None of the complaints of ill-treatment made by Terrorism Act detainees to the two persons appointed to visit detainees were acted upon in the six months June to December 1978.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Justice in response to a parliamentary question from Mrs H. Suzman. The Minister stated that 431 visits were made to detainees in the period and 20 complaints of ill-treatment were reported to him. But in no case was anything done. Some complaints, said the Minister "were referred to the Attorney-General who declined to prosecute. Others were, after investigation, found to be groundless. Others were so vague and lacking in particulars or evidence that they could not be substantiated"
The two visitors are Adv. W.M. van den Berg, former Attorney-General in the Cape (to visit detainees in Cape Province & Natal) and A.J. Mouton, former chief magistrate in Pretoria (detainees in Transvaal and OFS). They were appointed following the world-wide outcry provoked by the death in detention of Steve Biko. At the time doubt was expressed as to whether state-appointed visitors would help to prevent the police ill-treating detainees. If no action is taken on reported complaints, the doubt would appear to be justified.
Detainees are known to be reluctant, in any case, to report ill-treatment, for fear of worse treatment from their interrogators.
According to Professor J. van der Vyver of Witwatersrand University, "although in the case of Nxasana v. Minister of Justice in 1976 it was decided that Section 6 did not authorise the manhandling of a detainee or the use of third degree, the methods left open by the Act for bringing such irregularities to the notice of the courts are in reality of very little, if any, practical avail."
Professor van der Vyver was speaking at a conference of the newly-formed Study Group on Internal Relations associated with the University of Pretoria.
