This issue documents the worsening prison conditions for Nelson Mandela and fellow political prisoners at Pollsmoor Prison, state-sanctioned forced removals and the killing of community leader Saul Mkhize, child malnutrition and mortality in resettlement camps, mass detentions and psychiatric abuse of detainees, repression in the Ciskei bantustan, and the execution of ANC guerrillas. It provides updates on extensive political trials including Oscar Mpetha, Cedric Mayson, Siphiwe Makhathini, and Angula Mwaala (SWAPO). The issue contains a special review of state witnesses, torture allegations, and continuing evidence of apartheid legal manipulation and brutality.

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.

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.