MABESE AND OTHERS
A trial in the Ciskei bantustan court resulted in March in the imprisonment of three defendants in spite of contradictory state evidence and details of assault on both witnesses and accused.
Two of those charged, Mzwandile MAMPUNYE (36) and Mlamli Newell FAKU (41), were prominent community activists and former members of the Mdantsane Committee of 10, a body first set up in 1983 to organise a boycott of Ciskei Transport Corporation buses. Also charged were Xolile MABESE (29) and Xolani NGUDLE (22).
The state alleged that Matabese was a member of the ANC's armed wing MK and that Mampunye had arranged accommodation for him. All four were charged under Ciskei's National Security Act with 'terrorism', alternatively taking part in the activities of the ANC. Ngudle and Faku were charged with possession of a limpet mine and firearm, but no evidence was led against Faku and at the end of the defence's case he was acquitted.
In a 'trial within a trial' Matabese, Mampunye and Ngudle all gave evidence of torture and assault. The men were seen by neither a doctor nor a magistrate until long after the assaults and Mampunye graphically explained the difficulty detainees faced in that the only people to whom they could report their injuries might inform their assailants. The doctor, an expatriate working on contract at a local hospital, said he was 'not concerned about ... maltreatment' (of the detainees) but 'about his contract' which he hoped 'might be extended'. The presiding magistrate ruled Mampunye's statement inadmissible.
Police witnesses contradicted each other in details of their story and the defence accused two of them of fabricating evidence. The limpet-mine allegedly found when Ngudle was detained was said to have been destroyed rather than retained as evidence.
Two state witnesses also gave evidence of torture, namely Zamile CALATA (29) and Nomalizo Miriam SIYO. Another witness 'Miss X', allegedly a trained ANC combatant arrested in February 1986, said she was now working for the police 'because she wanted money.' She claimed Matabese was once a guard at an ANC armoury in Angola.
In spite of the weak case against the accused Matabese and Ngudle were both convicted of 'terrorism', plus membership of a banned organisation and possession of arms respectively. Mampunye was found guilty of harbouring a 'terrorist' and taking part in ANC activities. Matabese was given 12 years, Ngudle seven years and Mampunye two years.
TSHIKA AND OTHERS
Three combatants of Umkhoonto we Sizwe (MK) were convicted in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court in March for carrying out a number of attacks in Natal during 1985 and 1986. Thuso TSHIKA (24), Mtunzi Basil Thabane SITHOLE (25) and Thembinkosi Patrick NKOSI (20), originally appeared with Abraham Zwelinjani MATHE (33). After proceedings were adjourned in November 1987 press reports made no mention of Mathe, who had been charged with recruiting and harbouring guerrillas.
Tshika was charged with carrying out three actions with unnamed accomplices: simultaneous limpet mine blasts at a number of shops in Durban's West Street; an attack on a post office in Mobeni, Durban, which excluded African customers and, in response to the raid by the South African Defence Force on Lesotho in December 1985, a limpet mine attack on a van. Tshika and Nkosi together attacked Osizweni police station in October 1986, injuring a bantustan policeman. Nkosi also bombed Glencoe railway station in September 1986 and the Newcastle Magistrates' Court two months later. Sithole was found responsible for a bomb blast at the Game Shopping Centre in Newcastle in November 1986. No deaths resulted from any of the incidents.
Defence for the three argued their right to be treated as prisoners-of-war but this was rejected by Justice Broome, concurring with Justice Conradie's judgment in the trial last November of Mxolisi Petane. After conviction, evidence in mitigation was given by a psychiatrist who had interviewed the men. He described their politicisation through repression and how they turned to armed struggle as a last resort.
On 30 March Nkosi was sentenced to 16 years, Tshika to 15 years and Sithole to nine years.
WEBSTER
Gordon Webster (24) was sentenced to an effective 25 years' imprisonment on 2 May after being convicted on 14 counts including murder, attempted murder and 'terrorism' under the Internal Security Act. Justice CreCreath, sitting with two assessors in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court, found there were extenuating circumstances relating to the conviction on the murder charge, thus avoiding a mandatory death sentence.
The main charges arose from attacks on electricity sub-stations and transformers in early 1986, one of which killed a senior police colonel. Webster left South Africa in September 1984 while a student at Bechet Teacher Training College in Durban. He returned a year later, having undergone military training with the ANC. Webster was captured at the end of April 1986 with Bheki NGUBANE. Ngubane was shot dead by police and Webster severely injured. At this time Webster was seeking to infiltrate the police and had been accepted at the SAP Training College. After his capture, he was held under armed guard in hospital, from where he was rescued by Robert McBride and others who smuggled him out of the country. McBride was subsequently convicted of murder for a car bomb attack in Durban and sentenced to death. Webster gave evidence in London for submission at the trial.
In September 1987 Webster was detained at a roadblock in the Bophuthatswana bantustan, allegedly after crossing the border from Botswana.
ZULU AND OTHERS
Events in the Eastern Transvaal town of Witbank were recalled in a trial in the Bethal Regional Court which ended in April with the imprisonment of 12 youth and community activists and new charges pending against a further six.
The charges, ranging from 'terrorism' and subversion, both under the Internal Security Act, to public violence and attempted murder, arose from school and consumer boycotts between July 1985 and July 1986. Most of the defendants were members of the Witbank Youth Congress (WYCO), the Witbank Parents Education Co-ordinating Committee (WPCC) or the Unemployed People's Congress (UPCO). They were alleged to have challenged the authority of the SADF, the Department of Education and Training (DET), Regional Service Councils, the Kwaguga Town Council and the courts. They were said to have formed alternative structures, in particular 'street committees', headed by 'street captains', and disciplinary committees which held People's Courts. The attempted murder charges seemed to relate to assaults on people, allegedly as a result of people's court decisions. At the end of the prosecution's case, six men (unnamed in press reports) were discharged and remanded to face separate charges of murder.
The accused denied all the charges, stating that organisations such as WYCO and the WPCC were set up in response to turmoil in the community.
They were said to have conspired with organisations such as the UDF, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the Detainees Support Committee (Descom) and the Soweto Parents Crisis Committee and individuals including Rev. Smangaliso Mkhathshwa and Zwelakhe Sisulu. The first accused was Clement Dumsani ZULU (29), assistant personnel officer at Landau Mine and branch chair and regional treasurer of the NUM. He was sentenced to seven years. Another accused, Sam MKHABELA, was subsequently acquitted - a journalism student at Rhodes University, he was charged in 1987 with Mkhathshwa for unlawful possession of a firearm and banned publications. Charges against him in that case were withdrawn in November.
The state relied heavily on in camera evidence by alleged accomplices. However, at least six of these refused to testify and were sentenced to two years' imprisonment each.
At the conclusion of the trial 12 accused, including two youths of 14 years and 17 years respectively, were acquitted on all charges while twelve others were convicted of 'terrorism' and acquitted on the other counts. In addition to Zulu five others were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment: Jerry LENTSOANE (37), the president of UPCO; Abram SEBOPELA (24), its secretary; Vusi KHOZA (23), an UPCO member; Sipho SIBOZA (23), an executive member of WYCO, and Peter MNISI (26) a student at the University of the Witwatersrand. Four school students were sentenced: Lazarus CHIWAYO (20), a member of the WYCO executive, to four years; Stanley PHANLAMOHOLAKE (18), a WYCO member, to three years; David MALOMA (21) to four years, and Gloria TWALA (18). WYCO's assistant secretary, to one year. Bennet NKOSI (30) and Mpini Moses MOKOENA (22), the latter a member of UPCO were each sentenced to four years.
