In April, at the end of a lengthy trial which attracted widespread international attention, five leading members of the Alexandra Action Committee (AAC) were acquitted of sedition and subversion. Amongst them was Moses MAYEKISO, the general secretary of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA). Charges of treason were withdrawn after the state failed to find witnesses to testify to an alleged conspiracy on the part of the accused with the ANC, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party.
The trial, like that of eight members of the Alexandra Youth Congress acquitted of treason in October last year but convicted of sedition, arose out of mass resistance in Alexandra township during the first part of 1986. During this period the residents of Alexandra were mobilised in effective rent and consumer boycotts and organised in resistance to such an extent that the official administration did not control the township. An attempt by the authorities to regain control in April 1986 took the form of a campaign of violence known as 'The Six Day War' carried out by an organised group believed by residents to be linked to the police.
In both trials the accused were said to have conspired to render the township ungovernable and to have established their own organs of people's power to conduct the business of the official structures. But whereas the Youth Congress members were found to have 'defied the authority of the state' and thereby acted seditiously, Moses Mayekiso and his co-accused were freed. The others on trial were: Moses Mayekiso's brother Mzwanele Paul MAYEKISO (22), Paul TSHABALALA (38), Richard MDAKANE (29), and Obed BAPELA (28). They first appeared in court on 19 October 1987.
The prosecution had alleged that the conspiracy manifested itself through campaigns against the authorities, including rent and consumer boycotts, a campaign against police and town councillors, and the establishment of street committees, people's courts and a group of youths acting as an alternative police force.
The court, however, ruled that support by the AAC for rent boycotts was aimed at improving conditions in the township rather than challenging the authorities. The prosecution failed to prove that the accused or any organisation had been responsible for the establishment of street committees or other 'alternative structures', or that there had been a conspiracy with the ANC to render the township ungovernable.
The outcome contrasted with that in the case of Baleka and Others (the Delmas Treason Trial) in which four people, three of them UDF leaders, were imprisoned in December last year after being convicted of treason. In June they were granted leave to appeal against conviction, but refused bail pending their appeal.
The release of emergency detainees since March has been tempered by the fact that for most of them release has not been unconditional. Most have been served with restriction orders, while some were released only to be charged.
Although details of all trials are not known, in at least three cases, reported below, the charges appear to relate to participation in the armed struggle. Trials in which people released from emergency detention faced charges of possession of banned literature were reported in the last issue of FOCUS.
Mfanufikle Nicholas ZONDI (20), who was detained in May 1987, was released in March 1989 and immediately charged with three counts of murder and one under the Explosives Act. He was refused bail and his trial was scheduled to begin in July. Zondi's lawyer later accused the authorities of misusing emergency regulations.
In April, seven former emergency detainees appeared in the Vereeniging Magistrates' Court charged with 'terrorism' and membership of the ANC. They were two women, E N MADZIKANE (34) and K A MOGOTSI (44), and five men P J LITLHAKANYANE (19), L T SELEKOE (19), T J BATYI (23), E R MOTUBATSI (29), and S A TSOTETSI (35). The seven were remanded in custody to appear in the Potchefstroom Regional Court in July.
Eight unnamed former emergency detainees from Mpumalanga appeared in court in Pietermaritzburg in May on charges relating to the illegal possession of firearms. The trial was postponed.
Other former emergency detainees appearing in court include Cassel MATHALE, general secretary of the Northern Transvaal Youth Congress (NOTYCO) who came before a Ritavi magistrate in March charged with public violence. Mathale had spent over two years in detention prior to being charged. Thandi SHONGWE, who was detained in November 1988, was charged under the Internal Security Act in April. Details of the charges against her are not known.
In three recent trials in the Western Cape youths appeared in court on charges relating to attacks on police. In two cases defendants said they had been assaulted whilst in custody.
A teenager and two young men were sentenced in the Cape Town Regional Court to effective gaol terms of one year after being convicted of public violence. Johannes STRAUSS (19), Jacobus DIERGAARDT (23) and Godfrey KEKANA (25) were found to have been part of a group of about 60 people who stoned the house of a policeman in September 1988. The three were released on R500 bail, pending an appeal. Another defendant, Jacobus JANUARIE (20), whom the court heard was 'mildly mentally retarded' was given a suspended sentence. Robert KEKANA (29), Maxwell MOSS (28) and a 16-year-old youth were acquitted. However, Moss, chair of the Saldanha Youth Congress who was released in September 1988 after spending almost a year in emergency detention, was reported to have been convicted on another public violence charge and sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Parow magistrate in February.
In a trial which began in March a mentally handicapped Bonteheuwel youth aged 17 was charged with 10 counts of public violence. It was alleged that the boy was a member of the 'Bonteheuwel Military Wing' and had set fire to three policemen's houses, a post office and six vehicles during 1986 and 1987 when he was 14.
The defence said the accused had been assaulted by police and interrogated for eight consecutive days after his arrest before making a statement to a magistrate. The court decided that the youth had been unduly influenced and rejected the statement. However, an application for the youth's acquittal was turned down. No details of the rest of the trial are known.
Another Bonteheuwel youth was convicted in the Cape Town Regional Court in May on two charges of public violence. John DE VOS (19) was found guilty of setting fire to a policeman's house and burning a truck in August 1987. De Vos testified that he was forced to point out certain places to the police after he had been blindfolded, handcuffed, suspended and given electric shocks. The court did not accept his testimony and ruled that his pointing out of the places was admissible as evidence. The hearing was adjourned for sentencing.
