21 December 1976
The lengthy trial of nine student leaders from the Black People's Convention (BPC) and the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) ended on this date. They were found guilty under the Terrorism Act and sentenced to periods of imprisonment, three for six years and six for five years. The next day they were driven from Pretoria to Cape Town in the back of a police van, and from there taken to Robben Island. The nine were first detained by Security Police in October 1974, following a Viva FRELIMO rally in Durban in September of that year. The trial commenced in the Pretoria Supreme Court in 1975. Amongst the accused were Mosioua Lekota, Mweni Musa, Nkwenkwe Nkomo and Maitshe Mokoape.
References
Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.|The Graphic, (1974), BCP pair claim "We're being harassed", from The Graphic, 03 January, [online], Available at www.ukzn.ac.za