The trials described below give an indication of the number of protest actions which take place against apartheid living, working and educational conditions.
One hundred and sixty nine residents of the Paarl township, Mbekweni, have been found guilty in two separate trials of failing to disperse on a police officer's orders. In the first trial, in the Paarl Magistrates Court on 28 November 1983, 95 were sentenced to a fine of R30 or 30 days. Two youths under 16 were sentenced to four strokes with a light cane. In a second trial on 20 January, 72 people were fined R30 or 20 days. The residents, who were part of a group of 171 arrested by police on 1 September 1983, were involved in a protest march against site and service charge increases.
On 15 November 1983 43 people appeared in the Durban Magistrates Court on a charge under the Internal Security Act of attending an unlawful gathering. A 44th person, Zac YACOOB, an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress and the United Democratic Front, failed to appear as he was attending another trial as an advocate. The forty four were arrested on 14 November 1983 for holding a placard demonstration outside the Durban City Hall while the Prime Minister was holding a meeting to discuss the new constitutional proposals as they affected the Indian people. The demonstrators included Mewa RAMGOBIN, the President of the Natal Indian Council, and other leading officials of the NIC. They were initially released on R200 bail but this was reduced to R50 when they appeared on 15 December. They were due to appear again on 26 January.
In two separate trials 40 United Democratic Front supporters appeared in court during December 1983 for allegedly holding illegal gatherings. Fourteen of the group appeared in the Wynberg Magistrates Court on 6 December and had their hearing postponed while it was being determined whether admission of guilt fines would be accepted. Twenty one of the other 26 appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates Court on 21 December 1983. No evidence was led and the hearing was postponed to 31 January. Bail was extended. Five who failed to appear had warrants for their arrest held over to 31 January. Both cases are a sequel to UDF motorcades in which the accused allegedly took part on 29 October 1983.
On 2 December 1983 nineteen workers were acquitted in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court of a charge of intimidation. They are all workers from the Kleenem Brush Works in Johannesburg who were arrested after 300 employees downed tools on 25 October 1983 over wage demands and recognition of their union.
Nine Grahamstown school pupils were sentenced on 13 January to fines of R100 or 100 days, suspended for four years, on a charge of attending an illegal gathering under the Internal Security Act. On a second charge under the same Act, three received sentences postponed for four years for malicious damage to property. The case was held in camera because all were minors. Some were as young as 14 years.
Five University of the North students appeared in the Pietersburg Regional Court on 16 January to face charges of arson, public violence and housebreaking. They are Ian PETJE (21), who is on bail of R200, Mangalani HLONGWANE (23), George KGOBE (23), Phulani MAHLABA (22) and Eric HLABAHLABA (25), who are out on warning. Their appearance is a sequel to the burning of the University of the North campus bookshop in May 1982 after the Abraham Tiro commemoration service held on campus. The damage to the bookshop was estimated at R472,000.
The trials reported here and those of Sister Ncube and Ntshiwa reported above show the extent to which the state is applying its censorship laws. The trial of Allister SPARKS, a journalist and foreign correspondent, was postponed to 25 April. He appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 29 November 1983, charged under the Internal Security and Police Acts in connection with articles he wrote for foreign newspapers. The Internal Security Act charge arises from an article he wrote for a Dutch and a British newspaper in which it is alleged he quoted a banned person. The Police Act charge related to an article published in a foreign publication in which he allegedly quoted an American congressional lobbyist who claimed that the South African security police maintained an assassination unit. Susan SPARKS, Allister Sparks' wife, and a freelance foreign correspondent, Bernard SIMON, have been charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice by interfering with a police raid on the Sparks' home. They were due to appear again on 12 March. The foreign press has followed the case closely because it raises important issues for foreign correspondents based in South Africa. If the prosecution succeeds it would mean that South Africa's censorship laws had been extended to the foreign press. Sparks is due to appear again on 25 April.
A student at the University of the Witwatersrand, Marcus MOSES (18), appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 5 January in connection with an allegation of possessing banned books. Moses was not asked to plead and was released on R400 bail. He was due to appear again on 22 February.
Doris SETHLOKE (25) appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 12 December and pleaded not guilty to possession of an undesirable piece of material on which the words 'Amandla, Power, Matla' were written. The colours of the material were green, black and gold, the colours used by the ANC. The trial was due to resume on 30 January for judgement.
A Johannesburg librarian was sentenced to a fine of R300 or six months imprisonment for possession of banned books. Harvey Wilson ROBERTS (29) was sentenced in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 13 December 1983. The sentence was also for illegal possession of ammunition and a rifle magazine. Roberts pleaded guilty to the charges.
Ingoapele MADINGOANE (34), a member of the African Writers' Association and a poet, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 4 January on charges of possessing banned literature. He was released on R750 bail and was due to appear again on 21 February.
A person who produced T-shirts protesting against the West Indies cricket tour of South Africa last year, was acquitted in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 12 December 1983 of producing and distributing undesirable literature. Caroline Marjorie CULLINAN (30) told the court that she did not regard the T-shirts as harmful to race relations and thought they were a legitimate protest against the tour. She had obtained the image which was printed on the shirts from a publication that had not been banned.
