This issue documents intensified repression in South Africa, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), and Namibia. Topics include the banning of lawyers, new prison access restrictions, curbs on foreign legal funding, mass detentions including children, police torture, and the Mothopeng trial. Highlights include the death penalty for Solomon Mahlangu, the Kassinga massacre in Angola, the targeting of Catholic youth, and the rise in political prisoners. It also reports on secret detentions, attacks on educational groups, and the censorship of legal representation.

This issue details a new phase of military escalation in Namibia, including South African troop build-ups, air raids in Angola, martial law extensions, and mass detentions in Windhoek. It covers the repression in ‘Zimbabwe-Rhodesia,’ highlighting political trials, executions, the Mothopeng PAC trial, and press censorship. Key developments include the sentencing of PAC members, reports of sexual violence by security forces in protected villages, new appointments to suppress dissent, and the systematic use of curfews and detentions without trial.

This issue centers on the campaign to release Nelson Mandela, political trials involving ANC members, widespread detentions, prison conditions, and regional instability due to South African military incursions into Angola and Zambia. Key trials include those of James Mange, Renfrew Christie, and numerous ANC guerrillas. The issue details amnesties in Zimbabwe, restoration of study rights for political prisoners in South Africa, torture accounts of detained youth, and the banning of religious and civil society organizations in the Transkei. Also discussed are border attacks, military build-ups, and systematic pressure on frontline states.

This issue reports on the trial of three SWAPO guerrillas in Namibia, with a legal challenge for prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions. Topics covered include the continued banning of Nathaniel Maxuilili, torture and detentions in northern Namibia, attacks on Angola, education boycotts, and widespread political trials in South Africa. The issue exposes security force abuses, displays of guerrilla corpses, school protest crackdowns, press censorship, and trade union repression. It also covers the new IDAF constitution and the continued use of solitary confinement and psychological torture against detainees such as Neil Aggett. Legal cases include Barbara Hogan, Oscar Mpetha, and SWAPO youth leaders, among many others.

This issue highlights the violent police raids on Crossroads squatter camp, political trials including the Mothopeng and SASM 11 cases, detention of activists, the death of Lungile Tabalaza, and the publication of IDAF's 'Prisoners of Apartheid'. The issue also covers South Africa’s intensified legal repression, martial law expansion in Rhodesia, repression in Ciskei and Venda, deportations, and the death of student activist Johannes Matsobane.

This issue reports on the Namibian uranium mine strike at Rossing, widespread repression in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the January 1979 South African banning orders, SWAPO detentions, sabotage trials, torture allegations, deportations of clergy, and the sham elections in Namibia. Includes coverage of the Law and Order Act, military courts in Rhodesia, ANC prisoners in Khami, and intensified student resistance to African military call-ups.

This issue details extensive torture allegations in Rhodesia, including specific cases of teenage detainees Benchard and Leavit Katumba, Bibo Chitsedza, and Duster Katanha. It reports on political trials, executions, petitions for clemency, and the expansion of martial law across prisons in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. It also covers SWAPO detentions in Namibia, repression in South Africa (including bannings, exile, and suppression of political activists), the creation of a South West African Defence Force under South African control, and press censorship. Further reports cover banned and exiled individuals, refugee crises, and new powers granted to police and Bantustans to restrict movement and civil liberties.

Issue 38 centers on the politically motivated assassination of anti-apartheid lawyer Griffiths Mxenge, as well as widespread detentions of students, trade unionists, and church workers. It documents deaths in detention (e.g., Tshifhiwa Muofhe, Manana Mgoweto), ongoing trials (e.g., Oscar Mpetha case), censorship, new security legislation in Namibia, and the continued militarization of Angola and Namibia. Coverage includes Operation Protea aftermath, juvenile political trials, the rise of civil disobedience by churches, bans and passport seizures, attacks on the South African Council of Churches, and the Red Cross involvement in prisoner welfare.

This issue documents mass executions under Rhodesian martial law, including hangings and firing squad deaths; political trials and detentions in South Africa and Namibia; the torture of SWAPO official Axel Johannes; repression of election activity under Rhodesian martial law; starvation and violence in rural areas; cross-border military raids by South Africa into Angola and Zambia; and detailed lists of political prisoners, detainees, and court rulings. The issue also highlights the censorship of political prisoners, private armies in Zimbabwe, and the use of elections as political manipulation by the Rhodesian regime.

This issue reports on the execution of Solomon Mahlangu, Soweto student trials (Soweto Eleven), new political trial convictions including Mzilikazi Khumalo and Norman Ngwenya, and ongoing PAC and ANC-related legal cases. It covers the death in detention of Mputie Matsobane on Robben Island, detention statistics, banning orders, and claims for damages by families of detainees like Steve Biko and Joseph Mdluli. Zimbabwe elections, martial law, and South African collaboration with the Rhodesian regime are also addressed. Further topics include press censorship, guerrilla detentions, and the militarization of the border zones.