MASIBUKU AND MADONSELA
Patrick Vos MASIBUKU (27) and Nhlanhla Jeffrey MADONSELA (25) were convicted of 'terrorism' in the Nelspruit Regional Court in December for allegedly planting a landmine in furtherance of the ANC's armed struggle. The landmine exploded at Kanyamazane in the Kangwane bantustan on 29 July 1986, causing R20,000 worth of damage to a South African Defence Force Buffel armoured vehicle. One National Serviceman suffered a perforated eardrum when the vehicle detonated the mine.
During the trial a member of the Security Branch stated that the police did not keep a record of injuries sustained by detainees. In particular Sergeant John Walters admitted that he noted in the police occurrence book that Madonsela had no injuries although he knew this to be false. He was reported as saying that this occurred in the case of most detainees.
These admissions were made during a 'trial within a trial' to determine the admissibility of statements made by the accused. No details of the men's injuries were reported but Moroa Patrick Barry PULE, who appeared with Masibuku and Madonsela in a separate trial, was suing the Minister of Law and Order for injuries sustained during an assault at Nelspruit Police Station: a fractured finger and a broken tooth. That case, in which the three were charged with planning 'to perform violent acts of terrorism, sabotage and subversion against the inhabitants of Nelspruit and members of the Eastern Transvaal Commando', has not yet finished.
On 8 December Masibuku was jailed for eight years for planting the landmine at Kanyamazane. Madonsela, who was said to have provided Masibuku with accommodation, was sentenced to five years. After sentence the two men shouted ANC slogans to the packed court-room. (Star 23/24.6.87; S 24.6.87; NN 2.7.87; CP 6.9.87)
MOJOKO
Zamuxolo MOJOKO (30), who faced charges of 'terrorism' in 1987 in both bantustan and regular courts, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in December.
Mojoko first appeared in court in the Ciskei bantustan in August charged with being a member of the ANC and taking part in its activities. He had been in detention for five months and expected to be freed when the charges were dropped. However, as soon as he left the court he was handed over to the South African Police by the bantustan authorities. Mojoko next appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrates' Court on 21 October. He was charged with undergoing military training outside the country and furthering the aims of the ANC – alternatively either being a member of, or taking part in the activities of the ANC or furthering its aims. It was alleged he left South Africa in 1982, joined the ANC and received military and political training in Angola between then and 1985 under the auspices of the ANC and the South African Communist Party. He was alleged to have returned to the country at least once during 1987 aiming to obtain safe accommodation.
At the beginning of December Mojoko was convicted in the Kenton-on-Sea Regional Court and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. (NN 6.8.87; Evening Post 22.10.87; CP 6.12.87)
MOKGABUDI AND RABULI
After a trial held in conditions of utmost secrecy two members of the South African Police Security Branch were convicted in the Pretoria Regional Court in December of spying for the ANC. Matshwenyego Daniel MOKGABUDI (30) and Tshifhango Cedric RABULI (33), from Atteridgeville and Soshanguve respectively, first appeared in court over a year before, in November 1986, after being detained the previous July. (FOCUS 69 p.7)
The entire proceedings of the trial between June and December 1987 took place in camera with the public excluded. No press reports of the case appeared after the opening day, 16 June, until judgment was anticipated.
The two men faced ten charges under the Official Secrets Act, the Protection of Information Act (which replaced the Official Secrets Act in June 1982) and the Internal Security Act. The offences were allegedly committed between 1980 and July 1986. It was said that the men had access to 'Top Secret' documents and tapes at Security Branch headquarters in Pretoria. These related in particular to advance knowledge of ANC actions and police plans to thwart them. This information was copied and passed on to the ANC. It was said to include taped conversations in which secret sources of police information were named. A state witness in the trial, Brigadier Jacobus Buchner, alleged that their information had led to the assassination of several police informers. The accused were also charged with failing to pass on sensitive information about the ANC to their superiors. It was alleged that they were active members or supporters of the ANC, although the indictment also accused them of receiving payment from the ANC for their services.
Press reports described the spy network as follows – the men passed on information to one Piet Vincent Malaza, a member of the SAP based in Nelspruit. Malaza was said to have met Mokgabudi in 1980 and Rabuli in 1982 and to have recruited them both for the ANC. Malaza apparently fled South Africa in June 1986 and joined the ANC in exile. Before that he had regularly passed on the information he collected to Swaziland to 'M1', described as head of the ANC's intelligence there. M1 was the main prosecution witness in the case against the policemen. In July it was reported that a certain Glory Lephosa Sidebe (also known as Lucas Seme, Lephat Sidebe and 'Comrade September') would be used as a key state witness in forthcoming trials. He was said to have infiltrated the ANC in Swaziland. He was arrested by Swazi police in 1986 but released by a South African raid on a border police station.
Only one detail of the defence case emerged: that the men denied that 'confessions' made by them had been obtained fairly. In support of this, their lawyer was allowed to subpoena Nkopane MOKOENA, a Robben Island prisoner, to give evidence about his treatment in custody which was said to be similar to theirs. Mokoena was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for treason in 1982. (FOCUS 43 p.3, 44 p.7)
On 3 December Mokgabudi and Rabuli were both sentenced to prison terms of 14 years for contravening the Official Secrets Act, Protection of Information Act and Internal Security Act.
In January it was reported that the men had appealed against both conviction and sentence. However, in the meantime, Mokgabudi had been further charged with bribery or corruption and car theft. These cases were due to continue in February and April respectively. (S 17.6.87, 30.11.87; Star/S/IDN 4.12.87; DD 5.12.87; S 8/9/11.12.87; WM 24.12.87; Star/S 5.1.88; Star 6.1.88)
PASHE AND NZAMA
Two men from Chesterville near Durban, who fled South Africa in 1985 to escape the terror waged in the township by police and vigilantes known as the 'A-team', were convicted in Port Shepstone in December of undergoing military training in Angola. Stephen PASHE (28) and Christopher NZAMA (29) were detained on 30 March after allegedly using false identity documents to re-enter the country. They were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
Evidence in mitigation of sentence was given by Fatima Meer, Professor of Sociology at the University of Natal. She said the two men went abroad to study trade unionism: during the 18 months they were away they had spent only three months in military training.
Evidence against the men came from two unnamed witnesses whose evidence was heard in camera after the men's families were excluded from the court. Themba NXUMALO, an organiser of the Municipal Workers Union (MWUSA), had been held under Section 31 of the Internal Security Act to appear as a state witness but was released from detention at the beginning of the trial. Legal sources were quoted as saying he was freed 'when the State could not use him as a witness'. (CP 6.12.87; NN 17.12.87)
PETANE
An ANC combatant who claimed prisoner-of-war status was sentenced in December to 17 years' imprisonment after his plea was dismissed in the Cape Town Supreme Court. Mxolisi Edward PETANE (28) from the KTC squatter camp in Nyanga was detained in November 1986 and first appeared in court the following May. He subsequently faced three charges of 'terrorism' under the Internal Security Act and two charges of attempted murder.
Petane's lawyer argued that his client should be treated as a prisoner-of-war under the terms of the Geneva Protocol of 1977: the ANC's President Oliver Tambo had signed the Protocol on behalf of the organisation and he submitted that South Africa was bound by it even though the regime had not accepted the Protocol. He based his argument on the fact that the Protocol had become part of 'international customary law'. He used the example of numerous resolutions of the UN General Assembly and judgments of the International Court to illustrate that the international community regarded apartheid as a crime and accepted the use of force to eliminate it.
The Cape Province's Deputy Attorney-General argued in reply that South Africa was under no obligation to observe international law where this was in conflict with South African statutory law. In this case the Internal Security Act, which outlawed the ANC, overruled international law.
In his ruling on 3 November Justice Conradie dismissed the submission that the Protocol had become part of international customary law, stating that this was based on 'practice not preaching'. He particularly attacked Article 1(4) which refers to armed conflicts in which 'people are fighting against racist regimes', saying that this had been controversial from the beginning: Protocol I had been endorsed by only 66 states compared with the 165 who were signatories to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. This he described as too 'half-hearted' to establish the Protocol as part of international law. He rejected the defence's case that UN declarations were indicative of support: 'One must look at what states have done on the ground in the harsh climate of a tempestuous world and not at what their representatives have mouthed in the ideologically overheated atmosphere of the UN.' Furthermore Justice Conradie rejected the idea that what he called the 'strife' in South Africa had yet 'deteriorated into an armed conflict'.
Although Petane refused to plead, pleas of not guilty were entered on his behalf. The state alleged that Petane left South Africa in 1977, joined the ANC and underwent military training. After working for the South African Congress of Trade Unions he returned to South Africa in 1986 and made contact with an ANC combatant called Agrippa. He also allegedly recruited an unnamed Rastafarian and a woman called Jackie. 'Agrippa' was reported to be now assisting the police.
The first incident mentioned in the indictment occurred in June 1986 when a policeman attempting to search Petane's accommodation was shot. The other attempted murder charge arose from Petane's eventual arrest in KTC in November: he threw a hand-grenade at four policemen who were part of a large force raiding the camp. Petane stated that following his arrest he was taken to Guguletu and assaulted until he made a statement. He had been kept in solitary confinement since then leading to health problems such as headaches, loss of memory, inability to concentrate and insomnia.
The main part of the evidence concerned the placing of an explosive device in a car in a parking lot at the entrance to a shopping centre in Parow on 25 July 1986. Petane argued that the device, made out of a landmine and two gas cylinders, was part of a propaganda exercise to demonstrate the power of the ANC's armed wing.
According to him the device was constructed to ignite but not explode – and then only in order to attract attention to itself. He took a number of steps including leaving the car's windows open to ensure the car would be noticed and the device safely extinguished. Although the state alleged that the bomb was primed to explode and was dangerous, Petane's version was supported by press reports at the time – the device was made safe by three members of the public, including a schoolboy, and the police were not involved until the following day.
On 2 December Petane was convicted on all charges. Evidence in extenuation was heard from political scientist Tom Lodge and Rev Frank Chikane, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Chikane spoke of support from a large proportion of the international Christian community for the liberation movement's right to use force to end oppression in South Africa: 'Our crisis is that in terms of the law you can be stopped violently for acting non-violently... You need protection to argue and debate about non-violence.' Petane also read a prepared statement in which he told of his decision to leave the country after the regime's violence against children in 1976-7. On 10 December he was sentenced to an effective 17 year prison sentence: 12 years for 'terrorism' and two concurrent sentences of seven years for attempted murder, two years of which would run concurrently with the 12 years. (CT/CP/Star/DD 3.9.87 - 29.12.87)
