Apartheid Convicts MK Commander James April
On Sunday, 30 May 1971 (exactly 50 years ago), Duma Nokwe was going through weekend newspaper reports on the conviction of James Edward April, who had on 6 May 1971 been charged under the Terrorism Act. April was convicted on the following counts: that during June 1961 and February of 1971, April – as a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) – was trained in communism, warfare, guerrilla warfare, methods of revolution, propaganda and methods of secret communication with intent to endanger the maintenance of law and order in the Republic.
On Monday, 31 May 1971, after the news of James April’s imprisonment had reached the headquarters of the External Mission of the ANC in Morogoro, Tanzania, Duma Nokwe, as the Director of Political Affairs, had to issue a statement on behalf of the Movement condemning April’s arrest and conviction.
In the statement Nokwe said: “The ANC of South Africa vehemently condemns the arrest and savage sentence imposed on James Edward April, a hero and patriot of the struggle against apartheid and racialism. The ‘Terrorism Act’ under which he is supposed to have been found guilty is a criminal device of terrorism and tyranny by the White fascist regime whose purpose is designed to suppress and crush all resistance against its obnoxious rule. It is a pseudo-legal method of condemning all opponents of racism to the dungeons of the White South African racis
