A number of people were convicted in the Western Cape in late 1989 of giving support to the ANC's armed struggle. In at least two trials evidence of police torture was heard.
A student leader from Langa was given a suspended sentence by a Cape Town Regional Magistrate in November after pleading guilty to charges of terrorism. Phumzile SIMELELA (20), who was assaulted by the police in 1985 and successfully sued the Minister of Law and Order as a result, was detained in July 1988 and held in solitary confinement for nine months before being charged and released on bail. He said he was recruited into the ANC in May 1988 by Kenneth MOYAKE, an ANC combatant who has since died. Moyake allegedly acted with Allen Ndodomzi MAMBA who is serving an 18 year prison term for ANC activities. According to the State, Simelela travelled to Lesotho with a man called Solly, and while there Solly obtained three limpet mines, one of which was stored at Simelela's home.
Three women, Ethel Thejiwe LOZA (44), her daughter Maureen Mandisa LOZA (19) and Sindiswa Beauty DLAWU, convicted of assisting and harbouring a guerrilla, were given suspended sentences in the Cape Town Regional Court in October. A fourth accused, Xolile MINI, (30) was acquitted. At their first court appearance in August 1988 Khungera Gloria MALI appeared with them.
The trial followed an incident in Guguletu in July 1988 during which police laid siege to the house in which a suspected ANC guerrilla, Nkululeko 'Solly' MUTSI was staying, and killed him. Dlawu said she had been forced to make a statement saying she knew Mutsi was a 'terrorist'.
Suspended sentences were also handed down in the Cape Town Regional Court to Veliswa MHLAWULI (37) and Linda Oriel TSOTSI (33) in December. Tsotsi pleaded guilty to joining the ANC and its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1986 and to acting on behalf of the ANC. Mhlawuli pleaded guilty to harbouring and concealing Tsotsi and three other alleged guerrillas over a period of three years. There was no evidence that either of the accused had taken part in armed actions. Tsotsi, a member of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation and the Port Elizabeth Women's Organisation, was detained in September 1988 and remained in custody throughout the trial. Mhlawuli, a journalist from Guguletu, was detained in October 1988 while still suffering the after-effects of losing an eye after being shot by an unknown assailant. She was granted bail in March 1989.
Christina TYULU (40) pleaded guilty in the Wynberg Regional Court in November to helping two suspected ANC guerrillas escape from Wynberg police cells in January 1989. Tyulu, of the KTC squatter camp in Cape Town, was detained in February 1989 and held for almost three months before being charged and bailed. She testified that whilst in detention she was made to lie on the floor and a police officer, Jeffrey Benzien, sat on her. A wet sack was placed over her head and pulled tightly over her nose, partially suffocating her. Benzien has been accused of assault by a number of other detainees. In July 1987 he shot dead ANC member Ashley Kriel but was exonerated at the inquest. The magistrate gave Tyulu a nine-month jail term, saying he had taken her treatment in custody into account. Bail of R2,000 was extended pending appeal.
One of the people Tyulu helped to escape may have been Siphiwe QILA (27) who was detained under section 29 of the Internal Security Act on 9 November 1988 and escaped from Wynberg police station on 28 January 1989. He was re-detained on 13 April and subsequently charged with terrorism and escaping from custody. Early reports said that a policeman had been detained in connection with his escape.
Christopher TOISE (63), was given a suspended sentence in November in the Wynberg Regional Court after pleading guilty to possessing an AK-47 rifle and to harbouring an escaped prisoner. He was detained on the same day as Tyulu and was released on bail four months later.
During his trial it was alleged that Toise stored the rifle on behalf of Agnes Ntombizodwa YOYO (26) or her husband Danisile NOKHATYWA (33). Yoyo, Nokhatywa and a third accused, Buyiswa JACK (34), were charged with terrorism in the Wynberg Regional Court in June. All three had previously been held as section 29 detainees, Nokhatywa and Jack from November 1988 and Yoyo from February 1989. Nokhatywa and Yoyo remained in custody throughout the trial, while Jack was given bail in May shortly before giving birth.
Jack, a fieldworker with the Western Province Council of Churches, was pregnant and ill at the time of her detention and had been pressurised into making a statement. Diets and medication prescribed by doctors were withheld from her and she was promised better food and bail if she co-operated. She was also shown statements implicating her, allegedly made by Nokhatywa and Ncunyiswa HANS, detained shortly after Jack.
The three pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism but then in December made certain admissions. Nokhatywa and Yoyo admitted joining the ANC in 1985 and undergoing military training in Angola. Nokhatywa further admitted throwing a hand grenade at an SADF vehicle in 1985, persuading Jack to collect money for him from Botswana and collecting arms from a cache with Jack. In December Nokhatywa and Yoyo were convicted of terrorism and Jack of rendering assistance to a terrorist. Reports of the sentencing were incomplete but it seems only Nokhatywa received a custodial sentence.
The Human Rights Commission reported that Patrick SIMELANE was given a one-year jail term for possession of a hand grenade by a Johannesburg court in October. No details of the trial were available.
Public violence trials continued in the Western Cape, including at least one arising from the Defiance Campaign.
Colin DESOZA (17), who was held in custody from January 1989, was given a two-year sentence by a Cape Town magistrate on 15 November. No details of this case are known although other information about Desoza is available. He was first detained when he was 15. In June charges of abduction against him and a Mr Desoza were withdrawn in the Mitchells Plain Regional Court. He also appeared in the Parow Regional Court in September with Roger LAMBERT, Nawaldien THOPE and Achmet MORRIS on charges of arson. This case had not been completed by mid-January 1990.
On 12 December, following the failure of an appeal, Maxwell Moss (29) was reported to be due to begin an 18-month sentence imposed by the Parow Regional Court in February for public violence. Moss, chair of the Saldanha Youth Congress and a West Coast Council of Churches fieldworker, was acquitted of similar charges in the Cape Town Regional Court in May. In September he was given a suspended sentence in the same court in a third public violence trial. Moss was detained in September 1987 and held for a year.
Diana VAN BEULEN (22) was sentenced in the Strand Magistrates' Court to an effective nine months in prison for public violence offences on 14 November. Van Beulen, a mother of three, was arrested on 19 August following a defence campaign beach protest. Two men, David MOTHAO (22) and Barend HENDRICKS (24), who were arrested following the same incident and who appeared in the Strand Magistrates' Court on 14 November, had charges against them withdrawn.
