The trial of Roland Mark HUNTER (25), Derek Andre HANEKOM (31) and Patricia Elizabeth HANEKOM (27) concluded in the Pretoria Supreme Court on 27 September. The convictions and sentences were announced on 24 and 27 September in written statements giving little detail. Hunter was sentenced to five years under the Defence Act for disclosing 'sensitive military information'; Derek and Patricia Hanekom were sentenced to totals of 24 months and 38 months respectively, both for contravening the Internal Security and Publications Acts.
Twelve year prison sentences were imposed on Norman MHLANZI (25) and Enoch Vusi NTHOMBENI (22) at the end of a trial in which, along with two others, they faced charges of high treason with alternative charges under the Internal Security and Terrorism Acts. The other two, Jabulani MAKHUBU (27) and Samuel MYENI (28), were sentenced to seven years, (of which five and a half years were suspended for five years) for furthering the aims of the ANC. The charges included undergoing military training, being members of the ANC, conspiring with the ANC, being in possession of arms, explosives and ammunition and participating in sabotage. The four were detained in December 1983, and first appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on 8 June. They were referred to the Rand Supreme Court for summary trial. They were not asked to plead until 24 September, when there was a short postponement pending negotiations between the defence and the state. The hearing of evidence and conviction on 26 September lasted only 45 minutes. Statements from all four men were submitted to court and were admitted by the accused who pleaded guilty to various charges. Mhlanzi and Nthombeni, who pleaded guilty to high treason, admitted responsibility for the sabotage of an electricity substation near Vereeniging on 15 December 1982, and admitted attempting to sabotage another. Myeni and Makhubu admitted transporting them on their sabotage missions. Mhlanzi and Nthombeni, according to their own statements and to evidence given in mitigation of sentence, left South Africa in 1977 for Swaziland. They were 17 and 15 years old respectively, and had participated in the uprising of 1976 in Soweto. They became members of the ANC and received military training. Returning to South Africa in 1982, they carried out acts of sabotage.
A mine employee from Roodepoort, Frank Sipho SHONGWE (24), was sentenced to three years imprisonment for attempting to join the ANC. An intercepted letter produced in court as evidence was used to convict him under the Internal Security Act. The letter was addressed to the ANC and in it Shongwe had asked to become a 'soldier' in one of the camps. In the letter the accused also requested a copy of a book by Nelson Mandela and asked if he could become a member of the ANC. Shongwe admitted that when he had written the letter he knew that the ANC was a banned organisation.
Harold Nkanyezi TWALA (25) was sentenced in the Johannesburg Regional Court on 3 October to two years imprisonment for taking part in the activities of a prohibited organisation, the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC). Twala, from Soweto, was sentenced to a further six months, to run concurrently, for leaving the country illegally and assisting others to do so. The trial arose out of an invitation by Twala to three men to go with him in May to Lesotho, in order to create an opportunity to have them recruited by the PAC. Twala, who was detained in June, first appeared in the Regional Court on 17 July, charged under the Internal Security Act and the Admission of Persons to the Republic Regulation Act. After two postponements of the trial, Twala pleaded guilty on 1 October to all charges. In sentencing him the magistrate said that he had taken into account the fact that Twala was a first offender and not a member of the PAC, but that the prison sentence would act as a deterrent to others.
Seven of 11 men appearing in the Grahamstown Supreme Court were convicted of treason at the end of November. The other four were found guilty of 'terrorism'. Two of the 11 were convicted of murder. Seven were convicted of attempted murder in connection with a bomb explosion. Counsel for the accused closed their case on 1 October without giving evidence, after an unsuccessful challenge to the admissibility of statements made by the accused while in detention. Those convicted of treason were Rufus NZO, Douglas TYUTYU, Sipho HINA, James NG-QONDELA, Lindile MBEKELANA, and William GUMENGE. The four convicted of 'terrorism' were Mzayifani KHAME, Mzimkhulu KHAME, Vukile TSHIWULA and Nceba FAKU. Judgment was due to continue on 3 December.
Five men appeared briefly in the Mdantsane Magistrate's Court on 14 September 1984, on charges of terrorism, subversion and belonging to prohibited organisations. All were members of the Committee of Ten which represented commuters during the boycott of buses of the Ciskei Transport Corporation (still in force in November 1984). The five were not asked to plead and the trial was postponed to 9 October. The accused are Mzwandile MAMPUNYE (former chairman of the Committee of Ten), Mlamli Newell FAKU, Mtutuzeli Norman SIBEWU, Fikile Phillip SLOTILE and Pumelele Shepherd DUMEZWENI. Dumezenwi was detained in early August 1984 and the others on 25 July, along with the secretary of the Committee, Priscilla MAXONGO. According to a press report, Maxongo has been hospitalised in a serious condition since her detention.
The trial of Thembinkosi MARRAND and five others, which began on 20 August, continued in the Durban Regional Court with little public information about the trial, held in camera since the day after it started. The other accused are Sibusiso MATEBULA, Pheleleni MSHENGU, Lucky MAPHUMULO, Federick MSOMI and Aleck CHIRWA. A seventh accused, Ephraim MTHETHWA, died at the Durban Central Prison on 25 August. The six were charged under the Internal Security Act, on various charges relating to inciting or aiding others to undergo military or other training under the auspices of the ANC. Mshengu was also charged with possessing a document indicating association with the ANC and a banned book. When the trial opened the state applied for the evidence of certain witnesses to be given in camera, alleging that it was likely that the witnesses might be intimidated or face reprisals. Counsel for the defence objected to the application on the grounds that there was nothing to show that the witnesses needed protection.
The case in which Goodman MTATI of Mdantsane was accused of furthering the aims of the ANC, resumed on 17 September in the East London Regional Court. The state alleged that he induced other people to sing freedom songs on a commuter train. A constable of the railway Security Police gave evidence that he and another railway policeman travelled on the train in plain clothes, aiming to arrest people promoting the aims of the ANC. He said that when they saw Mtati leading commuters in the singing of freedom songs, and delivering a speech, he was arrested. The case was postponed to 21 November.
A former law student of the University of the North, Regan Ntombi SHOPE (34), was charged under the Internal Security Act in the Tzaneen Regional Court on 12 November. She was accused of being a member of the ANC, furthering the aims of the ANC, possessing ANC literature and recruiting others as members of the ANC. The state alleged that she became an active supporter of the ANC and visited Botswana between 31 August and 2 September 1983, met officials of the ANC, and that between 8 and 12 November 1983 she received training in furthering the aims of the ANC. Shope was detained at the Botswana border at Zeerust on 18 March 1984 with ANC literature in her possession. She appeared in the Tzaneen Magistrate's Court on 3 September, after five months in detention.
