The lifting of the State of Emergency in June everywhere except Natal, was followed by an increase in detentions under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act which allows for indefinite detention in solitary confinement for interrogation. At the same time it was reported that some 100 people were being held under emergency regulations in the Bophuthatswana bantustan.
At the end of July police spokesmen disclosed that over 100 people, alleged to be either members of the ANC, or of its armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK), had been detained. They alleged that many were involved in an ANC operation to stockpile arms and establish safe houses with a view to overthrowing the state by insurrection if negotiations failed. The ANC denied the allegations and re-emphasised its commitment to a peaceful settlement.
One of the first of the recent detentions to be reported was that of Shirley GUNN, an alleged member of MK, who was detained on 25 June in a raid on a hotel in the Karoo where she was staying. Police claim that Gunn underwent military training in Angola prior to infiltrating the country in 1987 to carry out acts of sabotage. She was previously detained in 1985.
A fortnight later the Human Rights Commission (HRC) reported that 22 people had been detained during the previous week. They speculated that many of the detentions related to the return of ANC members from exile before being granted indemnity. One of those held was Ephraim MOGALE, a former Robben Island prisoner and first president of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS).
Among those detained during July were: Sipho NYANDA, alleged to be a Military Commander of MK in the Witwatersrand; Billy NAIR, a member of the Natal Indian Congress, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the ANC; and Sathyandranath 'Mac' MAHARAJ, a member of the ANC's National Executive and the Central Committee of the SACP. On 23 July police reported the 'continuing arrests of ANC members', saying that 'more arms caches are expected to be found'.
Several other people were known to have been detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act in June and July for allegedly giving support to guerrillas and participating in armed actions or being in possession of firearms. On 17 June police detained Raymond MAKELA-NA of Nkowankowa township in the Gazankulu bantustan. He was previously held briefly in April under suspicion of involvement in the bombing of an SADF base in the region.
Three men were detained in the Kwandebele bantustan on 28 June, after an attack on an Ekangala Town Council employee's home. Tshepo MATLALA and someone named only as 'Sello' were alleged to be members of an underground ANC cell who had been harboured by J B SIBANYONI, a lawyer and treasurer of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers.
There were three deaths in detention or in police custody reported between May and July, including that of Eugene MBULWANA, a 15-year-old boy.
On 14 May, a man known only as 'Andile' was beaten to death by two police constables in the Humansdorp police cells, according to an account by a 16-year-old witness to the incident. A Supreme Court interdict was sought to prevent the constables assaulting the witness, whom they had threatened to kill for naming them as parties to the assault. The witness was reportedly arrested for dancing the 'toyi toyi'.
Donald Thabela MADISHA, a teacher and member of the Mahwelereng Youth Congress, was detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act in Mahwelereng township, Potgietersrus on 17 January 1990. On 1 June police reported that Madisha had died, allegedly by hanging himself. Madisha's lawyer reported that he would instigate an independent post mortem.
Eugene Mbulwana aged 15, was detained by police on 10 July in Khutsong. He was held with other youths, who were all on their way to the ANC office in Johannesburg to discuss how to settle youth group rivalries which were being exploited by local vigilantes. On 12 July Mbulwana was taken to Welverdiend police station and, according to a witness who was also held there, he arrived suffering from serious head injuries Mbulwana was left unconscious on the cell floor for nine hours and was then taken to Leratong Hospital, where he died the next day. A scan revealed Mbulwana had suffered a haemorrhage caused by pressure on the skull. In January another boy, Nixon PHIRI (16) died whilst being interrogated at the same police station. The ANC has demanded a judicial commission of inquiry into Mbulwana's death and also into police practices in general at Welverdiend.
