NAPHTALI MANANA
Imprisoned for Life
(Original biographical information included with his bracelet in 1985)
Naphtali Manana, Ncimbithi Lubisi, Petrus Mashigo, and six others were charged in January 1980 with treason, attempted murder, and terrorism in incidents including the attack on the Soekmakaar Police Station and the siege at the Silverton branch of the Volkskas Bank. Manana was tried in the Pretoria Supreme Court and found guilty of high treason because he was an active member of the ANC, he had received military training overseas, and had returned to South Africa to commit acts of sabotage. The charges in connection with the Silverton bank siege were dropped. Manana, Lubisi, and Mashigo were sentenced to death while the six other co-accused received sentences of 10 to 20 years imprisonment.
During the trial, evidence was given that police from the Soekmakaar station were assisting authorities in forced removals of people from the area, and that the police force at the station had been increased to deal with resistance. Press reports in October 1979, at the time of some of the removals, gave accounts of how police with vans and dogs were called in as people resisted, and of a number of families being forced into trucks and taken away.
Giving evidence during the presentation of the defense case, Petrus Mashigo said that the attack on the police station had been intended as an “armed propaganda” attack in protest of the forced removal of black residents in the area, and to demonstrate that the ANC sympathized with them.
When the sentences were handed down, ANC President Oliver Tambo, appealed in the Hague for world pressure to commute the sentences. International reactions included appeals from the United Nations and the British Labour Party. On April 7, 1982, the defendants’ appeal failed in the Bloemfontein Appeal Court. The last attempt to save Manana’s life, and the lives of Mashigo and Lubisi, would be a petition to the State President for a reprieve. Their death sentences were commuted to life in June 1982. He is serving his sentence on Robben Island.
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The source of this biographical information is International Defence and Aid Fund’s monthly publication Focus, various issues 1980-1982. We appreciate their permission to use this material.
During the trial, evidence was given that police from the Soekmakaar station were assisting authorities in forced removals of people from the area, and that the police force at the station had been increased to deal with resistance. Press reports in October 1979, at the time of some of the removals, gave accounts of how police with vans and dogs were called in as people resisted, and of a number of families being forced into trucks and taken away.
Giving evidence during the presentation of the defense case, Petrus Mashigo said that the attack on the police station had been intended as an “armed propaganda” attack in protest of the forced removal of black residents in the area, and to demonstrate that the ANC sympathized with them.
When the sentences were handed down, ANC President Oliver Tambo, appealed in the Hague for world pressure to commute the sentences. International reactions included appeals from the United Nations and the British Labour Party. On April 7, 1982, the defendants’ appeal failed in the Bloemfontein Appeal Court. The last attempt to save Manana’s life, and the lives of Mashigo and Lubisi, would be a petition to the State President for a reprieve. Their death sentences were commuted to life in June 1982. He is serving his sentence on Robben Island.
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The source of this biographical information is International Defence and Aid Fund’s monthly publication Focus, various issues 1980-1982. We appreciate their permission to use this material.