The total number of known detainee deaths reached 50 when Lungile TABALAZA (20) plunged to his death on 11 July shortly after being transferred to the custody of the Port Elizabeth Security Police by the uniformed police. Tabalaza, arrested on 10 July in connection with alleged acts of arson between 8 and 10 July allegedly "jumped" from a fifth floor window of the Port Elizabeth Sanlam Security Police building in which Steve Biko received his fatal injuries in September 1977.
Commenting on Tabalaza's death the London Times (12.7.78) said: "Following the sickening revelations coming out of the Biko inquest it is no longer possible to give the police any benefit of doubt. Mr. Tabalaza was either pushed, or had reached the limits of his physical or mental endurance, and chose to die rather than continue his torment".
Justice Minister, J. Kruger, reacted by ordering a "top level investigation" by the police into the circumstances of Tabalaza's death but maintained that the case was "in truth very simple. We were busy interrogating the man and he jumped through a fifth floor window of Sanlam Building". Mr. Kruger claimed that the barring of windows which he had ordered to prevent such deaths was incomplete in Port Elizabeth, and as a result Tabalaza had been able to find an unbarred window from which to jump.
In response to the outcry following Tabalaza's death, three Security Branch officers were transferred, including Col. P. Goosen the local Security Police chief who was posted to another district.
Photographs of the body smuggled to London and presented to the press by the ANC suggested that Tabalaza may have suffered injuries before his fall. "The injuries on the feet and legs show that he was deliberately suspended by his feet before falling" an ANC spokesman said.
At the start of the inquest in Port Elizabeth a South African government pathologist acknowledged that several bruises and lacerations could have been sustained before Tabalaza fell. A magistrate Willem Lubbe told the inquest that he had seen Tabalaza less than an hour before his death. The magistrate had refused to investigate allegations of assault made by Tabalaza who had been brought to him to make a statement. Tabalaza told him: "I am frightened that if I do not make a statement then I will be beaten when I am taken back". After Tabalaza's death Mr. Lubbe said he was "shocked" and regretted that he had not investigated Tabalaza's fears.
A large crowd of 5,000 people attended the funeral in Port Elizabeth's New Brighton township, and were told by a speaker that Tabalaza died because he was a freedom fighter.
