On 27 July a Durban regional magistrate sentenced a Lamontville activist to an effective four years' imprisonment after convicting him under the Internal Security Act. Bhekokwakhe Hamilton CELE (36) was detained at Umgababa in August 1988 and charged in February 1989. The first magistrate to hear his case withdrew after four days following discussions with Cele's lawyer. He had attended a South African Defence Force briefing at police headquarters in late 1985 which consisted of an SADF video and a talk taking an anti-ANC/UDF line. Natal's Judge President then advised the magistrates present not to preside over political trials.
Cele, a member of the Masibonane Lamontville Youth Organisation, was alleged to have undergone military training in Angola and Zambia and to have returned to Durban to recruit and train ANC members. Evidence against him came from three unidentified state witnesses who claimed to be former ANC members who had known him in Angola. One, Witness C, whose gender was even kept secret, testified for a week in camera. Witness B said he was still being regularly interrogated by the police a year after he had made a statement. He was also due to give evidence in another trial.
The trial of ten residents from Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage ended in the Port Elizabeth Regional Court in April with the conviction of seven accused on charges of 'terrorism'. The ten were detained in June 1988 and were alleged to have plotted in the previous six years to bring about 'political, industrial, economic and social change' in South Africa. They were also charged with membership of the ANC and importing or being in possession of a variety of weaponry and ammunition.
At least two of the accused, Mzwandile Norman DIKANA (28) and Sigqibo Michael GONGO (30), were also charged under the now-repealed Terrorism Act with undergoing military training abroad between 1978 and 1982. Both were sentenced to an effective 10 years in prison. Gongo, a crippled businessman from Kwazakhele, appealed against sentence and may be on bail pending that hearing. Two other defendants also appealing are Michael JOJA (26) and Mthunzi Michael HLEBO (25), each sentenced to two years. Sipho Philemon DUBASE (35) and Eric Vusumzi MABUTO (25) received four years each while Sakhekile Ivan PETANI (28) was sentenced to a one-year term. Nontobeko Alice ZAZE (33), Nancy Miseka NGONO (47) and Nelson Tembekile SISHUTA (51) were all acquitted.
Willie Lancelot MADIKOTO (31) and Lukas Lesiba MAMAKGANYANE (23) were each sentenced to effective 18-month prison terms in May after a prolonged trial in the Tzaneen Regional Court. They were detained in August 1987 and first appeared in court in May 1988 after being flown from Pretoria by helicopter. The state alleged that Madikoto left South Africa in 1982, underwent military training and returned in 1987 with arms and ammunition. He allegedly recruited Mamakganyane who also subsequently went abroad for training.
Madikoto comes from Bloodriver Village near Pietersburg and Mamakganyane from Apel, Sekhukhuneland. They faced seven charges including 'terrorism' but were convicted only on the lesser charge of contravening the Internal Security Act.
A trial arising from alleged ANC guerrilla activities during 1986 in the Orange Free State township of Tumahole, Parys, ended in September 1988 with the imprisonment of three men and acquittal of two others. The proceedings, in the Welkom Regional Court, extended over 17 months and were poorly reported in the press. Details of the sentences were only publicised by the Human Rights Commission in their report of July 1989.
Raymond Ogang MAELE and Jack Themba NKABINDE were alleged to have undergone military training in Angola and the German Democratic Republic between 1979 and 1984 and to have operated in Tumahole between July 1985 and October 1986, aiming to influence people to 'undermine the state by violent means'. They were charged with possession of arms and ammunition. Three Tumahole residents, including Ratshabonyane Tom LETSOENYO, a member of the Civic Association, were charged with harbouring the guerrillas.
At the end of the trial Maele, who had admitted undergoing military training between 1980-1, was acquitted because his offence fell under the 1967 Terrorism Act rather than the 1982 Internal Security Act under which he had been charged. The magistrate ruled that the state had not proved he had also undergone training in 1984. Before he could leave the court Maele was detained under the emergency regulations. In August 1989 he was reported to have been transferred to preventive detention, under Section 28 of the Internal Security Act. Nkabinde was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Letsoenyo was acquitted but Pule Isaac MAKGOE (24) and Vušumuzi Philip KHIBA (28) were each sentenced to two years.
An alleged combatant, Abram MAGAGULA (31) from Evaton, was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment on 20 July after being convicted of 'terrorism', possession of hand grenades and ammunition and membership of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, by a Pietersburg court.
Magagula was detained at Nancefield near Messina in October 1987 on his return to the country after allegedly undergoing military training. One of those captured with Magagula gave evidence against him, saying he had become a state witness so as to gain his release. Another former PAC member who testified said that he was arrested near Louis Trichardt by South African Defence Force soldiers who shot dead his two companions. He was still being detained under Section 31 of the Internal Security Act at the time of the trial.
Three men who have been in custody since 1986 in connection with armed actions in the Eastern Transvaal appeared in the Nelspruit regional court in June and August. Two of them, Patrick Vos MAZIBUKO (29) and Jeffrey Nhlanhla MADONSELA (27), were previously convicted of 'terrorism' by the same court in December 1987 but had won an appeal in the Pretoria Supreme Court in May this year.
Mazibuko, of Nelspruit, and Patrick Barry PULE (37), of Soweto, were convicted on 30 June of belonging to and furthering the aims of the ANC. They were allegedly found in possession of explosives which they intended planting next to the Pick 'n' Pay complex and the SADF offices in Nelspruit. Mazibuko received a nine-year sentence and Pule one of eight years.
In the same trial Madonsela, of Kanamazane in the Kangwane bantustan, was acquitted of harbouring the other two accused. In August other charges against him, of murder and attempted murder, were withdrawn.
Molliat Mziwoxolo MFEKETHO (32), a teacher in the Ciskei bantustan, was convicted of 'terrorism' in the Cape Town Regional Court on 20 July and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment. Xolile JAXA (26) was sentenced to an effective nine months for possessing a tape recording of ANC president Oliver Tambo.
They were originally charged in 1988 with transporting Jabulani George NJAMELA, Sipho MANELI and Vusumzi NTLONI to Botswana earlier that year for ANC training. Charges of furthering the aims of the ANC were replaced by more serious ones of 'terrorism' and ANC membership in February this year. Jaxa was granted bail while Mfeketho remained in custody.
In July the men made certain admissions. While still pleading not guilty, Mfeketho admitted undergoing a week of 'mainly political training' in Angola in 1986. Jaxa pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing the ANC tape recording. Mfeketho's sister, Noma-India, was detained in September 1988 and remains in custody.
