Stop the hangings

In November 1980 three young freedom fighters, Petrus Lubisi, Ncimbithi Mashigo and Naphtali Manana, were sentenced to death for attacking a South African police station. In Britain, Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) organised pickets, marches and media publicity to save their lives. After a South African appeal court confirmed the sentence in April 1982 the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting. On 3 June 1982 the British Foreign Office met a SATIS delegation. On the same day, as a result of the campaign, the sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

Three young men, Johannes Shabangu, Anthony Tsotsobe and David Moise, were sentenced to death in Pretoria on 19 August 1981. They were charged with taking part in attack on the SASOL oil-from-coal power station and a Johannesburg police station. All three were school students who left South Africa to join Umkhonto we Sizwe after the Soweto uprising in 1976. After an international campaign the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on 7 June 1983.

Johannes Shabangu, Anthony Tsotsobe and David Moise were among the hundreds of young people who left South Africa after the 1976 Soweto student uprising and returned secretly after military training. They were intercepted by the South African Security Forces and sentenced to death. Partly as the result of international protests, their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

Jerry Mosololi, Marcus Motaung and Simon Mogoerane, known as the Moroka Three, were among hundreds of young people who left South Africa after the 1976 Soweto student uprising and returned secretly after military training. They were intercepted by the South African Security Forces and sentenced to death. This pamphlet shows how the case against them relied on confessions made under torture. In spite of an international campaign for their release, the three were executed on 9 June 1983.

SATIS-ACTION was a scheme that alerted subscribers to new political trials and death sentences in South Africa and Namibia. Supporters were asked to send letters and telegrams to the South African government and to ask the British government to intervene.

These three young men were among the hundreds who left South Africa after the 1976 Soweto student uprising and returned secretly after military training. They were intercepted by the South African Security Forces and sentenced to death in August 1981. This leaflet advertised a 12-hour vigil outside the South African Embassy as part of a long-running international campaign to save their lives. As a result of the campaign the sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

These six young men were among the hundreds who left South Africa after the 1976 Soweto student uprising and returned secretly after military training. They were intercepted by the South African Security Forces and sentenced to death. Partly as the result of international protests, Anthony Tsotsobe, Johannes Shabangu and David Moise had their sentenced commuted. Marcus Motaung, Jerry Mosololi and Simon Mogoerane, known as the Moroka Three, were executed on 9 June 1983.

The Moroka Three, Jerry Mosololi, Marcus Motaung and Simon Mogoerane,  were young ANC members convicted of belonging to the ANC’s armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. They were sentenced to death and hanged on 9 June 1983 in spite of a huge international campaign for clemency. Supporters of SATIS (Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society) held an all night vigil outside the South African embassy on the night before their execution. The picture shows a South African Embassy official removing wreaths attached to the embassy gate in memory of the three young men.