FORBES AND 13 OTHERS
Sentences of up to 15 years were handed down by the Cape Town Supreme Court to 14 Western Cape residents on 14 December 1988. Six of the defendants were convicted on charges of involvement in ANC guerrilla activities: Ashley FORBES (22) was sentenced to 15 years; Peter JACOBS (22) and Nicklo Louis PEDRO (20) were both jailed for 14 years; Anwar DRAMAT (19) was jailed for 12 years; Nazeem LOWE (23) and Clement BAADJIES (20) were given 10-year prison terms. Seven of the defendants were found guilty of providing assistance to guerrillas: David FORTUIN (23), Jeremy VEARY (25), Wayne MALGAS (22) and Ashraf KARRIEM (22) were given two-year terms, whilst Walter RHOODE (25), Colin CAIRNCROSS (23) and Colin PETERSEN (23) were given suspended sentences. The final defendant, Leon SCOTT (30), was convicted of promoting the aims of the ANC and given a suspended sentence.
MGQATSA AND TIYO
The East London Regional Court imprisoned Mgcineni MGQATSA (53) and Thozamile TIYO (24) for 10 years each on 16 November 1988. They were convicted under the Internal Security Act on charges of undergoing military training on behalf of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and possessing arms and explosives. They were arrested in the Bophuthatswana bantustan in February 1987 allegedly in possession of two Scorpion machine pistols, ammunition and explosives. They were then disarmed, stripped naked, blindfolded and put in a car boot.
PULE
Abraham PULE (46) was sentenced in the Johannesburg Regional Court to nine years imprisonment on 24 November 1988 after being found guilty under the Internal Security Act of bringing arms into the country and establishing an arms cache. The charges related to the period 21 April to 2 May 1987 and referred to only one trip by Pule. The state alleged that arms were found in a car Pule was driving. It was further alleged that he buried eight limpet mines in Naledi, Soweto. Pule denied all charges, explaining that he had gone to Botswana to see his sick father. Pule, described in one report as a Lutheran minister, was detained near Zeerust in May 1987. He told the court that he was taken to a spot near the Lutheran Church in Naledi by the police who then dug a hole and removed a plastic bag. He said that, for fear of assault, he followed police instructions to point at the spot while photographs were being taken.
RAMAHLO
Following a guilty plea an ANC member Mphetula Gibson RAMAHLO (42) was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in the Johannesburg Regional Court on 21 November 1988 after being convicted of 'terrorism'. He admitted leaving the country in 1978 and undergoing military training. He said he returned to South Africa in 1985 with AK-47 rifles and grenades. He was arrested in January 1988 but had not carried out any armed actions.
SEROKE AND OTHERS
Jaki SEROKE (28), Mandla Njabula CELE (24) and Thembinkosi Patrick KHONONGWE (24) were convicted of 'terrorism' and membership of a banned organisation in the Springs Regional Court on 9 December 1988. All three were detained in September 1987. The court found that the three were members of the PAC and that Cele and Khonongwe had undergone military training abroad. The magistrate judged that Seroke did propaganda work for the PAC within South Africa but that he had not undergone military training. Seroke, the editor-in-chief of Skotaville Publishers and a member of the African Writers' Association, has been detained on at least two other occasions, and has also served a nine-month sentence for possession of banned literature.
During the trial the defence lawyers unsuccessfully asked that statements made by the defendants to magistrates soon after their detention be ruled inadmissible because they had not been made freely. Seroke and Cele both said they were assaulted while Khonongwe testified that he was told that if he made a statement, he would not be prosecuted but made a state witness. This was confirmed in a letter to his lawyers informing them that their client was no longer detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act but was being held as a state witness in 'protective' custody under Section 31.
Three other people detained under Section 31 at the same time as the defendants appeared in court as state witnesses. Although expected to give evidence anonymously, two chose to be named. Maropodi MAPALAKANYE (34) said his genitals were pulled by police and that he was forced to sign a statement. Vincent MFUNDISI denied all knowledge of the events in question. A third unnamed man gave state evidence 'satisfactorily.' It was on the basis of his evidence and their own statements obtained under duress and deception that the three were convicted. Effective sentences of 10 years were handed down to all three defendants.
