Judgment quashing dean’s conviction

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32893, 17 April 1972, Page 13

Judgment quashing dean’s conviction

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) BLOEMFONTEIN, April 16. The Appeal Court judgment quashing the conviction of the Anglican Dean of Johannesburg, the Very Rev. Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, said that the State had failed to establish any illegal intent in the Dean’s speech to a Black Sash meeting and discounted the testimony of Henry Jordaan, an undercover police agent, whom it described as a wholly unsatisfactory witness.

Dean ffrench-Beytagh had his appeal against conviction on terrorism charges upheld on Friday. He later flew to London. It was believed that he would retire.

Dean ffrench-Beytagh was first arrested in January last year, held incommunicado for eight days then released on bail. He was indicted on 10 counts under the Terrorism Act and convicted last November. After a three-month trial he was found guilty of inciting a meeting of the women’s anti-apartheid Black Sash Movement in Johannesburg to break the law and support violent revolution, and inciting an undercover police agent, Jordaan, to acts of violence and to prepare for a violent uprising. Jordaan, a kev State witness, testified that he had masqueraded as the. dean s friend for more than two years while reporting the cleric’s activities to the police. , , . The dean was also found guilty of receiving 51,400 rand (about SNZ2I,OOO) from the London based Defence and Aid Organisation and passing it on to banned organisations in South Africa. The charge of giving funds to banned organisations was not sufficiently proved, the Appeal Court held. The judgments said that it was clear that Jordaan, who said he had heard the dean advocate violence as the only means to bring about political change in South Africa “consistently attempted to trap and provoke” Dean ffrenchBeytagh into some criminal activity or into making some incriminating admission. The Chief Justice remarked that the dean expressed his views, especially concerning black-white relationships, with consistent vigour and at times in language which would be regarded as intemperate by the majority of South Africans. „ . , . . But he was not on trial for his political views and statements against legislation or the policy of apartheid were not necessarily to be equated with participation in terrorist activity, the Chief Justice said. The British Government, church leaders and antiapartheid campaigners welcomed his successful appeal. Bishop Kenneth Sansbury, general secretary of the British Council of Churches, said that he was delighted at the news, but warned that others still faced risks there. “Our joy at this outcome must not obscure the fact that, though this vindictive attempt by the South African Government to intimidate those who actively oppose m conscience its racial policies has failed, those who stand for human rights and justice in Southern Africa continue to be at risk,” he said.

“While we rejoice at the dean’s deliverance, we recall the recent expulsion of Bishop (Colin) Winter and his colleagues from SouthWest Africa and pray for Church leaders and Christian peoples in Southern Africa as they continue their courageous witness,” Bishop Sansbury added in a statement. At Port Elizabeth, a synod of South Africa’s Anglican bishops passed a resolution “to send its felicitations and congratulations” to the acquitted dean. The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Robert Selby Taylor, commented: “We shall take fresh courage and inspiration at this vindication of Christian compassion which was the motivation of the dean’s actions. “We shall continue to protest against laws which we judge to be in conflict .with Christian principles.” The Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg (Dr Leslie Stradiing) said that the

Anglican Church had been cleared of any possible complicity in something that was legally wrong. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Michael Ramsey) sent the dean a telegram, saying: “I join with Christians everywhere in admiration for your courage and charity throughout your terrible ordeal and your great services to those in poverty and distress.” A British Foreign Office spokesman told a press conference: “We welcome the news of the dean’s successful appeal.” Bishop Ambrose Reeves, former Bishop of Johannesburg and now president of the anti-apartheid movement, said that the decision "reflects credit on the judges who heard the appeal.” “It will certainly encourage many in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to redouble their efforts in mobilising public opinion in active opposition to the tyranny and oppression in South Africa,” he added.