A man whose wife sought an interdict to protect him from assaults by the police while detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment by the Johannesburg Regional Court.
Harold MATSIDIDI (41), a bricklayer from Diep Kloof, was detained in July 1988 in Soweto and only charged after the court application. His wife applied after she heard he had attempted suicide because he was being 'forced to admit things he did not do.' A district surgeon reported finding a self-inflicted stab wound on Matsididi's neck and multiple superficial wounds. Matsididi, who said he 'could no longer stand the threats and treatment of the police,' was kept for three months in a psychiatric ward and then returned to detention.
The state alleged that Matsididi and four others, named only as Pat, TK, Billy and Ben, were planning to attack John Vorster Square police headquarters but were disturbed before they could do so. The others escaped but a BMW car with a rocket launcher, three rockets, rifles, hand grenades and ammunition was impounded. Matsididi maintained he did not know the men and was merely talking to them when the police arrived. He denied having entered the car. Police witnesses gave contradictory accounts of the events, especially concerning a pistol allegedly taken from Matsididi.
Giving evidence in a trial within a trial to decide on the admissibility of a statement made by him to a magistrate, Matsididi said he made it out of fear after being tortured with electric shocks, assaulted and threatened.
On 8 February, Matsididi was sentenced to an effective term of eight years for conspiracy to sabotage. A three-year term for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition is to run concurrently.
A number of related trials involving support for the ANC's armed struggle were completed in late 1989 in the Johannesburg Regional Court. In November Helen Mpho MOGALE (24) was acquitted of terrorism charges arising out of the alleged storing of weapons. In August, a relative, Simon Mogale, was convicted of hiding limpet mines.
Three others originally charged with Helen Mogale were tried separately with a fourth man. Pieter Oupakie RAMMEKWA and Michael TUMANE each received eight years while Andries Itumeleng MAPONYA was sentenced to six years. Charges against Matthew Oupa MOLEFE were withdrawn. No details of the alleged offences were reported but Maponya's brother was said to have been killed in Pretoria in 1988 when a limpet mine exploded.
Sipho Solly MOKWENA (30) of Mamelodi was sentenced to six years imprisonment by the Pretoria Regional Court on 6 February after being convicted of terrorism. He was cautioned and discharged on a charge of being an ANC member, in the light of De Klerk's statement to parliament on 2 February.
Mokwena left South Africa in 1982 for military training. He was arrested in 1988, shortly after his return, in possession of a pistol and two hand grenades. He first appeared in court in September 1988. The presiding magistrate justified the sentence on the grounds of the illegality of Mokwena's actions between 1982-8, no matter what the current legal position of the ANC.
Sheila Moipane Mathabe NYANDA was given a suspended sentence in the Bethal Regional Court in January after pleading guilty to being an ANC member and furthering its aims. She denied undergoing military training, a plea apparently accepted by the state.
Nyanda was abducted from Swaziland in May 1987 and held in solitary confinement for 18 months before being released and subsequently charged.
Gerald NYEMBE (33), a former political prisoner and East Rand organiser for the Paper, Wood and Allied Workers Union (PWAWU) was convicted of terrorism by the Johannesburg Regional Court in January while his wife, Lucienne ABRAHAMS, the Western Cape secretary of the same union, was acquitted. Both defendants gave evidence of torture and a statement made by Abrahams under duress was ruled inadmissible by the court.
The state alleged that Nyembe left the country in January 1986 to undergo military training in Angola and returned in late 1987. He was picked up by Bophuthatswana bantustan policemen in 1988, allegedly in possession of a pistol and ammunition. He was tortured for six days by the security branch at Mafikeng after which he made an incriminating statement. This was admitted as evidence against him.
Three unnamed state witnesses, said to be former ANC members now working for the police, provided the main evidence against the accused, alleging they had seen them in Angola and Zambia. Defence lawyers challenged at least one witness's claim to membership of the ANC after he failed to name senior officers of the organisation.
Abrahams, who was detained much later than Nyembe, in December 1988, told how she was in fear of her life after Warrant Officer Jeff Benzien threatened to kill her — Benzien has been implicated in the torture of a number of detainees and fired the shot that killed Ashley Kriel.
Nyembe was sentenced to eight years imprisonment of which three were suspended, providing he is not sentenced again under the Internal Security Act. He was previously sentenced to five years imprisonment in 1977 for attempting to undergo military training.
An attack in March 1988 on municipal police in Soweto led to prison terms of ten years each for Clement SOBIKWA (20) and Lloyd METHULA (28) on 26 February when they were convicted by the Johannesburg Regional Court of attempted murder and the possession of arms, ammunition and explosives. Eleven policemen were injured in the attack which occurred as two units were changing shifts at the Phiri Community Hall.
Another accused, Velile ZWANE, was acquitted of all charges while Patrick KHOZA (18) was given a suspended sentence for illegally possessing explosives and ammunition. Evidence in mitigation for Sobikwa and Methula spoke of the community's 'massive resentment' at the role of the municipal police in evicting rent boycotters.
Lulamile XATE (31), a former medical student nearing the end of a four-year prison term for refusing to testify in a political trial, was recently himself convicted of terrorism and sentenced to another five years. It is to run concurrently with his present sentence.
In November 1986 after being held in solitary confinement for almost a year, Xate was gaoled for refusing to give evidence against 12 people charged with furthering the ANC's armed struggle. He admitted being an accomplice in some of their armed actions.
At his own trial Xate was described as having been active in Umkhonto we Sizwe between 1983-5 and its commander in Natal. He was convicted of being involved in two bomb attacks — in August 1985 on the home of a leader of the segregated House of Delegates, and in October 1985 on a school used as a polling station.
Eight of the accused in the terrorism trial of Tony YENGENI and 13 others were formally acquitted on 19 March after the state declined to proceed with the case against them. Gertrude FESTER, Colleen LOMBARD, Zuraya ABASS, Christopher GIFFARD and Alpheus NDUDE were all on bail (the last two only since December 1989) while Mthetheleli TITANA, Gary KRUSER and Sitlabocha Charles MAHLALE had been in custody since 1987.
The accused were originally charged with treason, later reduced to terrorism, for their alleged support for the ANC's armed struggle in the Western Cape. Their level of involvement varied and most of those released were charged with assisting combatants with accommodation or transport. However, Kruser was alleged to have brought arms into the country and Titana to have undergone military training, trained others and passed on weaponry for armed attacks. Both Titana and Kruser had allegedly worked with Abednego Bongani Jonas, who refused to testify and was convicted in November 1989.
Defence lawyers for the remaining six — Yengeni, his wife Lumka NYAMZA, Jennifer SCHREINER, Michael Mzimkhulu LUMBAMBO, Mbutu Richmond NDUKU and Wellington Mongameli NKWANDLA said they would apply for bail.
