This issue focuses on increasing military control in Namibia, particularly through South Africa’s use of intelligence and military figures to override civil authority. It documents multiple cases of deaths in detention (notably in Kavango), systemic torture by security police, conditions in Namibian hospitals, repression of trade unionists, political trials (including Barbara Hogan, Cedric Mayson, and Allan Fine), abuses of the Internal Security Act, political detentions, and apartheid’s legal manipulation. Includes statistical updates, case reports, and trial summaries relating to anti-apartheid activists, students, and workers across Southern Africa.

This issue highlights post-execution protests, a new death sentence, eleven treason charges in the Eastern Cape, renewed banning orders, and worsening prison conditions for political detainees. It covers township protests in Soweto and East London, police repression of rent and transport protests, numerous detentions including youth activists and clergy, and the extensive use of Section 50 of the Internal Security Act. Reports include detailed updates on treason trials, executions, state witness manipulations, prison deaths, media censorship in Namibia, the banning of Archbishop Denis Hurley's statements, and mass grave discoveries. Notably, the issue records a police massacre during a transport boycott in Mdantsane.

Issue 56 documents an intensified wave of popular resistance and state repression in South Africa during the latter half of 1984, compared to the 1976 uprisings. It covers mass protests, rent boycotts, township uprisings, education strikes, and repression involving mass detentions, torture, and the militarization of civil areas. It includes resistance timelines, details of youth and trade unionist arrests, SWAPO resistance in Namibia, press censorship, and trials of political dissidents. Special attention is given to armed forces operations in Sebokeng, the rise of student activism through COSAS and AZASM, and censorship actions in Namibia.