”Delmas two”, the treason trial currently taking place in the conservative Eastern Transvaal dorpie, has a number of key differences from its more famous predecessor.
There is no legal defence and no cross-examination; only the state is leading evidence.
In terms of court days, the original trial was the longest in South African legal history, lasting three years. The current one is not expected to continue for long. It started three weeks ago, and already the state has concluded its case.
Four men face a possible death sentence in the current trial. Despite repeated warnings by the presiding judge, Mr Justice M de Klerk, of the gravity of the alleged offences, the men have refused legal representation and have consistently declined to cross-examine state witnesses on allegations put before the court.
The judge entered a plea of not guilty at the beginning of the trial after the men had refused to plead. At the beginning of the trial, the four alleged highly-trained members of the African National Congress’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, told Justice de Klerk, who is sitting with two assessors, that ”we as soldiers, cannot and should not stand trial in a civilian court ”.
The accused, Jabu Masina, Ting-Ting Masango, Neo Potsane and Joseph Makhura, are alleged to have been responsible for the killing of Detective Sergeant Orphan ”Hlubi” Chapi, Constable Sinki Vuma, Swazi national David Lukhele and Lukhele’s sister-in-law Elizabeth Dludlu, between 1978 and 1985.
The accused stated without emotion at explosive experts called to give evidence by the state and police witnesses said to have expert knowledge of ANC structures this week. When A-47 rifles and Makarov pistols were handed in to the court as exhibits, they did not seem shaken.
At the start of the trial, and to spontaneous applause from the public gallery, Masina read out a statement on behalf of the accused explaining their decision not to participate in the court proceedings.
He said that ”our refusal to participate in the proceedings stems from our belief that this court and this judicial system cannot operate independently from the political system within which it functions.
”As soldiers and freedom fighters we have taken up the struggle on behalf of our people to get rid of this system, which is evil and which degrades and dehumanises people on the basis of skin colour.”
Relatives, friends and supporters — mostly members of the Federation of Transvaal Women – wanting to touch the accused during court recesses are prevented from doing so by a glass partition.
This week, two anonymous state witnesses, allegedly ex-members of the ANC told the court that they had seen the accused in ANC training camps. Only accredited journalists and reporters were allowed to sit in on the proceedings.
Another state witness, Brigadier Jacobus Hendrick Pochener, told the court that ANC publications such as Dawn and Sechaba always referred to police, security police and army personnel as targets.
Defectors from the ANC were also known to be targets, he said. He also told the court that according to his investigations, members of the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, were more highly trained in the handling of weapons than those of the Pan Africanist Congress.
Three of the accused, Masina, Potsane and Makhura, are alleged to have placed a limpet mine outside shopping complex in Silverton, Pretoria on July 4 1986. The resulting explosion injured 17 people.
The four men are alleged to have planted a landmine on a dirt road in Soshanguve, near Pretoria, which detonated when a road grader passed over it on July 21 1986.
According to the indictment, the landmine was placed on a road which ”was identified as a target used by military vehicles”.
Masina alone is accused of killing Detective-Sergeant ”Orphan” Hlubi Chapi on June 26 1978 in Soweto. Hlubi was described by newspaper at the time as being particularly hated by the youth for his role in the 1976 uprising.