Four railway workers were sentenced to death in March for the killing of four men during a transport strike in 1987. The new death sentences came only days after clemency was granted to a youth sentenced to death in a trial arising out of political protest. He was saved from execution, for the second time, by last-minute legal action of a kind which has become more frequent with the development of the campaign to save the lives of those on Death Row.
Paul SETLABA, sentenced to death as a result of the killing of an alleged informer in Colesberg's Bongweni township, was granted clemency on 1 March by the Acting State President.
SARHWU members On 10 March four railway workers were sentenced to death for killing four non-strikers during the 1987 strike by employees of the South African Transport Services (SATS). All four were members of the South African Railway & Harbours Union (SARWHU) which led the strike.
The events which led to the death sentences occurred during a time of intense anger amongst railway workers, generated by the refusal of their employers to meet their demands and violent police action against strikers. A number of trials of SARWHU members arose out of incidents during this period. Evidence in mitigation was given by social psychologists after eight of the accused changed their plea to guilty of murder.
Six days before the killings the police shot dead three strikers at the Germiston office of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), shot another three on their way to investigate the first deaths, and stormed COSATU House in Johannesburg, injuring more workers. A few days later all the SATS workers were dismissed and many of them evicted from the hostels in which they lived. In the wake of these actions a large meeting of workers at COSATU House decided on 27 April that the only way to stop the strike being crushed was to kill workers who refused to join the strike. Five non-strikers who had been brought to COSATU House were taken to a nearby area and, except for one who escaped, were killed.
Eighteen of those who had been on strike appeared in court in February 1988 and were charged with abducting and murdering four men. Of the eight who pleaded guilty to murder, four were sentenced to death by Justice T Spoelstra in the Rand Supreme Court. They were: Wilson MATSHILI, 33; Patrick MOLEFE, 27, from Alberton; Takalani David MAMPHANGA, 25; and George MAUGEDZO, 36. Four others were found guilty of murder with extenuating circumstances and were sent to prison — the court found that although they associated themselves with the killings, they did not directly take part. Phineas NETHSITUNGULWANE, 25, was sentenced to 12 years; Bongisi SIBISI, 33 and Mfemana RIKHOTSO, 33, to eight years; and David DZEVHE to five years. The remaining eight men received suspended prison sentences after being convicted on charges which included assault, intimidation and abduction. They were ordered to pay varying sums in compensation to the dead men's dependants. Two of the men, Isaac MOGOROSI, 30, and Jacob MMATLOA, 33, were acquitted.
Oupa Alex SEHERI, 34, was sentenced to death on 3 February by Justice O'Donovan after being convicted of murdering two people with a Scorpion machine pistol. In another trial a man was imprisoned for harbouring ANC guerrillas, one of whom was alleged to be Seheri.
Eastern Cape trials Events in the Eastern Cape during 1985 featured in two trials which ended last year with death sentences, and in an earlier trial which ended in 1987.
Few details are available concerning the last trial. Abraham ZEYO, 23, was one of 34 people listed in a survey carried out by the Black Sash into death sentences in politically-related trials in the Eastern Cape. Zeyo was sentenced to death after he and four others were found guilty of murder and culpable homicide in connection with the death of a woman and two children who died in April 1985 when her house was set alight. An appeal was due to be heard in March.
Two youths were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in Port Alfred on 22 July last year after being convicted of the murder of an alleged police informer in October 1985. The man was killed with a burning tyre. Sipho GONYA and Phutumile DLABATHI, who were 18 years old when they first appeared in court in April 1986, were amongst 15 people from Duncan Village, including four juveniles, who were originally charged. Dlabathi subsequently spent eight months in emergency detention. Charges against nine of the accused were withdrawn in January 1987. Justice Grobbler also sentenced to death a third youth, Ringo FARLAND, who was not in court as he had absconded while on bail.
The death on 19 October 1985 of a teacher who was alleged to be an informer led to death sentences being passed three years later in Grahamstown Supreme Court on Mangena Jeffrey BOESMAN, 35, Msokili Alfred WILLIE, 20 and Mhlawubi William DESEMELE, 21. The local community had collected R4,000 to assist in the defence of the three and five other Sterkstroom residents — a 19-year-old girl and four children.
At the time a school boycott had been instituted in the African township of Sterkstroom, one of the areas in the Eastern Cape affected by the partial State of Emergency imposed in July 1985. On the day of the incident a group of vigilantes gathered in the township to attack leaders and supporters of the boycott. In response a crowd took up a suggestion to rid the township of vigilantes and informers. They went to the house of the teacher, who died shortly after being set alight with paraffin by the crowd.
In spite of evidence from a clinical psychologist concerning the effects on the accused of the highly charged atmosphere in the township, Justice Zietsman found the three guilty of murder without extenuating circumstances. A 19-year-old girl, Nombuzo NYAQELA, a 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were convicted of murder with extenuating circumstances. Nyaqela was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and the 16-year-old girl to 18 months. The boy's sentence was suspended. One of the defendants was discharged at the end of the State's case and another found not guilty.
