Mother Seeks to Prevent Hanging : Asks for World’s Aid to Spare S. African in Police Death

The mother of a 31-year-old supporter of the outlawed African National Congress, under sentence of death for killing a black policeman, appealed Sunday to the United States, Britain and other foreign nations to intervene for clemency for her son, who is scheduled to be hanged this week.

Pauline Moloisi, 53, asked President Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the United Nations to approach President Pieter W. Botha and ask him to commute Benjamin Moloisi’s death sentence to life imprisonment. She said her own plea for clemency was rejected last week and that her son’s execution has been fixed for Wednesday morning in Pretoria.

The British and West German governments and the U.N. Security Council have already asked South Africa to spare Moloisi. The Reagan Administration made no earlier appeal on the grounds that Botha has not yet made a final decision on clemency.

Upholsterer, Poet

Moloisi, an upholsterer and poet and the father of a 4-year-old daughter, was convicted two years ago of the murder in November, 1982, of police Warrant Officer Phillipus Selepe at his home in Mamelodi, a black township outside Pretoria.

Selepe was slain after he gave testimony against three African National Congress guerrillas, who eventually went to the gallows after being convicted of treason, murder and terrorism in connection with a series of attacks on four police stations.

In a statement this past weekend, African National Congress headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, declared that Moloisi, although a supporter of the black nationalist group, was not one of its guerrillas and had not been involved in Selepe’s murder. The statement said Selepe was instead slain by “an assassination squad sent in to kill him” and which then returned to its undisclosed base.

Priscilla Jana, the condemned man’s lawyer, warned Sunday that Moloisi’s execution could provoke a new wave of protest riots by already angry blacks.

“This could well be the spark that sets off the firestorm we fear,” Jana said. “Not only do I believe Benjamin Moloisi innocent and his conviction a gross miscarriage of justice, but his execution in the present circumstances could cost many, many more lives.”

Symptom of Tough Line

She said that the government’s decision last week not to commute Moloisi’s sentence reflected the tough stance expressed in a major address by President Botha. Referring to such government measures as the current state of emergency in much of the country, Botha said last Thursday night that he is prepared to take even stronger action, if necessary, to curb any continuing unrest.

To a large degree, the white minority government here attributes the strife to efforts by the African National Congress to make the nation ungovernable.

Only four African National Congress guerrillas have been executed in the 25 years since the organization was outlawed and began carrying out intermittent guerrilla attacks. Those executions, in 1979 and 1983, touched off violent protests against apartheid and white rule.

While the African National Congress says that Moloisi is not one of its guerrillas, the condemned man’s sympathies apparently lie with the outlawed organization. His mother said he told her Saturday that he would go to the gallows singing a guerrilla song in praise of Oliver Tambo, the group’s president.

She said that the song is one that begins: “Tambo is out in the bush. He is still training the soldiers. Let’s fall into line.”

Pauline Moloisi said that she is proud of her son. “He is dying as a warrior and a brave soldier,” she said. “I will go to my grave honoring him as a brave soldier for our nation.”

She will be allowed a final visit with him today, she added.

‘Political Trial’

Jana, a prominent South African defense attorney in political cases, contended that Moloisi had been deprived of a fair trial in the Selepe slaying. In South Africa, she asserted, “judges are selected and handpicked for political trials, and these usually have a strong political allegiance to the government.”

Moloisi was convicted, Jana said, largely on the basis of a confession made under duress during three months in solitary confinement, without access to his lawyers or family and under South Africa’s strict security laws. The confession was admitted as evidence despite defense protests, she noted.

According to Jana, Moloisi was arraigned on the indictment without legal advice or the presence of a lawyer in court, and the case was set for trial with the defense having only a few weeks to prepare. The presiding judge refused permission for an appeal of the conviction and death sentence, she said.