Several political prisoners have been released, according to press reports, including:
- James Zamiwonga KATI (64) (see TRANSKEI CHALLENGE)
- Mbuyiselo Samuel HANS (29) was released from Robben Island on 20 July having completed a one-year sentence imposed under the Internal Security Act for failing to report the presence of a suspected guerrilla to the police.
- Gregory ARTHUR (22) was released from Pollsmoor Prison on 26 July on completion of an eighteen-month sentence. He was convicted on a charge of public violence following the stoning of a policeman in Cape Town in 1985.
- Thembeka JACOBS was released on 16 August having completed an eighteen-month sentence imposed by a Sterkstroom magistrate on charges of public violence and attempted murder. The Prisons Service insisted that Jacobs was 17 years old at the time of sentence, despite medical evidence confirming her statement that she was thirteen. Her mother, Eunice JACOBS was convicted for five years on charges arising out of the same incident. Their sentences were not reported at the time.
- An order restricting Alyon TSHITAHE to the Venda bantustan, served on him on his release from prison, was withdrawn by the Department of Home Affairs on 22 June.
