Issue No. 1 of 'Focus' bulletin, dated November 1975, detailing the intensification of political repression in Southern Africa, including mass detentions, torture, political trials under the Terrorism Act, and increasing use of banning orders. Specific cases, trials, and legislative actions in South Africa, Rhodesia, and Namibia are described.

This issue reports on the tightening of apartheid security laws following the Rabie Commission, including proposed new terrorism, subversion, and sabotage laws. It details intensified repression across South Africa and Namibia, mass detentions, psychological torture, political trials, and restrictions on the press. The issue also includes a major review of the South African Police, extensive political trial updates (including Barbara Hogan, Oscar Mpetha, and SWAPO guerrillas), and the arrest and detention of many students, trade unionists, and church workers. Notably, it reports hunger strikes and deaths in custody, and increasing international protest against detention conditions.

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 focuses on the controversial parole of political prisoners in South Africa, political trials of ANC and SWAPO members, deaths in detention (Muofhe and Depale), widespread use of the Terrorism and Internal Security Acts, bannings, banishments, repression of trade unions, the Rabie Commission reforms, and intensified state surveillance. It includes reports on the torture of detainees, new legislation affecting civil liberties, restrictions on media coverage, and paramilitary operations like Koevoet in Namibia.

This issue covers the imposition of strict military censorship in Namibia by the SADF, the deaths of detainees including Kasire Thomas and Johannes Kakuva, mass arrests under Proclamation AG9, forced labour of prisoners, torture trials and revelations, and systemic suppression of opposition to apartheid-era constitutional reforms. It highlights SWAPO resistance, the banning of the Namibia Report by Archbishop Denis Hurley, police raids on churches, the Mawaala sabotage trial, and trials of numerous ANC activists. A statistical roundup of detentions and court cases also illustrates escalating state violence.

Issue 49 focuses on violent repression of SWAPO activism in Namibia during the UN Secretary-General’s visit, the ongoing arrests and torture of activists, and bans on key political figures. It includes detailed lists of restricted and detained persons, coverage of constitutional resistance through the UDF’s launch, and increasing detentions of students and trade unionists in South Africa. It also highlights the torture of detainees, psychiatric abuse, and the use of treason trials to suppress dissent. The issue documents major political trials, mass protests, state censorship, and population clearances in the Kavango region of Namibia.

Issue 50 covers the widespread rejection of South Africa’s new constitution by black communities, intensified state repression through arrests, treason trials, and censorship. It documents the brutal crackdown on the United Democratic Front (UDF), mass arrests in Namibia’s Kavango region, detentions of students and clergy, torture, trials under the Internal Security Act, and township resistance. The issue also includes coverage of Inkatha violence, the banning of political meetings, police shootings, and hanging secrecy policies. An obituary for Alex Hepple is included.

This issue details South Africa’s continued occupation and military offensive in southern Angola (Operation Askari), systematic torture of detainees in Namibia, SWAPO trials, and the expansion of South Africa’s armed forces. Key topics include Ida Jimmy’s reduced sentence, Kavango detainees' torture affidavits, political trials involving ANC and PAC members, censorship enforcement, and high-profile detentions. It also highlights poverty in Namibia, with case studies revealing the state’s discriminatory benefit policies and extreme deprivation. Notable incidents include the Robben Island protest for elderly detainee release, the ‘roasting’ torture case in Kavango, and multiple political trials including that of Sister Mary Bernard Ncube.

This issue reports on the release of SWAPO leader Herman Toivo ja Toivo, his public reaffirmation of SWAPO's mission, and the continued detention of Kassinga survivors. It features court actions to free detainees, detailed lists of those imprisoned, and affidavits documenting torture and unlawful detention under Proclamation AG9. It covers new detentions, student protests, pass law convictions, school boycotts, the Alexandra bus boycott, forced removals, and increasing repression in Namibia and Venda. Major sections report on death in detention, political trials, abuses by security forces, and a growing list of detainees. The newsletter also documents the high-profile trial of journalist Gwen Lister and the deportation of British researcher Alun Roberts.

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.