In June Gushebetele Headman JIKIJELA (33) was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Durban Regional Court after conviction under the Internal Security Act.
Jikijela, originally from the Transkei bantustan, admitted leaving South Africa in 1978 and undergoing military training for the ANC in Angola. However, he said he had left the organisation by 1985. He returned to South Africa in 1986, living in the bantustan until he was arrested while seeking work in Durban in October 1987.
On 2 June Regina Tseleng MADUMISE (39) pleaded guilty to a charge of 'terrorism' in the Kroonstad Regional Court. She was convicted and sentenced to eight years, of which three were suspended.
Madumise was said to have received 'ANC training' in Angola between November 1986 and February 1987 and returned to South Africa with instructions to observe police and SADF offices at Parys, Kestell, Thaba Nchu and in the Owaqwa bantustan. She was detained on 7 October 1987 in Kroonstad. She was described as a former domestic worker who was once employed as a cleaner at the Parys provincial hospital. She has a deaf son.
Alan MATHONSI (25) was convicted of 'terrorism' in the Nelspruit Regional Court in June for his alleged part in explosions near Malelane in May and June 1987. Malelane, in the Eastern Transvaal, is on the southern border of the Kruger National Park.
Mathonsi faced five separate charges arising from: a landmine explosion on a farm on 5 May, four mini-limpet mine blasts in Malelane town centre on 23 June; and a similar blast at the reservoir attached to Malelane railway station on the same day. Newspapers reported at the time minimal damage, saying there were no injuries and only one shop had windows broken. However, at the trial it was alleged that two workers at the Kaalrug farming estate suffered 'burst eardrums and minor injuries' when their tractor detonated a landmine. The trailer was flung 40 metres away. Court reports of the town-centre explosions spoke of 'extensive damage' to buildings.
Mathonsi denied the charges and no details of the evidence against him were reported. The presiding magistrate discounted the possibility that Mathonsi, who had had little formal education, could have planned the actions alone, preferring to think he was one of a 'gang' whose other members had 'fled to Swaziland'. He nevertheless sentenced Mathonsi, who comes from the Kangwane bantustan, to nine years' imprisonment.
Two ANC members were each sentenced to effective prison terms of 20 years in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court on 3 June. Gayo Jabulani Walter NXUMALO (35) of Durban and Desmond Mzimkhulu MOTHA (25), a teacher from Madadeni, Newcastle, were convicted of participating in the ANC's armed struggle. They originally faced 16 counts of 'terrorism' and alternative charges of attempted murder; illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosives; possession of unlawful publications, and theft of a motor vehicle. Acting Justice Hugo sat with two assessors, indicating the seriousness of the case. The men first appeared in court in March - no details of the date or place of their arrest was reported.
Most of the offences occurred between March and May 1987: an explosion on the Newcastle-Volksrust railway in March, bomb blasts at the Game and Pick 'n' Pay shopping centres in Newcastle in April and two explosions at Newcastle Railway Station in May, the second of which slightly injured a policeman investigating the first. Both went off when the station was empty, after the last train for the day had left.
The most serious charges arose from a rifle attack on the home of a security policeman in November 1986 - both men were convicted of attempted murder for this. Nxumalo was convicted of the March bombings and Motha of the April attacks. No mention was made of the May attack in the report of the judgment. Although Nxumalo received 29 years and Motha 26, both will serve 20 years as some of the terms are to run concurrently.
A man from Soweto who was detained in September 1987 with the convicted ANC combatant Gordon Webster, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in the Johannesburg Regional Court on 24 June. Johannes Mohutrushe SETLHAPELA (39) was driving a car which was stopped at a roadblock in the Bophuthatswana bantustan on 17 September leading to the arrest of Webster, with 'another terrorist and two collaborators'.
Setlhapela's first reported court appearance was in March. He was charged with being a member and/or supporter of the ANC between 1982-7; transporting ANC members into the country; receiving political training from the organisation in 1984 and possessing limpet mines and grenades. He was alleged to have smuggled arms into the country and kept them in Doornkop cemetery from where he took them to Dobsonville in June 1987.
Setlhapela, a former Fort Hare University student, pleaded not guilty to the charges, only admitting that he had regularly visited Botswana between 1980 and 1987 'because he enjoyed discussing and reading political and history books'. He denied knowing the identity of Webster and his companion before agreeing to give them a lift.
Setlhapela told the court he was handed over by the bantustan police to two white members of the South African Police. They assaulted him by punching him and forcing him to do 100 press-ups. He was also threatened with a knife and eventually made a statement to a magistrate in Klerksdorp.
