOUTHS AND STUDENTS

The trial started in May last year following a demonstration by students who were protesting against the presence of Lennox Sebe, the leader of the Ciskei bantustan, on the campus. The case was to be resumed on 11 April.

The court has been told how the police waded into the peaceful demonstrators with whips and how some of the demonstrators were put in the boots of police motor vehicles. Two students were injured in shooting by the police.

  • The Intimidation Act is also being used against students. Three students from Bloemfontein, Oliver MOHAPI, Jacob KHANGE and James MOTHUPI were found guilty of Intimidation by drafting and distributing pamphlets calling on people to stay away from work on 16 June, anniversary of the 1976 Student uprisings.

Mohapi was sentenced to five years imprisonment of which two years were suspended for four years. Mothupi and Khange were each sentenced to 18 months imprisonment or a fine of R1,000. They were granted leave to appeal and were released on bail; R5,000 for Mohapi and R1,000 each for Khange and Mothupi.

He appeared with Ninki MALEKA who had charges against her withdrawn. They were arrested in January at the Oshoek border post (Swaziland) and held after police allegedly found ANC documents and political letters in their car.

UNREPORTED TRIALS

FOCUS is occasionally unable to follow up certain political trials which it has begun to report because the South African press itself does not always follow all trials to their conclusion. Sometimes information about the outcome of such trials is only reported in the press at a much later date. FOCUS will attempt to provide this information even if it appears outdated.

Trials which take place in areas outside the main cities are also poorly reported or not at all. The following are three trials which were not reported in the daily press but in periodical publications which appeared later.

  • Siza Michael Christian HLONGWA was charged under the Terrorism Act with conspiring with the ANC, recruiting and for possession of arms and ammunition. He was sentenced to an effective nine years imprisonment in the Heidelberg Regional Court on 5 May 1982.
  • Elliot ZULU, Jacob THABETHA (30), Alfred MALEMELA (34) and Frans KEKANA (27) appeared in court during July 1982 on a number of charges under the Terrorism Act. They were alleged to have intended to sabotage a power station and training college in Kroonstad.
  • Bhabalazi Enoch BULUNGA (26) was charged with collecting information for the ANC and for distributing ANC literature. He was acquitted on these charges but convicted on an alternative charge of entering the country illegally, and sentenced to R30 or 30 days imprisonment.

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