14 S. African Blacks to Hang for ’85 Mob Killing

A regional judge Friday sentenced 14 blacks to hang for the 1985 mob killing of a black police officer, in a ruling that is likely to stir widespread protest.

The 13 men and one woman appeared calm during the one-hour hearing in the heavily guarded courtroom in this remote town in Cape province as Justice Jan Basson handed down the sentences.

The 14 are among 25 convicted of killing Lucas Sethwala in the nearby black township of Paballelo in November, 1985, at the height of a national black uprising against white minority-led rule.

Only four of the 14 were found to have physically contributed to the death of Sethwala, who was caught by a mob, hit over the head and then stoned, beaten and set on fire. Only one of the four was found to have actually inflicted the blows that caused the policeman’s death.

But Basson sentenced all 14 to hang, invoking a controversial “common purpose” doctrine--that they were part of a crowd of about 300 that gathered outside the victim’s house after a protest against rent increases.

Sethwala, who was singled out for being a police officer, fired a gun out the window, wounding a small boy. Defense lawyers said this incited the crowd to throw stones at the house to force him to come outside. When he tried to flee, he was caught and attacked.

But Basson said the killing was politically motivated, part of a conspiracy to attack authorities.

“The Upington trial is an outrage that only the apartheid system can produce,” protested the South African Council of Churches.

Addressing the crowded court, the defendants all professed their innocence. Lawyers said the sentences will be appealed.

The trial is reminiscent of the “Sharpeville Six” trial, in which six blacks were sentenced to hang for being part of a crowd that killed a black councilman in the black township of Sharpeville in 1984.

Although there was no evidence that any of the six had actually caused the death, South Africa’s highest court upheld the sentences and the principle of applying “common purpose” judgments in cases of political unrest. But the ruling drew worldwide protests, prompting President Pieter W. Botha to commute the sentences last year to long prison terms.