WITCH=HUNT TRIAL IN SOUTH AFRICA
Two trials of political opponents of the Verwoerd regime in South Africa have disappeared from the columns of the big newspapers of the West. One of them, the Nelson Mandela case, created such a scandal _ when it was first scheduled that the United Nations passed a resolution calling on the South African government to drop it, Later it was uashed by the: court only to be resumed under a modified indictment. See World Outlook October 18 and November 15, ]
The second case, in which the principal figure is Neville Alexander, one of South Africas. most distinguished colored scholars, received brief attention in the London Observer and considerably more in West Germany where Dr. Alexander is welI known. Other than that, there has been dead silence. .
Because of the fascist-like conditions prevailing under the Verwoerd government, the defense labors under great difficulties both in the court and in securing adequate publicity and funds, It would seem, therefore, that the Western press which likes to boast about the "freedom it enjoys in handling the news, would be especially concerned to keep the public informed about these two important trials, Such has not been the case, For information, it has become necessary to depend on the South African press itself which is either afraid to speak out or interested in avoiding facts that might place the Verwoerd government in too vile a light. We have just received a batch of clippings taken from this partially muzzled press reporting. the proceedings in the Alexander trial, From this we offer some excerpts that should prove of interest and which we hope will help break through the conspiracy of silence,
The eleven on trial in Cape Town are:
Neville Edward Alexander, holder of two doctorates in Germany : philology, first colored South African student to ever receive a | scholarship from the Alexander Von Humboldt- -~Stiftung Foundation and the first colored South African scholar to win a doctor's degree in
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in Germany in German philology.
Don John William Davis, 42 years old, a minister.
' Marcus Solomons, 24, a schoolteacher. | |
Elizabeth van der Heyden, 28, a schoolteacher.
Fikele Charles Bam Bam, 26, senior law student at the University of Capé Town, |
‘Lionel Basil Davis, 27, a storeman.
Tan Leslie van der Heyden.
- Duleie Evon September,
Dorothy Hazel Alexander.
Doris van der Heyden.
Gordon Frederick Hendriks. .
The case began July 12 when Neville Alexander was arrested in his. home under the infamous 90-day detention law, Under this law he was "interrogated" for 76 days without benefit of counsel. On September 27 he was given a 20-minute hearing and remanded to "summary trial" before the Supreme Court. He was denied bail and the trial was set for Novem= .ber 4, The circumstances of the arrest of the others are not specified in the press reports we have received,
The prosecution is represented by Deputy Attorney-General J,E. _ N6thling and D.B.Brunette, Gerald Gordon, QC, R.M.Marais. and H.S. Strauss are defending eight of the accused and Mr. Marais and Mr. Strauss, the others. Accused of "Conspiracy"
All the defendants are colored, All of them have pleaded not guilty. They face a "main charge" of allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government by means of violent revolution, guerrilla warfare and sabotage. Three “alternative charges" are also lodged against them. The first one is based on the same alleged facts as the main charge. The other two alternatives come under the "Suppression of Communism Act" and allege that the defendants furthered the aims of Communism or incited others to do so by devising or supporting a doctrine or scheme which aimed at bringing about a political, social or economic change in South Africa by the promotion of disorder. The penalty can be up to the death sentence.
According to the Cape Argus [November 8], Deputy-Attorney General J.H.NOthling said, "The Stats will attempt to prove that all of the | accused belong to the Yu Chi Chan Club (Y.C.C.C.), also called the National Liberation Front (N.L.F. ), whose objects were to overthrow
the Government in the manner I have mentioned. "
The "conspiracy" occurred at various meetings allegedly held by this organization, Part of the "conspiracy" consisted of seeking to raise funds through the "South African Students! Bursary and Loan Fund,"
The first witness called by the state's attorney was Lt. Samson Esais Sauerman of the South African Police, Cape Town. Here is how the Cape Argus describes his testimony:
"Tieutenant Sauerman said that on July 12 this year he went to the house Sandhurst, 8 Swiss Road, Lansdowne. Where Neville Alexander answered his knock at the door,
YAlexander invited him to come into the bedroom as he said he friends [sic] in the living-room,
"tT said I would like to meet his friends, and he took me to the living-room,! the lieutenant said,
"Seated round a table in the room were another of the accused, Ian Leslie van der Heyden, and two other non-White men, Reginald Franken and Gerald Giose,
"There was half a bottle of brandy and a bottle of wine on the table, and a book entitled 'The Red Army of China,?
in a Sideboard, which was locked, he found a number of books, - pamph~ lets and documents, He then told Alexander that he was arresting him under | the Suppression of Communism Act.
"Tieutenant Sauerman then handed in as exhibits, a book entitled "Strategic Problems in the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War,! by Mao Tse-tung3. a book 'The Paris Commune,! by I.V.Lenin [sic]: a book !Yu Chi Chan Guerrilla Warfare,! by Mao Tse-tung; two copies of a book 'Partisan Warfaret; and a German newspaper 'Zeitung.! .
"These articles had all been contained in an envelope addressed to tHerr Dr. A. Alexander,
"Lieutenant ‘Sauerman also handed in the following items which, he said were also found in the sideboard: a booklet entitled 'When, Where and Why the N.L.F. was Formedt; a handwritten foolscap sheet headed tShort Report on Activities in South West Africa's; another headed tConditions for _Victory't; four handwritten folios headed ti, L.F. Work in Towns,
"There were also handwritten reports 'Torture in South Africa,! and - ‘Decisions of the International Executive,' and a typed report headed: ‘Pogo -- We Stand Alone. rt Books Read into Court Record
To introduce this evidence" in the record, the prosecution then began reading the contents of these books, pamphlets and reports, D.B.
Brunette began to read as the first incriminating item, Mao Tse-tung's Strategic Problems in the Anti-Japanese Guerrilia War, including what was written on the flyleaf and the index,
By November 11, Brunette had finished reading aloud The Paris Commune by Lenin and-.the prosecution announced that ‘it would introduce more books -probably the following day.
On November 13 Brunette read into the record the text of Che Guevara's book Guerrilla Warfare. The prosecution claimed that this book was found . in the possession of one of the defendants, Don John William Davis.
Certain paragraphs in this book where Guevara describes the "duty" of a guerrilla fighter were reported. in the South African press,
Under cross-examination by the defense on November 14, Det. “Set. Je P. van Wyk, who searched the home of Neville Alexander, admitted that he found hundreds of books there but. he refused to specify what proportion were political (the ones seized by the police), He said he did not remem-= ber whether any books had authors with names like Goethe and Kant but he thought he remembered seeing Das | Kapital by Karl Marx and also a book ney Lenin. .
The November 14 session provided a sensational item for next dayts Cape Times. This was an article "Torture in South Africa," which appeared in. Liberation, Volume 1, No. 3, official journal of the. National Liberation Fronte the article charged that “White-controlled South Africa" was resorting to torture,
"During the Algerian revolution," the article was quoted as saying, "the French used the most brutal methods of persuasion to get information from their prisoners as regards the activities of the FLN. These brutal methods of getting information were intensified as the struggle progressed,
"We in South Africa can and must expect similar treatment from the police and the Army, In 1959 already two top-ranking Army officers and one police officer were sent to Algeria to study the methods the French were —~ using in the war against the Algerians," How "Conspirators" Operated
On November 15, in an effort to show how the "conspirators" operated, the prosecution brought in two witnesses.
Dan Arthur Daniels, a colored building contractor said that he had known defendant Don Davis for three or four years. "He was a preacher in: our church, the Assembly of God,"
Daniels claimed that the minister began talking to him about “how we are suffering under certain laws,
"tT said I was not interested in politics,! Mr, ‘Daniels said. tHe then gave me a little book "Guerrilla Warfare" by Mao Tse-tung.
ane saw later that it was a banned book and I burnt it,"
The second witness Charles Stephen Pitt, a colored apprentice “plumber, | said Davis paid him a visit at his parents home and showed him a pamphlet.
"tHe put it on the table,! Mr, Pitt said, tthen my mother took it and burnt it,'"
On November 18 another colored witness, H.C.van Rooyen, was put on the stand by the state, He claimed that Davis had said the whites had a laboratory at Cape Town in which they destroyed colored babies.
The defense sought to show that Davis had spoken about two different things: (1).a laboratory at Cape Town and (2) the high rate of deaths among colored children due to malnutrition and gastro-enteritis.
Other witnesses were also put on the stand to try to prove that Davis was guilty of distributing pamphlets dealing with guerrilia warfare.
On November 20, the government put a paid police spy on the witness stand. This was one Cecil Dempster who claimed that Alexander had come to his home on July 8 and given him a bundle of pamphlets "about Cuba," After a few days the police called to pick them up.
Under cross-examination Dempster admitted that he was not paid.a.... salary by the police but only for the work-he did and that this was actu-~ -ally the first. job he had done for them, He was often visited by the police while working on the assignment, "I am a police informer," he said.
He claimed that among the money-raising efforts he participated in, one was organization of a dance. “Any money over was to go to buy weapons, but after we paid for the hire of the hall there was no money left.' "Ted Weeping from the Box"
The Cape Argus of December 12 reported dramatic details about the trial, In two days four witnesses for the prosecution refused to testify although this could signify savage reprisals.
"Today Mr. NSthling called Miss Dorothy Adams, a. Coloured woman, who was warned by the judge that she was regarded by the prosecution as an accomplice,
the judge told her she would be indemnified from prosecution if she answered all questions to the satisfaction of the court. He then asked: TAre you prepared to give evidence under oath?!
“Miss Adams, who was wearing dark glasses, burst into tears, 'I cantt do it,' she sobbed as she looked towards the accused in the box,
"She was led weeping from the box,"
On ‘the previous day, Det.-Sgt.D.J.Greeff ‘claimed to have found in a "backyard shed" a box "tonteining rolls of paper, a revolver without a
trigger and a plastic bottle fitted with a wick made of pyjama cord," Another witness claimed that the box had been left by the minister Don Davis.
Following Miss Adams, Enver Marney was placed on the stand to identify another "incriminating" object alleged to belong to one of the defendants. He "said that in June he had borrowed a portable typwriter from Dr. Alexander,
‘He said he did not, in fact, use the typewriter, because the ribbon was faulty. When he heard that Dr. Alexander had been detained, he gave the typewriter to his niece, Maureen Hendricks,"
Mr, Marney, a self-proclaimed expert on "South African non-European [colored] politics for 1é years," held that guerrilla warfare and violence are “quite inapplicable" in a modern country.
"He said he felt Dr. Alexander was under the influence of !European political thought,'! and admired the type of struggle conducted in Algeria,"
He felt that it was clear that Dr. Alexander “had a group going that. was fascinated by Black nationalism,"
Another prosecution witness, Robert “Wheatley, ‘said that Elizabeth van der Heyden had sought to book a hotel hall for a dance on June le.
Trevor Potgieter said that Miss van der Heyden and Miss September hed sought to rent accomodations at the Trade Union House for the South African Students! Bursary and Loan Fund in June but that in August they had called him by telephone to say that the office would not be taken up. "Reasonable Possibility"
On December 4 Elizabeth van der Heyden was called to the witness stand. She was asked if she had voluntarily given an officer of the Security . Police a handwriting sample while she was detained under the 90-day clause,
"T don't consider that anything under 90 days is done voluntarily or freely she said,"
After argument, Justice van Heerden held that the exhibit was admis sible, In the case of Marcus Solomons, however, he upheld the contention of the defense that a sample of his handwriting was not admissible, Solo-~mons had said that he did not give the sample until September 30, three days after being hit, kicked in the stomach and being bent backwards by Sergeant van Wyk. on being asked once more to give the sample of handwriting, Solomon had done so out of fear that he would be again assaulted. The judge found that there was a "reasonable possibility” that Solomons reasonably apprehended that he might be assaulted, "
The political views of the defendants: nave not emerged in the reports appearing in the South African press, The Cape Times of November 14, however, quoted an editorial in Vol, 1, No. 1, of the National Liberation Front, the official journal of the National Liberdtion Front, which the prosecution
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alleged was found in the room of Fikele Charles Bam and which was read into . the court record: ; Oo, Pca:
"Tt is with a sense of pride and revolutionary achievement that we introduce our members to this, the first issue. _ The need for an illegal newspaper to serve as a national orgenizer | of the South African revolution has made the appearance of Liberation essential,
"It is dedicated precisely to this task, i.e., to the organization and . co-ordination of the South African revolution,
"We hope to pen its pages to all dedicated revolutionaries inside and outside South Africa ;
"Spontaneous revolutions have never occurred in history, Today it is even more necessary than ever that every conscious revolutionary has a ‘clear idea of our goals," ; Critical of Communist Party
According to the Cape Times account of what was read into the court record, Liberation recommended certain literature to be read on guerrilla warfare , communism, fund-raising, business ventures, organization of cells, identification of member s and "espionage."
The issue contains reports on various South African organizations, including the Communist party, Congress. Alliance, Pan-Africanist Congress, the Non-European Unity Movement , the anti-CAD Movenent and the South West African People's Organization, "Its report on the Comnunist party is critical: -O
"Since 1960, i.e., Sharpeville, the C.P. has made a determined effort to put itself at. the head of affairs once more,
"Tts strategy has been to try to upset the security of the State to such an extent as to bring about mass reprisals resulting in international intervention «- in the form of UNO.
"In other words, it has almost delibera tely cut itself off from the masses and is advocating petty terrorism which is objectively not directly linked with a mass movement.
"It is interesting to note in this respect, that the CPSA has invariably | supported Khrushchev!s interpretation of the policy of peaceful coexistence in the Sino-Soviet quarrel about tactics and strategy.
"Although it helped to draw up Freedom Charter with its slogans of nationalization of the mines, etc., its policy does not go beyond bourgeois democratic demands of the Liberals."
Whatever the political views of the defendants may be, it is clear - that they are victims (of a witch-hunt, ‘From the evidence it is only pos-
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‘sible to conclude that they are being tried for (1) harboring thoughts . frowned on by the Verwoerd government, (2) allegedly reading, recommending or having in their possession books and pamphlets banned by this same fascist-like regime, The trial, even as reflected in an utterly one~sided manner in the South African press, is strikingly similar to some of the: trials that occurred under Hitler in Nazi. Germany.
Everyone concerned about democratic rights in the world today should help spread the facts about South Africa's infamous thought-contro} laws and the crucifixion of the political opposition.
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