Five prisoners in the Transkei bantustan filed an application in the Umtata Supreme Court on 30 June seeking to declare conditions in Umtata's Wellington Prison illegal. The case was due to be heard on 1 September. It had been delayed by a failure on the part of the respondents - the bantustan official in charge of Prisons and the Commissioner of Prisons - to file answering affidavits. Some of the conditions detailed in the prisoners' affidavits confirmed a report produced in May by the Prisoners Welfare Programme (PRIWELPRO).
Three of the applicants, Marelane KOPMAN (38), Joseph Masele JONGILE (34) and James Zamiwonga 'Castro' KATI (64), were sentenced under the Transkei Public Security Act. Kopman was sentenced to 20 years on 22 October 1986 for possessing arms and undergoing military training for the ANC. Jongile, also charged with possession of arms, was sentenced to 12 years on 7 March 1986. Kati was released on 12 August, having served five years and eleven months of an effective seven-year sentence imposed in October 1982, for furthering the aims of the ANC and possessing explosives.
The others, Shadrack NONGOMA (44) and Victor MDLULI (35), are serving seventeen and three-year sentences respectively, on charges under the common law. Reports indicated that Nongoma shares the concerns of political prisoners. He said his being transferred from one cell to another was explained by warders in terms of him making 'co-prisoners' conscious of the denial of basic rights and liberties by the prison authorities'.
The affidavits revealed overcrowded, insanitary and brutal conditions. In at least one instance 120 people were confined to a cell measuring four by five metres with only one defective toilet and a sink. The food was said to be deficient and special diets and medical attention consistently refused. The right to adequate bedding, clothing and sanitary provision was denied, as was the right to work and exercise. All affidavits confirmed that prisoners had been held in their cells continuously since 28 January, and all said the prisoners believed these conditions to be the same throughout the prison.
The applicants sought 'protection from assaults' and asked the court to declare illegal the role of 'prefects' - prisoners who receive 'special privileges' in return for their collaboration with the 'disciplinary activities' of the warders.
Nongoma and Mdluli recorded an unprovoked attack on 26 January which led to the death of two prisoners and the hospitalisation of two others. Sixty warders and police and four 'prefect' prisoners assaulted prisoners with sjamboks, teargas and iron bars after a prisoner asked for more food. The authorities claimed that the incident arose from an attempted mass escape.
Such incidents are not confined to the Transkei bantustan. The Minister of Justice revealed that in 1987, 32 prisoners had died of 'unnatural causes', and that out of 1,769 charges of assault made by prisoners against warders, 136 were upheld.
The applicants' declaration that the complaints procedure is 'internal and unenforceable' is particularly important in view of the fact that the International Committee of the Red Cross is denied access to Transkei prisons.
Kopman, Jongile and Kati demanded recognition as 'political prisoners'-political prisoners are not recognised in the bantustan's prison regulations. However, the PRIWELPRO report stated that a separate section had been set aside for prisoners convicted on charges relating to 'state security'. The categorisation of prisoners and the rights granted to them are subject to the discretion of the Commissioner of Prisons.
This court application indicates that although Kopman, Jongile and Kati were not being held in the section for political prisoners, they experienced some of the restrictions placed on such prisoners. For instance, their visitors were photographed and placed on a special register normally reserved for people visiting political prisoners. They were told that they are 'B' group prisoners, but rights associated with this group, including study, receipt of newspapers, radios and participation in sport have been denied to them.
