African Activist Archive

On August 6, 1982, the Pretoria Supreme Court condemned to death three members of the African National Congress (ANC), Simon Thelle Mogoerane (23), Jerry Semano Mosololi (25), and Marcus Thabo Motaung (27). The trial was based on a December 1981 incident in which five armed Black men, alleged to have been members of an ANC military unit, attacked the South African police station at Wonderboom Mayville in Pretoria, and one constable was killed and three others wounded. The main charge against all defendants was high treason under the Terrorism Act, deriving from their alleged involvement in a series of attacks against several police stations, a railway line, and an electrical center. During the trial, Mosololi and Mogoerane said they had been tortured and forced to sign confession statements; Motaung stated that he had been denied adequate medical treatment for a wound in the hip where he was shot during his arrest. Nevertheless, Supreme Court Judge D.J. Curlewis ruled that their confessions had been made freely, the three were found guilty of high treason and 20 alternative charges, and they were sentenced to death. Instead of appealing their cases, the three men have directly petitioned South African State President Marais Viljoen for clemency. The ANC is seeking immediate international pressure so the regime will not proceed with their execution. People are asked to send cables to the South African State President and mailgrams to President Reagan calling on him to intervene. University presidents and faculty can also be asked to take action. The main point to make is that the defendants should have been accorded Prisoner of War status under the Geneva Conventions, making them immune from criminal prosecution in this case.

African Activist Archive

AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO HELP SAVE LIVES OF MOGOERANE, MOSOLOLI, AND MOTAUNG

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