The trial of Dudu BUTHELEZI and her eleven co-accused ended in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court in April with the conviction of nine defendants. Buthelezi was acquitted. The charges, under the Internal Security and the Arms and Ammunition Acts, concerned the operation of an ANC cell in Durban held responsible for a number of armed attacks.
On 27 April Ramlakan (29) was sentenced to 12 years for membership of the ANC, his role in recruiting and training personnel and ordering two limpet-mine attacks in 1985. Ndlanzi received a similar term for undergoing military training and acting as an ANC commander. Dhlomo (27) was sentenced to 10 years for ANC membership and for training and transporting combatants. Vusuzumi Wesley MAHLOBO (27), a factory worker, who had been trained by Dhlomo, was also sentenced to 10 years. Mapiki Aaron DLOMO (33), a former miner, and Ordway Qonda MSOMI (21), a school student, were given nine years. Bafo Bawana NGUQU (30), a former member of the Transkei Defence Force and the first of the defendants to be detained, in October 1985, was sentenced to 8 years, as was Malusi Israel MAJOLA (21). Jude FRANCIS (23) was sentenced to six years.
Antonio Arturo DU PREEZ and Derrick McBRIDE were convicted in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court on 13 May of murder, attempted murder and 'terrorism'. The most serious charges arose from the freeing of injured ANC combatant Gordon Webster from the Edendale hospital in May 1986, during which a man was killed. McBride's son Robert, who planned the escape, was charged in a separate trial. He was sentenced to death on 13 April for a bomb attack in which three people died.
Two brothers from the Ingwavuma area of the Kwazulu bantustan have been convicted of assisting the ANC's armed struggle. On 3 April they were each sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in the Northern District Supreme Court sitting in Estcourt. Khahla Daniel MKHWAMUBI (33) and Musk Gayinkami MKHWAMUBI (27) were both charged with attempted murder and 'terrorism' under the Internal Security Act.
Derek NAIDOO (26), a laboratory assistant, was sentenced to an effective prison term of two years in the Durban Regional Court on 15 April after being convicted on two counts under the Internal Security Act.
The trial of Alan Edward PEARCE (25) resumed in the Durban Regional Court on 22 April. Pearce was charged with arson, 'terrorism' and the possession of grenades and bombs as a result of his role in an arson attack on the Fairvale Secondary School, Wentworth, in September 1985 and the sabotage of water pipelines at Westville in June 1986. On 24 April, after changing his plea to guilty, Pearce was convicted and sentenced to an effective three years and nine months' imprisonment.
Major Andre Etienne PIENAAR (32), an officer serving in the South African Defence Force, was sentenced to an effective prison term of seven years on 15 May after being convicted under the Protection of Information Act.
The trial of Rev Makhenkhesi Arnold STOFILE and four others ended in the Bisho Supreme Court of the Ciskei bantustan on 25 May with the conviction of all but one accused. Alongside Stofile, secretary-general of the Border branch of the United Democratic Front, stood his brother, Linda Michael STOFILE (28), Mzwakhe Nelson NDLELA (32), Mveleli Gladwell GQIBITHOLE (28) and Nomvuyiso STOFILE (30). On 22 May Nomvuyiso Stofile was acquitted of the charges against her. Linda Stofile and Gqibithole were given effective sentences of eight years each for 'terrorism'. M A Stofile received eleven years on the main charge with a concurrent one-year sentence for possessing the pistol. Ndlela received the longest sentence – 15 years.
