While the question of the continuation of political trials will be ultimately decided in terms of the plans for granting indemnity (see PRISONERS AND EXILES) the government has made it clear that decisions about current prosecutions are to be made within the legal system, by the appropriate authorities, principally the Attorneys-General.
Recent issues of Focus have noted some shifts in the conduct of political trials, though these fall short of the total cessation demanded by the international community. The lifting of the bans on organisations in February decriminalised certain activities and reduced the number of offences.
Nevertheless the government's continued commitment to legal methods of repression was demonstrated by the introduction of night-time courts in Johannesburg, linked by the Department of Justice to 'the expected increase in legal cases due to the present wave of violence'. Similar measures were planned for Natal.
While all the trials reported below arose out of events before the indemnity cut-off point of 8 October, there is evidence of people being charged after that date. These arise from mass protests of the kind which the ANC has identified as inevitable forms of struggle in the current situation where people have no mechanisms to address their grievances.
In Atteridgeville charges were laid against people who had switched the electricity supply back on after the discredited local authority had cut it off (see MASS ACTION). In Cathcart, residents who changed the names of local street signs were charged with malicious damage to property. Eighteen arrests were made in Duncan Village after police broke up an indoor meeting of the residents association, causing many injuries as those in attendance panicked and broke windows to escape. SAYCO members in Soweto meanwhile were arrested following a demonstration of support for 'Mac' Maharaj. The issues of squatting and bantustan reincorporation also led to legal actions.
International as well as national attention focused on the Durban Regional Court on 29 October for the first court appearance by ANC national executive member Sathyandranath 'Mac' MAHARAJ. He faced a main charge of terrorism along with Siphiwe NYANDA (previously charged alone under the Explosives Act), Raymond LALA, Catherine MVELASE, Susanna TSHABALALA, Dipak PATEL, Pravin GORDHAN and Amnesh SANKAR. The ninth defendant, Billy NAIR, who has undergone two operations since his release from detention in September, was not in court as he was still recuperating. The charges allege that the group accused weapons as part of a plan to overthrow the state by force. The accused were granted bail in order to allow them to apply for permanent indemnity and were due to appear in court again on 15 January.
After three years in custody Tony YENGENI and Jennifer SCHREINER were freed on bail in Cape Town on 9 November, although their trial continued and their activities were restricted.
At the end of November three defendants charged with terrorism in Delmas, Phuti Bernard MOKGONYANA, Godfrey Velaphi MOKUBE and Peter Holmes MALULEKA, were refused bail after the presiding judge reportedly said the court should not pay too much attention at this stage to a 'political process'. He said they had not admitted being members of the ANC, were not guaranteed indemnity and might flee the country. Their nine co-accused escaped to Lusaka in February.
In certain recent applications lawyers have obtained bail for their clients pending hearing of an appeal. Christopher KHUMALO and Saul Andrew TSOTETSI have been released from Robben Island in this way.
In August four life prisoners from Jansenville, previously unreported in Focus, were freed on R300 bail to await hearing of their appeal against their conviction for murder in June 1987. Gladys MILA, Priscilla LUTHULI, Miriam GROOTBOOM and Benjamin KANANE appealed against the partiality of the judge as revealed in his 'hostile and intimidatory' questioning of witnesses and accused.
In contrast to these cases a number of trials of a clearly political nature have been concluded since February, with lengthy prison terms being handed down. Many of these trials occurred beyond the focus of media attention and some have only recently come to public view.
In April Philemon MAMABOLA was sentenced in Vereeniging to 25 years for terrorism. Two months later Gideon NGOMANI was sentenced in Rustenburg to 12 years for undergoing military training and possessing arms, ammunition and explosives. Raymond (Sello) MAAKE and Ebison Makgolane PHASHA, who proclaimed themselves to be ANC combatants, were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Nelspruit in October for the illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosives.
In Natal Vincent Vivi HLATSHAWAYO (27), described as the local SACTU youth organiser, was sentenced in September to three years for possession of a hand grenade. He was arrested at a roadblock on 16 June with two other people who have since been charged with more serious offences.
Convictions have also continued under common-law charges such as murder and public violence in cases where there has been evidence of a political context to the alleged offences.
After five years in custody, four members of the Queenstown Youth Organisation were convicted of murder in October by the Grahamstown Supreme Court. Four others, also held since 1985, were acquitted earlier this year. The charges arose from the killing in September 1985 of two suspected informers. Zola MAJIKELA (24) was convicted of both murders and sentenced to 20 years. Michael Mzuvukile LWAYO, Samson Thembekile MANGA and Michael Dabie NCANTSWA (all 23) were convicted on one count of murder and one of attempted murder after statements they claimed had been obtained through torture were ruled admissible as evidence against them. They received effective terms of nine, six and four years respectively.
Another Eastern Cape murder trial which was due to begin in November arose from the killing of a special constable in Stutterheim in September 1989. Community support has focused on the two youngest accused, Malungisi VAMBA (18) and Siyabulela THEMBANI (20), both school pupils and members of the Stutterheim Youth Congress. They have participated in at least two hunger strikes demanding they be granted bail, and a number of protests have been organised.
A case arising out of the deaths of nine Bophuthatswana bantustan policiemen during anti-incorporation protests in Leeufontein in July 1989 ended in August when six people who previously faced charges of murder, pleaded guilty and were convicted of public violence by the Mmabatho Supreme Court. B MONANA, R RAMESEGA and P MODISANE were sentenced to two years, Frans MOKGAUTSI and G MODISE received 18 months and A MODISE received six months. Charges were withdrawn against 37 others but three accused are still to be tried for murder.
A number of public violence trials have been concluded. In the Western Cape Ntsikelelo KHAMBI was sentenced in March in Wynberg to two and a half years imprisonment and Victor BENA was sentenced to 15 months in Paarl in April. In the Northern Cape the Kimberley Regional Court sentenced Andries OLYN to one year's imprisonment in July.
In Lerutse, in the Orange Free State, Steven MOJAFA, Lucas BOINAMO and Edward GAOTIME were each sentenced to two years on 15 October for malicious damage to property while in Port Elizabeth, an 18-year-old youth, Eric SMUTS, was sentenced on 28 October to 18 months for possessing a petrol bomb.
