m9 m9 ANTI APARTHEID NEWS The Newspaper of the Anti-Apartheid Movement 10, .lo iansval rail line blown up Teorror Act tria _opens in Pretiori e biggest trial of black rs in South Africa since iia it i964, 11 men and ,Oman appeared in court toria on May 19. sy aea accused under the rism Act andl the Internal couintry and of having recruit. epeople to undergo military ~tafing. All of them are alleged to be embers of the African National igress of South Africa, its milltarY wing Umkhonto We Sizwe or touth African Commuist Explosives Five of those on trial - all of them in thlei early 20s - are said to havei crossed into South Africa int tseecond half of 1976,brih ing with them weapons and explosves. They are charged with sounting sabotage oprations and recruiting people to the ANC in the northern Tranavaal and in Soweto atd Alexandra townships outside Johannesburg. One of them, Naledi Tsiki, is alleged to have sabotaged the railway line near Pietersblirg in the northern Transvaal, and another, Mosima Sexwale, to have seriously injured two members of the security police and damaged a police vehicle after they tried to arrest him near the South African border. Another. Elias Masinga, is accused of "infiltrating" the Soweto Students Representative Council between October and December 1976 and recruiting students to undergo military training. - Two other men, 67-year-old Martin Ramokgeadi and.48-year-old Joe Gqabi, are accused of being heads of the central structure of the ANC in Johannesburg between June 1976 and January 1977. Of the other five, four are accused of being in possession of firearms and explosives and of encouraging people to undergo military training or to form ANC where his son, Elas Masinga, is on trial under the Terrorism Act military training or to form ANC cells, and one, Paulin Mohale, of having typed a leaflet "The Voice Police murder detainee ANOTHER detainee, Aaron Khoza, has died under interrogation by the South African security police. He sws detained in Pietermaritzburg on December 9 and died on March 26. A police spokesman commented that as far s the polic were conerned, he had hanged himself In his call. His death'brings to 19 the number of detainees murdered by the South African security 'police in the 15 months since Jseph Mdluli died on March 19 last year. of the ANC (Spear of the Nation)." The trial was postponed to June 20 at the request of the defence. who also gsked for one of the accused, Michael Ngubeni, to be sent for observation under the Mental Disorders Act. As they filed out of the courtin leg-irons, the trialists shouted "Amandla" (Power) and were answered by shouts of "Ngewethu" (is ours) from the public gallery. In April two other men, Stanley Nkosi and Patrick Mohlathe, were sentenced to 10 years. gaol under the Terrorism Act, after being convicted of being in possession of explosives in Sowto and of lheving received military training in Swaziland. They said that they had joined the African National Congress because they believed that only armed struggle would topple the Vorster regime. "The ANC was a peaceful orgenisetion before it was banned," they told the court, but it had taken the "painful decision" to'embark on violence "to make the the whites aware that majority rule is needed". Kaun . declares Zamrbia in 'state of war' with Rhodesia PRESIDENT Kaunda of Zambia has declared that Zambia is in "a state of war" +with Rhodesia, following " threats by the Smith regime to invade the country. At a news conference on May 16, he said that Rhodesian aircraft would be shot down if they flew over Zambian territory. He also condemned the Vorster regime in South Africa, and said that if Rhodesia attacked Zambia, it would probably be in collusion with South Africa. charged the white minority regime in Rhodesia with committing repeated actsof aggression against neighbouring black states. Speaking at the UN conference on Namibia and Zimbabwe in Maputo, he said that every attempt to find a solution in Rhodesia had been frustrated by the illegal regime and its "refusal to accept reality". Botswana Rhodesian attacks against Botswana have escalated to sch an extent that a virtual war situation esists also between Rhodesia and Botswana. On May16 a big contingent of Rhodesian trops crossed into Botswana and attacked Botswana Defence Force base camps at two villages in the north and east of the country, The Botswana authorities have ,also arrested seven members of the Rhodesian special unit, the Selsus Scouts, who it charges were posing as refuges and reconnoitring camps so that they could be attacked by the Rhodesian security forces. TWO leading officials of the 'African National Council have been sentenced to death by the Smith regime, in what appears to be a deliberate move to increase the number of hangings in Rhodesia. The two men, Robert Bhebe, an ANC Provincial Official in Umtali, and Pins Zehama, a Provincial Official in Salisbury, were sentenced for allegedly, recruiting young people for military training. Because the Rhodesian judiciary realises that convicted prisoners are unlikely to serve their full term if they are given long gaol. sentences, it appears to be more and more resorting to the death penalty. The sentencesare part of a last ditch stand by a white minority which knows that its days are numbered. At least 112 Zimbabweans are known to have been~sentencedto death before illegal courts since April 1975, when the regime announced that it would no longer announce the names of those whom it had executed. More than a third of those known to have been given the death penalty for political offences since April 1975 were sentenced after Smith's broadcast of September 24 1976, when he was represented as having accepted the principle of majority rule within two years. Demand for Britis action against the hangings and report of Week of Action on Zimbabwe, page 3 REMEMBER SOWETO! Demonstration June 18 Pickets and meeting June 16 Details, back page More Zimbabweans sentenced to hang + + * +++++++++ .................................... +++ m ++++ On the first anniversary of Soweto Scottish TUC pledges itself to renewed, support for the people of Southern Africa and effective solidarity action in support of the liberation struggle JAMES MILNE G6ENERAL'SECRETAK? AT THIS CRUCIAL STAGE IN THE HISTORY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA AUEW-TASS' URGES THE TUC AND THE LABOUR PARTY TO INTENSIFY OUR SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE STRUGGLING AGAINST RACIALIST GOVERNMENT. WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF TASS MEMBER DAVID KITSON AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS INCLUDING THOSE SENTENCED TO DEATH B0B MANSFIELD President KEN BILL General Secretary The Technical Administrative and Supervisory Section AMALGAMATED UNION OF ENGINEERING WORKERS Onslow Hall, Little Green, Richmond, Surrey. Tel 01-948 2271 On this first anniversary of the Soweto massacre ASLEF re-affirms its support for the aims- of the: Anti- Apartheid Movement and the liberation of the people, of RAY BUCKTON GENERAL SECRETARY ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOWETO MASSACRE Tobacco Workers Union re-affirms Its support for the cause of freedom in Southern Africa and the aims of the Anti-Apartheid Movement Ray Martin President Doug Grieve General Secretary Scottish NU M Scottish Miners extend their fraternal solidarity to all'those in South Africa iviho are organising, struggling and sacrificing for an end to the apartheid laws in that country. Michael McGahey President Bill McLean General Secretary Dave Bolton Vice President Southern Africa 000> Anti-ApartheidNews June1977 Page3 Call to stop Smith hangigs in Zimbabweweek of action. "DITCH Ian Smith" was the message that went to the British Government from meeting and demonstrations all over Britain, during the Week of Action on Zimbabwe, May 9-14. In London anti-apartheid spporters picketed the Foreign Office on May 12 to demand that the Government take immediate action to save the lives of those who have been sentenced to hang by the Smith regime. They handed in a letter to the Foreign Secretry asking him to make a clear declaration that the regime's use of the death sentence amount, to murder and that those who carry out the sentence are criminally liable. With the letter wee a liat of the namseof 108 peolewho are known to have been sentenced to hang in Rhodea since Ajeil 1975 (four e men, whoe names have been kept secret, are known to have been senteaced to death). Another listgave the names of Rhodeian judges and court officials who have been responsible for recent death sentences. The picket wee followed by a meeting in Central Hall, Weitminta - "Zibabw a: Wht Now?"' with aflm of the nasacre of over 800 Zi mbabwean refugees atea cmp at Nhazon la in Mozambique, whiech ws Perpetrated by Rhodesian troops lest August. Abl ~Minty, Noan Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, Pointed to South Africa ac the major supporter of the Smith regime and the country whom interests the US and Britalrrwate 7trying to protect, when they made Propoeel for a "solution" in Zimbabwe. Speaking on behalf of the Zimbabwe Patriotic Front, K Kangal sid that the Zimbabwean freed m fighters would not lay down their arms until there was an independent state of Zimbabwe. He reacted sharply to suggestions that the liberation movements had not responded positively to the US-UK +proposals. "We have our ,own proposals which have been known about for yars. Where is the positive response to theae?" he asked. Discussion at the meeting was led by a panel consisting of Naison Kheswena, Deputy UK Repreen tative f ZAPU, Rex Chiwera, representing ZANU, Lionel Cliffe andJudyActon. w n On May 13 pickets wre mounted outside the head offices of Shell and BP to protest against their role as suppliers of oil to Rhodesia, in contravention of UN sanctiona.