Lesia and Ditsebe A trial which attracted a heavy police and army presence ended in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on 30 January with the sentencing of Moeketsi Israel LESIA and Peter Parks Tebogo DITSEBE.
The two men had been in custody since February 1986 when they were detained between Gumtree and Clocolan in the Orange Free State. They were originally charged with membership of the ANC, undergoing military training and establishing arms caches. However, the first charge was dropped in December after they pleaded guilty to the following offences and were convicted accordingly. Lesia admitted burying an AK47 automatic rifle plus ammunition in the cemetery of one of Bloemfontein's black townships. Ditsebe said he had undergone military training in Angola, the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union. He also admitted establishing an arms cache near Ficksburg which contained three automatic weapons, 10 hand grenades and ammunition. Lesia was sentenced to three years and Ditsebe to 10 years.
Lugulwana and others Six people charged in connection with furthering the aims of the Pan-Africanist Congress have been acquitted in the Cape Town Regional Court. They were Bathemba Bethwell LUGULWANA, Mzwandile MCITEKA, Donald MXUTU, Simon MAYHOWELENE, Taelo NTLABA and an unnamed youth of 17 years. The seventh accused, Andile GUSHA (23) of Guguletu, was convicted and remanded for sentencing on 10 April.
The trial began in May 1986 and by July all the defendants except Gusha had been granted bail. The authorities opposed his application on the grounds that he had made a confession while in custody. His defence counsel challenged this statement, stating that he had made it under duress. The court heard how a group of detainees, including Gusha, Ntlaba and the youth, were brought by van from East London to Cape Town. En route police stopped the vehicle while going over the Bloukrantz Bridge and threatened to throw the youth into the river. Gusha said he had been assaulted and feared for his life while in detention.
On 27 March Gusha was convicted on two charges under the Internal Security Act – of ‘terrorism’ and furthering the aims of the PAC. A member of AZANYU in Bonteheuwel, he was arrested after attending the funeral of a PAC member at Lady Frere in the Transkei bantustan at which PAC leaflets were allegedly handed out. The state alleged that he had sought advice on how to leave the country for military training.
Mazibuko and others Six former COSAS members held in custody since June 1985 after a series of hand grenade blasts were sentenced to effective prison terms of 16 months (three years with 20 months suspended) in the Pretoria Supreme Court on 27 February. Joseph Titus MAZIBUKO (19), John MLANGENI (22), Samuel LEKATSA (20), Humphrey TSHABALALA (19), Johannes Veli MAZIBUKO (18) and Cedric DLADLA (19) were all maimed in the blasts. Hosea LENGOSANE (21) who suffered brain damage had the whole of his sentence suspended for three years.
The sentences came after the prosecution agreed to accept not guilty pleas on the more serious charge of 'terrorism' that the youths faced. All seven then pleaded guilty and were convicted of the illegal possession of one hand grenade each. In addition Lengosane and Dladla were convicted of the attempted murder of a policeman and his family; Lekatsa, Tshabalala and Johannes Mazibuko were convicted for attempting to maliciously damage the house of David Namane, and Joseph Mazibuko and Mlangeni were similarly convicted in connection with an attack on the house of Steven Namane.
The bulk of the evidence in the trial concerned the violence perpetrated in Duduza during 1985 by police and vigilante groups linked to them. The judge accepted this evidence in so far as he found that 'certain specified policemen' and vigilantes were responsible for attacks on political activists' homes. The defence named three policemen it said had been accused of complicity in the murder of the Thobela sisters, COSAS members whose house was petrol-bombed. One of them denied in his evidence that he had threatened Joseph Thobela, the girls' father, that 'this year won't end before I bomb you.' Steven and David Namane were both accused of involvement in the death of another activist, Alexander Pailane. Pailane's mother testified saying she was too scared to report his murder to the police.
The identity of the men who provided the youths with booby-trapped hand grenades which exploded prematurely was never determined in the trial. One state witness first said they were ANC members and then retracted and said they were policemen. In his judgement Justice Stafford said, 'whether the hand-grenades were supplied by amateurish sympathisers or antagonistic enemies of the accused, the seven took the law into their own hands by taking explosives to commit acts of retribution against their enemies.' He accordingly refused the defence's request for a wholly suspended sentence.
Justice Stafford told the defendants they might be able to sue for damages if they had not received the correct treatment for their injuries during their period in detention. They were given no artificial limbs and medical evidence indicated that dead nerve endings might prevent these being fitted at this late stage.
