Sharp exchange in Mandela trial

Press, 29 October 1977, Page 10

Sharp exchange in Mandela trial

NZPA-Reuter Bloemfontein The trial of the black militant, Winnie Mandela, facing charges of violating a Government banning order, has been adjourned until January because a defence witness is! |ill. I'he witness is Mrs Man-i idela’s lawyer, who she said! J could give evidence that site! had permission for a visit! from relatives which the| prosecution claimed was file-1 gal. i Mrs Mandela, wife of the] jailed AFrican National Con-| gress leader. Nelson Man-i jdela, was in the witness box! for the second day running! Ito defend herself against] (charges that she broke, a; Government order banishing! her to the little town of; Brandfort, fat from her; j Soweto home near Johannes-.'

burg. Tall and dignified-looking, Mrs Mandela, who is 43. kept her composure during cross-examination by the prosecutor (Mr Neil Botha), but two questions provoked, sharp replies. Mr Botha had asked why Mrs Mandela was dressed yesterday in gold, green and; black, rhe colours of the: outlawed A.N.C. "Of rhe limited rights ll' have. I still have the choice i of a wardrobe.” Mrs Man-ii dela answered. I Mr Botha asked her if shej: wanted the court to believe: she was a person who didr ;not defy authority. "I did!: jwhat I did within the! limited rights 1 have, if lb have any left," she replied. 1 Much of Mrs Mandela’s it j cross-examination and that! • of other witnesses has cen-, jtred on questions such as'i i whether she sat down in somebody’s house, 'or had a|t cup of tea, or discussed the .price of a chicken. j< The prosecution was at-|; '•tempting to establish these’, points to maintain its case, j that when Mrs Mandela vis-li ited people she was taking:: jpart in what her banning;.

: order defines as “unlawful social gatherings." ! The order allows her to ’ communicate as long as she , and the others involved have ’ no common purpose. Mrs Mandela has argued I ’! throughout that the three. • visits to people over which I she faces charges were not! 'social gatherings. , Describing one of them, she said she was at a I woman’s house to discuss I such matters as how to buy I coal in Brandfort when a : man came in with a chicken land talked about its price, i Four white South African I soldiers have been each) (sentenced to two years in j jail after a court martial : found them guilty of raping I a pregnant black woman in I Botswana. Four months of the.! sentences were suspended!

fot three years. The court martial at! Pom drift, in South Africa, was told the four crossed into Botswana. demanded dagga (marijuana), assaulted; the woman’s parents, and .then raped her. In Port Elizabeth, the; South African Prime Minis-' Iter (Mr John Vorster) has! said the white Opposition! 'Federal Progressive Party is! I “un-South African.” He told an election meet-} ling that the party "does not! .deserve the right to exist. “Il jsay to you, chase them out. : They don’t, belong. They are; I un-South African,” Mr ’Vor-i ister said. The P.F.P. is the main' 'anti-apartheid group contesting the November 30 General Election. The police used gunfire. ; and dogs to disperse rioters | l in scattered locations in South Africa, a police .spokesman has said. General David Kriel. chief; iof riot control, said that the police fired on a rioting mob: of about 300 blacks throw-j ing stones at a courthouse; in Algoa Park outside Port; Elizabeth. One youth was: wounded by gunfire, he said. 1