South African Rand Daily Mail (December 15, 1966), nine members of the banned Pan Africanist Congress [PAC] of Azania were sentenced to death in the Cape Supreme Court for their part in the death of a shopkeeper in 1962. This is confirmed by a report in the December 15 London Times.
All but one of the condemned men, it is reported, were already serving sentences ranging from six to twenty years for their part in the 1963 Paarl revolt.
The PAC headquarters in Maseru, Lesotho, in an urgent report states that one of
the condemned men, Wellington Mzimase Tyhobeka, had disappeared on August 29, 1966, under mysterious circumstances from Maseru, capital of the then Basutoland, a British colony. Although his disappearance had been reported to the Basutoland mounted police, his whereabouts could not be traced.
This once again raises the question whether Tyhobeka had in fact been kidnapped from Basutoland by the South African police. It brings to mind the recent kidnapping from Basutoland of the Pan Africanist Congress Acting National Secretary John Nyati Pokela, who has now been traced to a South African jail in East London, South Africa, where he is awaiting trial.
In view of the fact that a South African refugee, last seen in British territory, has now been sentenced to death, the. case of Pokela assumes alarming proportions as well.
The violation by the South African police of British territory in order to kidnap and then sentence to death people who had been given sanctuary in Basutoland (now Lesotho) needs a thorough investigation immediately, so that every effort can be made to save both Tyhobeka and Pokela from the gallows.
The PAC strongly contends that although Basutoland became independent since these events, the British government is nonetheless morally responsible for the fate of these victims of South African Prime Minister Vorster.
An unequivocal demand should now be made to the Pretoria regime for the immediate release and return of Pokela and Tyhobeka to Lesotho.