Profiles of freed leaders

After 25 years of mounting pressure for their release, both internationally and within South Africa, five leaders of the ANC sentenced to life imprisonment with Nelson Mandela were released on 15 October. Ahmed KATHRADA (60), Raymond MLABA (69), Andrew MLANGENI (63), Elias MOTSOALEDI (65), and Walter SISULU (77) began life sentences on 12 June 1964 after the eight month 'Rivonia Trial'. Two other life prisoners, Wilton MKWAYI, an ANC leader, and Jafta MASEMOLA of the PAC, were also freed as was the veteran trade unionist Oscar MPETHA, who was serving a five year term. Their release was unconditional.

The five Rivonia Trialists were convicted on charges arising from the sabotage campaign carried out by the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, as members of the High Command. Following the release of Dennis Goldberg in 1985 and Govan Mbeki in 1987, only Mandela remains in gaol. However, there are still at least 15 political prisoners serving life sentences, four of whom were sentenced as recently as 1987.

Wilton Mkwayi (65) was active within the ANC during the same period as the other five and after they were arrested in July 1963, he played a key role in the underground activities they had begun. He was captured in August 1964 and sentenced to life imprisonment on 18 December 1964 on charges of sabotage.

As part of the ANC leadership from the early 1940s to the time of their arrest, the six were consistently in the forefront of ANC campaigns. They rose to national prominence through work at regional level: Mhlaba and Mkwayi at first in Port Elizabeth, Motsoaledi originally in Sekhukhuneland and Mlangeni in Johannesburg. Sisulu helped found the Youth League and became the ANC's first Secretary General in 1949. Kathrada was active in the South African Communist Party (SACP) and was also Secretary General of the Transvaal Indian Congress. Both Motsoaledi and Mkwayi were prominent in the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU).

All were initially held on Robben Island but Sisulu, Kathrada, Mhlaba and Mlangeni were moved to Pollsmoor in April 1982, as was Mkwayi in April 1989. Motsoaledi remained on Robben Island throughout. Their conditions improved as a result of protest but even at the end the authorities denied them basic rights. For instance, Mhlaba was repeatedly refused permission to marry until March 1986 and until October 1988 so was Mkwayi, who was also prevented from attending his wife's funeral just months later in December 1988. Two weeks before his release Mlangeni was not allowed to attend his sister's funeral.

Jafta Masemola (60) was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1963 on a charge of conspiring to commit sabotage. He was transferred to Johannesburg Prison in 1986, after 23 years on Robben Island. Masemola maintained that he had been unjustly convicted and, like the others, had consistently refused the regime's offers of release on condition that he renounce the armed struggle. Masemola was active in the ANC Youth League in the early 1950s before becoming a PAC leader.

Oscar Mpetha (80) was freed ten months before completion of a five-year sentence imposed under the Terrorism Act. He spent most of his sentence in hospital suffering from severe diabetes. He was prominent in the ANC and SACTU, and an official of the African Food and Canning Workers Union. In the 1970s he initiated the Nyanga Residents Association.

Bantustan political prisoners

Developments in response to widespread resistance in the Transkei bantustan have included the release of some political prisoners. After more than a year of protests by prisoners against bad conditions and in support of their demand for political status, 12 prisoners in the bantustan were identified as political prisoners by the authorities there. On 6 October they announced the release of six and placed the other cases under review. According to Focus records, there were at least seven political prisoners still in prison at that time. In July some one thousand non-political prisoners, reportedly one-fifth of the bantustan's prison population, were released.

Five of those released were convicted on charges arising from ANC activities. Marelane KOPMAN (39) served three years of a 20-year sentence for possessing arms and undergoing military training. Mfanelo MATSHAYA (23) and Pumlani KUBUKELI (21), sentenced to seven years for undergoing military training, were freed after only four months. Zakade BUKA (58) served two years and ten months of a seven-year term for harbouring and assisting guerrillas. Ernest SONTSU was also released, but the length of his sentence, after a trial during 1988 on charges of 'terrorism', was unknown. Noble Kamobelo NTUNYA was freed after two years and one month of an eight year and six month sentence for the alleged possession of explosives.

Releases

Two other prisoners have been released in recent months, apparently before completion of sentence. They may have had their sentences reduced on appeal.

  • On 29 June, Simon LEHOLO was released after serving two years and four months of a four-year sentence for public violence.
  • The release of Patrick Bobby SEBOTSASA was reported in September 1989 when his home was petrol-bombed. He lives in Bloemfontein and is reportedly active in the organisation, Volunteers for Detainee Care. Sebotsa, who was freed in 1988, was sentenced to seven years in May 1985 for undergoing military training.

Successful Appeals

  • In June, Simon MSIBI (35) and Zacheus MTHEMBU (24) had their prison terms reduced to one year on appeal. The reduced sentences expired on 5 August 1989.
  • A 12-year sentence imposed on Fikile Owen GWADANA (30) for participation in the ANC's armed struggle, and a three-year term imposed on his co-accused Errol DABULA (26) for harbouring an alleged ANC combatant, Luvuyo LERUMA, were overturned on appeal in September, 13 months after their conviction.

Foreign Funding

The Disclosure of Foreign Funding Act, which was passed in March, came into operation on 18 August. Under its terms, a Registrar of Reporting Organisations and Persons, appointed by the Minister of Justice, may declare any organisation or individual thought to be in receipt of funds from abroad, a 'reporting' organisation or person. This requires the disclosure of all sources of external funding and the submission of their books for auditing. Failure to comply may result in a fine of R40,000 and/or 10 years imprisonment. There are similar penalties if money from abroad is used for a purpose other than that declared.

The Kagiso Trust was informed in August that, unless it can provide reasons otherwise, it is to be declared a 'reporting organisation'. The trust's executive director said they were consulting lawyers and that the trust would 'not allow the information at its disposal to be used as intelligence by the state's security services in order to act against organisations engaged in peaceful and legitimate activity.'

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