The conditions in which Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners are being held are reported to have seriously deteriorated. The information was made public during May at a hearing in London of the UN Ad Hoc Working Group on Human Rights. It has caused concern for the welfare of Mandela and other political prisoners.
This development has illustrated, as have others reported in previous issues of Focus, that improvements in prison conditions for political prisoners cannot be assumed to be permanent. In particular, on a number of occasions when prisoners have been moved from one prison to another they have lost rights gained through their own actions or outside pressure (see FOCUS 44 p.11).
In April 1982 Nelson Mandela and a number of others were moved from Robben Island, where they had been since 1964, to Pollsmoor Prison near Retreat, Cape Town. There was speculation about the reason for the move, but no clear information (FOCUS 41 p.9).
During a visit by Winnie Mandela in March this year, Nelson Mandela told her 'It is now clear that we were transferred for the purpose of further punishment and harassment.'
This information was contained in a letter from Winnie Mandela to the writer Mary Benson, who made it public to the UN Working Group. In her statement to the Working Group, Mary Benson recalled the long struggle to improve conditions on Robben Island:
For years Mr Mandela was among those who laboured in the lime quarry, crushed stones, repaired roads, collected seaweed from the sea and beaches. The terrible conditions through those years are on record in United Nations files. Meanwhile he and the other political prisoners continually protested, there were hunger strikes and petitions, and this stubborn activity, along with international pressure, gradually achieved reforms. Then, a few years ago, at least for these older, senior men, hard labour was ended. They spent a good deal of time out of doors. They had exercise and sport. They could study.
Those who were moved with Nelson Mandela included Walter SISULU, Raymond MHLABA and Andrew MLANGENI, also serving life sentences. It was generally assumed that they would all be held together at Pollsmoor. This turned out to be a false assumption, as Mary Benson explained:
For men serving life sentences, comradeship is crucially important. Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada, for instance, had worked together in the struggle for liberation since the 1940s. On the Island they and the others in the segregated section (for political prisoners serving life sentences) had a communal life. But now, it seems, the South African authorities have deprived these men of this cherished comradeship. Mrs Mandela writes of 'the cruelty' of wrenching her husband 'from friends he had lived with for the past twenty years'.
In several other respects the conditions have worsened. Although prison visits are monitored, Nelson Mandela managed to tell Winnie Mandela about the conditions in which he and five other prisoners were held at Pollsmoor. In doing so he risked breaking prison regulations, as she has risked infringing the Prisons Act. But, according to Mary Benson, Winnie Mandela said in her letter that 'when it became obvious that conditions were deteriorating terribly' and the Officer Commanding refused to receive their complaints, Mandela's cell-mates decided that he should brief her, with the object of conveying the information to 'relevant people and the Press'. Other points in the statement included these:
- On Robben Island each man had a cell. In Pollsmoor Mandela is confined in a cell with five others (unnamed). They are isolated from other prisoners, whereas on the Island they could move freely in their section.
- Nelson Mandela said there should be an urgent medical inspection, as there is a hazard to health caused by flooding when it rains.
- Whereas the prisoners on the Island had sports, this is no longer so. Exercise in general is extremely restricted. It appears that they have not been allowed out of doors for a year (T 24.5.83).
In concluding her statement, Mary Benson urged the UN Working Group to do all they could to help improve the conditions, and gave them the address of the Officer Commanding, of Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison as PBX4, Tokai, 7966 Cape, South Africa.
