Detentions — Issue 45 — FOCUS Archive

Current security police activity has received very little newspaper coverage, in contrast to the publicity given to the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Neil Aggett. The verdict of suicide vindicated the security police and indicated the clear bias of the magistrate. The inquest did a great deal to publicise security police procedures but its lack of power to change these was clearly shown by the death of yet another detainee, Ernest DIPALE, while its proceedings were continuing. By late January 1983, almost six months after Dipale's death, no date for an inquest had been set. A strengthening of the repressive forces at work in the bantustans was shown by a continuing high level of detentions and harassment in the Ciskei region.

DEATHS IN DETENTION

Sonwabo DLAMINI, a student who was detained by security police in the Eastern Cape, died in the Livingstone Hospital, Port Elizabeth, on 17 September. Dlamini was shot when police detained him on 7 June and was admitted to hospital suffering from extensive injuries to his stomach, pancreas, bowels and liver. He remained in hospital, under police guard, until his death three months later.

Two security policemen in the Venda bantustan were summoned to appear in court on 2 February 1983 on a charge of murder arising out of the death in detention in November 1981 of Tshifhiwa Isaac MUOFHE. An inquest in July 1982 found that Muofhe died following an unlawful assault by Captain M L Ramaligela and Sgt P J Mangaga. Lillian Muofhe, the widow of the murdered man, was reported in January to be suffering from daily harassment following the inquest verdict.

The inquest into the death of Neil AGGETT concluded on 21 December 1982 with a verdict of suicide. The magistrate rejected submissions by Aggett's family that his suicide was induced by his ill-treatment at the hands of security police, in particular Major Arthur Cronwright and Lieutenant Stephen Whitehead, who should in their opinion have been charged with culpable homicide.

In coming to the decision that he could not find 'that any unlawful or negligent acts caused Dr Aggett to take his life', the magistrate not only rejected all the evidence given by former detainees, but also ignored the significance of inconsistencies and admissions in the State evidence.

Johannesburg's chief district surgeon testified that although in terms of the Prisons Act and Public Health Act he did not require police permission to see a detainee, in practice he was only allowed access at the discretion of the security police.

Records at John Vorster Square purported to show that Aggett had been checked at half-hourly intervals on the night he died. In evidence the policeman on duty admitted falsifying his report to conceal the fact that Aggett was left unmonitored for three hours. This same policeman claimed never to have seen a magistrate or Inspector of Detainees at the police headquarters. One of the policemen who interrogated Aggett was found in court to have had a previous conviction for assaulting a magistrate.

In his evidence Lieutenant Stephen Whitehead admitted amongst other things that he had 'observed' Aggett for three years prior to his detention; that he and a colleague entered and searched Aggett's parents' house while they were away briefing lawyers for the inquest; that he had participated in a 62-hour interrogation of Aggett; and that he was ignorant of a detainee's right to daily exercise.

TORTURE CASES

Two former detainees who gave evidence in the Aggett inquest have instituted proceedings against the police alleging assault during their detention. In September 1982 Jabu NGWENYA, an organiser for the General and Allied Workers Union (GAWU), sued the Minister of Law and Order for R15,000, alleging he had been punched, given electric shocks, physically abused and reduced to exhaustion. In January 1983 it was reported that the Minister would defend the action.

In December 1982 Auret VAN HEERDEN instituted a claim for R65,000 against 10 security policemen alleging, amongst other forms of ill-treatment, that he had been strangled with a wet towel and partially suffocated with a tight-fitting bag over his head.

CHILD IN CUSTODY

A five-year-old child was detained by police for questioning in connection with a fire at a school in Benoni in December 1982. A group of small children reportedly set fire to two classrooms causing R5,000 worth of damage. Local residents claimed that children were obliged to play on school premises during the holidays for want of any alternative recreation facilities.

DETAINES

Additional to previous FOCUS lists

Source pages

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