COMPLETED
GOWETA AND OTHERS
Four South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU) leaders were acquitted of treason on 23 June when the state withdrew charges against them. Thozamile Richard GQWETA, Sisa James NJIKELANA, Sam KIKINE and Duze Isaac NGCOBO were originally charged with twelve UDF leaders who were acquitted in December. Their trial resumed in February with attempts by the state to prove that SAAWU was in fact the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) 'in a different guise' and that SACTU was an organ of the banned ANC.
On 5 June, Justice Milne ruled video and audio tapes which formed the bulk of the state's evidence inadmissible. The case was then adjourned for the Attorney General's consideration and on 23 June the state withdrew charges, leading to the formal acquittal of the accused. (FOCUS 65 p.10; WM/CT 6.6.86; DD 6/13/24 6.86)
HENDRICKS AND OTHERS
Titus HENDRICKS (25), Allan Anthony PAULSE (20) and John Eugene KEARNS (24) appeared in the Paarl Regional Court on 23 April charged with 'terrorism' and furthering the aims of the ANC in October and November 1985. They were refused bail on the written instructions of the Attorney-General and were remanded in custody until 23 June. Hendricks and Kearns were first reported detained in December (FOCUS 63 p.5) but later reports said that Kearns, a final year student at the University of the Western Cape, was held on 25 November.
Hendricks was alleged to have visited an ANC representative in Botswana in October 1985 and discussed with him military training and the storing of weapons and ammunition. He allegedly refused the offer of training in Lusaka, returning instead to South Africa and recruiting Kearns for the ANC. The two men visited Botswana together and returned by car with the aim of storing arms and ammunition.
On 24 June Hendricks pleaded guilty to terrorism for engaging in ANC activities between 19 October and 25 November 1985. He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. Charges against Paulse and Kearns were dropped (CT DD 24 4.86; Cit 25 6.86)
MAMPURU AND OTHERS
Eight former members of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), detained when the organisation was banned, were freed in May after the case against them had collapsed. However, three others were sentenced to effective terms of 20 months imprisonment.
The 11, who faced charges of 'terrorism' (alternatively public violence), arson and malicious damage to property were Moses MAMPURU (24), Moses Vusi MAGAGULA (21), Solomon MOROAPE (18), Peter (Andries) MOKHAWANE (18), Alfred MASEMOLA (20), Daniel Samuel NKOSI (18), Abel Abraham NTULI (19), Elias Oupa TSHEHLA (19), Nokwana SKHOSANA (18), Siki Sydney MOKOENA and Vusi Elkin DLAMINI (18) All are from Witbank and were involved with the local youth congress They pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The most serious of these, covering the period June-September 1985, alleged that they popularised the ANC, its military wing and its leaders They also politicised, indoctrinated and conditioned' the black community to accept the Freedom Charter as the basis of the struggle for freedom. Other charges alleged they manufactured or obtained petrol bombs.
However, the state failed to prove the allegations and after only one state witness had given evidence there was a change of plea. Moroape, Mokhawane and Masemola admitted stoning buses in Ackerville, Witbank, in July 1985 and were convicted only of the lesser charge of malicious damage to property. They received sentences of 30 months' imprisonment with a third suspended. The remaining eight were acquitted of all charges and released from custody. (Star 22.5.86; S 22/26.5.86)
TALAKUMENI
Ntzelizewe Thomas TALAKUMENI was sentenced to an effective three years' imprisonment in the Cape Town Regional Court on 18 July, for accommodating and transporting guerillas and receiving instructions in the operation of a weapon. The guerillas, named as Joseph MAJOLI and Glenville PETERS, were allegedly connected with attacks on the Langa police station and homes of members of the House of Representatives in the segregated parliament, as well as community councillors. Talakumeni's brother, Titus SELEPE, who was called as a state witness was found to have testified unsatisfactorily and was refused immunity from prosecution. (FOCUS 64 p.10; BBC 21.7.86)
ZONDO - APPEAL
The Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein has turned down an appeal by Andrew Sibusiso ZONDO who was sentenced to death in April on five counts of murder. The deaths resulted from a limpet mine explosion at a shopping arcade in Amanzimtoti near Durban in December 1985. Zondo had appealed against the judge's ruling that there were no extenuating circumstances. (FOCUS 64 p.6; Cit 28.6.86)
CONTINUING
BALEKA AND OTHERS
The trial of Patrick BALEKA and 21 others on charges of treason, subversion, 'terrorism', furthering the aims of the ANC and murder, which began in January 1986, was adjourned from 29 June to 30 July. Most of the accused have been in custody since 1984 having been refused bail for the second time in March. The oldest defendant, Hlabeng Sam MATLOLE (61), missed a month of the trial when he was taken to hospital. Mohapi Lazarus MORE (26) also required surgery to remove a bullet from a wound he received on 4 September 1984. Press attention focused on More in June when he was allowed to marry in the courtroom. (For full list of defendants and charges see FOCUS 60 pp.4, 5; 64 p.6)
The defence took the opportunity, offered when a number of community councillors were called as witnesses by the state, to expose the corruption of the system. Evidence showed that the people of the Vaal had legitimate cause for protest in September 1984 when their rent was to be increased yet again. In the previous seven years there had been a 427 per cent increase, 214 per cent over the national average. Corruption was 'endemic' in the words of a former chair of the Lekoa Community Council, Josiah Knox Matjila, who was jailed for corruption in July 1985.
Piet Mokoena, a councillor from Seboken, stated that agitators were not necessary to make people aware of their grievances. Their main demand was for full political rights and representation in Parliament. He told of the distribution of lucrative liquor licences which followed the 1983 town council elections. 'Of the 12 facilities in Lekoa, nine were awarded to councillors, one to an ex-councillor, one to a partnership in which there was a councillor, and only one to a complete outsider to the council system.' The Lekoa Council treasurer told the Court that the Executive Council could not discuss the matter because there was no quorum after councillors with a personal interest had recused themselves.
Another councillor, John Hlophekhle Ngcina, was, according to the defence, elected with 32 votes out of a possible 5,470. Councillor Arthur Zulu Jokozela admitted that the rent increases were a material cause of the unrest. Furthermore only house and not business rentals were increased. (Star 12/13/14/ 29.3.86)
Evidence seeking to link Patrick 'Terror' LEKOTA with the manufacture of petrol bombs in Tumahole, Parys, was discredited when an unnamed state witness said she had been beaten and threatened with jail if she didn't implicate him. She was told to identify Lekota by his missing front tooth.
The charges have been widened to connect the accused with unrest all over the country, not just in the Vaal. Therefore evidence from both witnesses and video recordings has referred to events in Soweto, Huhudi, Alexandra, Leandra, Tumahole, Tsakane, Grahamstown, Cradock, Pietersburg and Cookhouse. (S21/29.5.86. 4.6.86; Star 27.5.86)
BUTHELEZI AND 9 OTHERS
One woman and nine men appeared in the Durban Magistrates' Court on 30 May to face charges in connection with the ANC's armed struggle. Most of the defendants had been in detention for almost six months before being formally arrested and charged. They were served with indictments before entering the courtroom but the case was postponed for the accused to take legal advice.
The ten include two doctors and a number of medical students from the University of Natal, including the secretary of the Medical Students Representative Council. They are Duduzile Charity BUTHELEZI (32), Dr Sibongiseni DHLOMO (26), Dr Vejay RAMLAKAN (28), Sibusiso Robert NDLANZI (29), Jude FRANCIS (21), Ordway Qonda MSOMI (20), Sipho Stanley BHILA (31), Phumeze George NXIWENI (20), Mapiki Aaron DLOMO (32) and Bafo Bawana NGUQU (30). (See FOCUS 63 p.5, 64 pp.4.5 for reports of some detentions)
The defendants face 20 charges under the Internal Security and Arms and Ammunition Acts. The state alleges that a Durban group of the ANC was formed 'to recruit and train members for the purposes of executing armed attacks; to support all anti-Government political activities, such as boycotts and strikes, by military means, and to commit acts of violence in retaliation against the raids by the SADF into neighbouring countries'. The indictment lists 13 attacks in which the accused were allegedly involved in the Durban area. All are alleged to have undergone military training, most within South Africa, and many were said to be personally involved in the placing of explosives Others ordered the carrying out of such attacks or acted as couriers for the ANC.
