Issue 53 details unequal prison conditions between male and female political prisoners, focusing on the treatment of Barbara Hogan and Dorothy Nyembe. It reports detentions, including youth activists, trade unionists, and ANC affiliates; describes major political trials involving ANC members and community leaders; and explores repression in Transkei, Venda, and the Ciskei. Also covered are education protests, the election boycott campaign, censorship battles over the Freedom Charter, and the release of Namibian political prisoners from Robben Island. The issue also includes coverage of SWAPO harassment, student resistance, and university unrest.

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.