Political execution
Just one week after assuming the presidency of South Africa, FW de Klerk authorised the execution of a political opponent. Mangena Jeffrey BOESMAN (37), from Sterkstroom in the Eastern Cape, was hanged on 29 September for his alleged part in the killing of a suspected police informer in October 1985.
Boesman was sentenced to death less than a year earlier on 21 October 1988, along with Msokoli Alfred WILLIE (20) and Mhlawuli William DESEMELE (21). The sentences on Willie and Desemele were commuted to 25-year prison terms on 22 September 1989, while Boesman was given notice of execution.
The incident which gave rise to Boesman's trial came after months of protest by the Sterkstroom community against their living conditions. Attempts to discuss their grievances with the township authorities were frustrated when a proposed meeting was banned and police activity led to the death of at least one resident. Nevertheless school and consumer boycotts continued.
The situation was exacerbated in October by the activities of a group of vigilantes. Their threatening presence in the township led to confrontations and eventually a mass decision to rid the township of informers. In this heightened atmosphere Melina Fass, a teacher who had assisted pupils to break the school boycott, was attacked and killed by a large crowd. The presiding judge rejected evidence of diminished responsibility on account of the size and nature of the crowd, as did the State President in rejecting Boesman's petition for clemency.
Protests against the execution came from national and international organisations including the World Council of Churches and the United Nations. Many drew attention to the contradiction between the regime's posture of reform and the brutality of Boesman's execution.
Appeals
South Africa's legal system does not provide an automatic right of appeal in capital cases — this is at the discretion of the trial judge and ultimately the Chief Justice. Boesman was amongst the large number of Death Row prisoners who have been refused leave to appeal. Many legal organisations in South Africa feel that while the death penalty remains, all condemned persons should have the benefit of an appeal hearing.
Xolani Moses STUURMAN had his conviction and sentence overturned in May 1989. Stuurman, from Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, was alleged to have killed a suspected informer in December 1985. His co-accused, Vuyani Petrus JACOBS and Gilindoda Norman GXEKWA, remain on Death Row.
Menzi THAFENI, also from the Eastern Cape, was released from prison on 3 November after a successful appeal. Thafeni, who was a 19-year-old school student at the time of his arrest, was convicted in September 1986 with Nico Ledube MNYAMANA. Mnyamana was also acquitted but remains in custody serving a seven-year prison term arising out of a different case.
Failed appeals
At least three political prisoners sentenced to death have had their appeals turned down and are now relying only on a petition for clemency to the State President and international campaigning to save their lives. They are Abraham ZEYO from Kirkwood and Rodney MOLOI and Stanford LEBEPE from Tembisa.
Moloi and Lebepe were convicted in March 1988 of killing a railway policeman (not a suspected informer as reported in Focus 77 p.3). Their conviction was on the basis of common purpose. The court did not find that they carried out the killing, although they were alleged to have assaulted the deceased who was killed by a crowd of assailants. The policeman concerned was believed to have shot Stanford Lebepe and killed his brother, Jacob, the previous evening. The presiding judge recognised the killing of his brother as an extenuating circumstance in Lebepe's case but then used his discretion to sentence him to death notwithstanding.
Moloi has maintained his innocence of the killing throughout the trial, appeal and petition, which was submitted in September. He was out on bail for almost two years before his conviction and made no attempt to abscond, trusting he could convince the court of his innocence. On the day of the killing he attended a birthday party.
Reprieves
Three other political prisoners have been reprieved by the State President: Vuyisile GONI will serve 10 years and Johannes MOSEKI and George SKOSANA will each serve 20 years.
Bantustan death sentences
While Pretoria's Death Row is the main focus of public campaigning against the death penalty in South Africa, there are also gallows in the bantustans of Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei and Venda. In October, following a mass demonstration in support of two ANC combatants facing execution in the Transkei, and representations by religious and legal groups, the authorities there announced a moratorium on all executions. A committee, to be appointed by the bantustan's 'Justice Minister', would canvass views on the death penalty for the executive council of the military administration to review.
Meanwhile, in the Bophuthatswana bantustan, it was reported in August that 35 people were awaiting execution at the maximum security prison near Mafikeng, one of whom was subsequently executed in November. The exact number of political prisoners amongst the surviving 34 is not known, but at least six of them have been identified in a petition circulated by the Save the PATRIOTS Campaign Committee. They include Daisy MODISE and her two co-accused, previously reported as Thomas Chauke and Johannes Tshabalala, but now named as Thomas MAKHUBELA and Johannes CHAUKE. Also named were Edarial MAKHUBELA, Johannes MOABELO and Stout KHOZA, all from Danhouse village in Hammanskraal. No further details are known.
OTHER TRIALS
cont. from p.9
ris SEPTEMBER (22) and Toto Headman CILANA (21) each received sentences of 18 years for the alleged killing of a shebeen owner. The circumstances were unclear but the HRC listed the case as a political trial. Leave to appeal was granted, the basis of which was identification by a single witness.
In September, Nosi NKONA (22) was convicted in the Port Elizabeth Supreme Court on two counts of murder and attempted murder. He was alleged to have presided over a 'people's court' following the killing of a young girl in May 1986. The evidence of a psychologist, who said that Nkona was 'slightly retarded', was accepted in extenuation and he was imprisoned for 15 years. A second accused, Michael Teyi NDAMASE (26), convicted of assault, was fined and given a suspended sentence.
Defiance Campaign
A total of 2,317 people were arrested between 1 August and 6 September 1989 as a result of anti-apartheid protest, according to the HRC. Of these, 2,088 were said to have been arrested following election protests and participation in the mass defiance campaign.
However, charges against more than 1,000 protesters in the Western Cape were withdrawn in October. This covered all those who allegedly took part in illegal gatherings on or between 24 August and 5 September and who were to appear in the Cape Town Magistrates' Court. No reasons were given for the withdrawal. Amongst those affected were 170 women charged under the Gatherings and Demonstrations Act and 97 academics who had staged a placard protest.
