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South Africa's Political Prisoners: Regime Hides Trials

By VVAW

Political trials of a number of PAC activists and supporters are now underway in South Africa. Despite the ferment and turmoil throughout the country, the government of South Africa continues to try to present the picture of a contented and quiet country with the government firmly in control. All in all, they're trying for an image of a good place for foreign capitalists to invest their money with a promise of a good and safe return.

As a result, the political trials are almost unheard of outside South Africa. To enforce the silence the trials are being held in small towns under specially created courts. The Pan Africanist congress has begun a campaign to let the people of the world know what is going on and to build support for these freedom fighters on trial.

• In the largest of these trials, 18 men, including Zeph Mothupeng, Secretary for Judicial Affairs in the PAC Executive Committee, are charged with "furthering the aims of a banned organization." Further, they alledgedly engaged in acts of violence and destruction, and recruited people into the APLA (Azanian Peoples Liberation Army). In fact, many of the lectures and meetings they are charged with holding took place, according to the charges, inside prison.
• In Maritzburg, three men are on trial for allegedly going abroad to receive military training, charged under the "Terrorism Act." According to one witness, he "left because of intimidation by the Government and had wanted to learn to fight so he could free the people of South Africa."
• In Empangeni a Special Supreme Court was set up to try Bonginkosi Mngomezulu, a 35-year old peasant leader for supposedly killing six people (including one policeman) and attempting to kill 7 others. All this is being linked to PAC activities in the remote area where Mngomezulu was a peasant leader.
• Two more men are on trial in Durban for recruiting members into PAC, a violation of the Internal Security Act.
• Four men died while detained in prison in circumstances much like the case of Steve Biko. The four were part of list 86 unindicted co-conspirators in the Mothupeng 18 trial. According to the government, the committed suicide.

The justice system of South Africa has already been exposed to the world during the "investigation of the murder of Steve Biko. There's no doubt that he was murdered by the police; the government only went through with the farce of an investigation because of massive international opinion and pressure.

These murders and trial are an attempt by the South African government to put a lid on the liberation struggle. And while the government is trying to keep the lid on, it's also trying to pretend that the pot isn't boiling. The South African government and its economy depend on investments and support from countries like Britain and the U.S. If the multinational corporations get the impression that people in the country are arming and taking military training, they might decide it's no longer in their best interests to leave billions of bucks invested in South Africa. So the cases are kept as quiet as possible.

But not even the strict censorship of the Vorster regime can completely silence what is going on. Already, international pressure had led to one victory in these trials: in Maritzburg, two of the patriots were found innocent, then rearrested on minor charges of 'attempting to leave the country." The third defendant there was found guilty but, despite the treat of a death sentence, was only sentenced to 8 years in prison.

To increase the worldwide pressure on the South African government, the PAC asks that people write to the South African Embassy in Washington and to their Congressmen and Senators to protest this series of trials and the racist regime behind them.