The recent deaths in detention of Neil Aggett and Moabi Dipale have drawn attention to the large number of people who have died in security police custody since 1963. The deaths have helped bring to light the widespread use of torture by the security police during interrogation and the part that torture plays in relation to political trials in South Africa. Despite regular police denials, the large body of allegations which has accumulated indicates a systematic use of torture by security police.
A document compiled by the Detainees Parents Support Committee in September drew attention to the consistency of reports of torture made by detainees. Other evidence is given below.
DEATHS IN POLICE CUSTODY
When the South African government introduced the General Law Amendment Act, No. 37 of 1963, in the wake of an upsurge in sabotage activity in the country, it granted for the first time to the security police a free hand to deal with political detainees as they saw fit. The amendment to the Act permitted the detention of persons for interrogation purposes for periods of up to 90 days. In practice this period was indefinite because the person could be re-arrested immediately on the completion of a period of 90 days and then held for a further 90 days.
With the introduction of the 90-day Law the rule of law and habeas corpus disappeared from the South African scene. The Law provided the security police with a weapon for breaking down the resistance of political prisoners out of sight of the press and public, and outside the jurisdiction of the courts. The police were made omnipotent and accountable to no-one.
Immediately, cases of torture began to be reported, detainees began to show signs of mental derangement and in September 1963, four months after the introduction of the 90-day Law, the first two deaths in detention occurred.
Since that time, as the list on p.7 shows, 56 people have died while being held by the security police. The 90-day Law is no longer in force, but since 1965 new Acts have been introduced which have retained indefinite detention without trial. At the present time, the Internal Security Act, No. 74 of 1982, provides for the detention of persons for interrogation for periods up to six months but this can be extended to make detention indefinite. It also allows for the indefinite 'preventive detention' of political opponents, and for the detention of persons likely to give evidence for the state in political trials.
The list of persons who have died in detention compiled by IDAF contains several more names than lists compiled by various sources in South Africa. A list published in the Johannesburg Star on 11 March 1982 contained 50 names. Ernest Dipale was not listed because he died after the list was published; Manana Mqgweto and Sifundile Matalasi were probably not listed because they died in the Transkei bantustan, and the newspaper list did not include names of people who died while held under bantustan security laws. The list also omitted the names of certain people who died while being held by security police, but not under security laws (F. Mogatusi, J. Mashabane, M.R. James, M. Nobhadule).
Apart from those who have died in the custody of the security police, many more 'non-political' people have died in police custody each year. In 1978 alone, the last year for which such figures were made available, 161 people died in police custody. In 1977, the figure was 128 deaths (SAIRR Surveys 1978, 1979). See list on p.7.
TORTURE AND TRIALS
Detention without trial is not only used as a repressive measure on its own. It is also often the first step in the legal process leading to security trials and convictions. Most defendants and state witnesses spend long periods in detention before court hearings begin. This period is crucial to the system, because the main evidence at security trials is provided by statements and 'confessions' obtained from detainees during their isolation. The laws governing criminal procedure have been modified in recent years to make it easier to gain convictions on the basis of such statements. Lawyers have battled, usually unsuccessfully, to have statements made under duress ruled inadmissable in court. In two recent treason trials convictions were obtained in spite of a great deal of evidence that statements had been made after torture or psychological pressure (see below).
PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE
At the beginning of 1982 considerable publicity was given to a number of detainees who were admitted to hospital in need of psychiatric treatment after long periods spent in solitary confinement (FOCUS 40 pp. 2,3).
In the same period two trials had to be halted whilst in each case one of the accused was examined by a psychiatrist.
TSOTSOBE, SHABANGU & MOISE
Charged with High Treason (FOCUS 35 p.4, 36 p.8, 37 p.4)
Sentenced to death 19 August 1981.
Anthony TSOTSOBE was detained for 141 days before being brought to court. He was stripped, handcuffed and beaten with a hosepipe leaving scars on his back. When a wet sack was placed over his head he said: 'I could no longer breathe. I thought I was dying'.
Johannes SHABANGU came to trial after 252 days in detention. During this period a security policeman broke his jaw. On one occasion he was suspended by leg-irons from a tree, then whipped and interrogated.
David MOISE was detained for 172 days before his trial. He was 'tied upside down from the cross-bar of a soccer goal and punched like a punching-bag'. After interrogation he was brought down and had his heels burned.
MOGOERANE, MOSOLOLI & MOTAUNG
Charged with High Treason (FOCUS 41 p.6, 42 p.2)
Sentenced to death 6 August 1982
Thelle Simon MOGOERANE was detained for four months before his trial. He was severely assaulted at the time of his arrest. His hands were tied behind his back, a rope was put round his neck and he was hung from a tree so he had to stand on tiptoe to survive. While in detention, one policeman placed a pistol in his mouth while another banged sharply on a table to imitate the blast. In evidence he said, 'I actually wish a bullet had gone off'.
Jerry Semano MOSOLOLI was also detained for four months before appearing in court. At his arrest he was made to lie on the ground with his hands tied behind his back and a plastic bag partially suffocating him. Then a dog was set on him. Later he was given electric shock treatment.
Marcus Thabo MOTAUNG was shot three times by police in the course of his arrest. Although his wounds required surgery, he received nor treatment whatsoever for two days. A district surgeon neither disinfected nor dressed his wounds, but instead urged that he help the police with their inquiries. He was eventually admitted to hospital after bleeding internally for the two days.
SITHOLE, NGCOBO & MTHENJANE
Charged with Terrorism (FOCUS 40 p.4, 41 p.6, 42 p.2)
Sentenced to 5 years each on 8 July 1982
In March 1982 this Durban trial was halted when it became apparent that Titi Mthenjane was unable to follow the proceedings. A psychiatrist told the court that Mthenjane was suffering from a disorder in the thinking process which he described as 'thought-blocking'. He showed signs of depression and of having auditory hallucinations. At the time of his trial Mthenjane had already endured five years of harassment by the security police. In August 1977 he was sentenced to three years for refusing to testify in the Terrorism trial of Paul Langa (Focus 12 p.10).
This was reduced to 18 months on appeal. Between 1979 and July 1981 he served four periods of detention without any charges being brought. He was redetained on 20 July and brought to court in January 1982. In spite of evidence of psychiatric illness, the case against him continued and in July 1982 he was sentenced to two periods of five years to run concurrently.
DUNA AND OTHERS
Charged with Terrorism (FOCUS 40 p.4, 41 p.6, 42 p.3)
The case is continuing
In February 1982 this Zwelitsha trial was twice adjourned so that the oldest defendant, Jeffrey Bayi Keye, aged 52 years, could be examined by psychiatrists. The judge accepted medical opinion which found that Keye had a history of schizophrenic psychosis. Doctors judged that Keye showed no evidence of current psychosis, but was depressed and anxious. They recommended that he should not be kept in solitary confinement.
The court heard evidence about Keye's treatment since he was detained in June 1981. He had been assaulted during a two month period of intensive interrogation which only ended when he was admitted to hospital in August 1981. By then he could not see out of one eye and was suffering from a schizophrenic-like illness with auditory hallucinations.
The magistrate hearing his case accepted the medical findings, but rejected Keye's allegations of assault. Keye returned to court and the trial was still proceeding in August 1982 (For further details of torture see DETENTIONS in this issue).
