On September 3, 1984, a protest march in Sharpeville turned violent (some of the crowd threw stones at Dlamini's house, he responded by firing a gun and a riot ensued[1]) and the Deputy Mayor was murdered.
Mojalefa Sefatsa, Theresa Ramashamola, Reid Mokoena, Oupa Diniso, Duma Khumalo and Francis Don Mokhesi were arrested in the following months, found guilty of murder under the "Common purpose" doctrine[2] and sentenced to death by hanging on December 12, 1985.
A poll by The Star of eleven law professors showed that five were supportive of the execution, while six were not – of the six who were not, four raised the prospect of legal reforms and the remaining two remarked the case "smacks of simple vengeance".
[7] The following day after Security Council Resolution 610 was adopted, a South African court granted a one-month stay of execution.
[8] The appeal was rejected in June 1988, which the Security Council condemned in Resolution 615; however pressure from abroad finally led to the sentences of all six being commuted to 18–25 years in prison by President Pieter Willem Botha.