Developments related to the armed struggle were referred to in May in the first official speech of the new head of the bantustan, Frank Ravele: 'Our security forces', he said, 'are being stretched to the limit'.
Two alleged trained guerrillas were among six men who appeared in Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court in July. The trial, involving charges relating to the armed struggle, was expected to begin in the bantustan's Supreme Court in September. The six men were: Peter RAVHAN-DELANI, Mashudu MASINDI, Thsililo LUVHANI, Thinamano DAU, Charles TSHITANGANO and Tendamudzima Robert RATSHITANGA, who spent two years in prison before successfully appealing in 1986 against a conviction for allegedly harbouring ANC guerrillas. They were among 19 people whose detentions between May and December last year were linked by the press to predictions of a major political trial.
