Special Hearings — Prison Hearings — 1997-07-22

GOLDEN MILES BHUDU: Comrade Chair, thank you very much for this opportunity.  I am going to try to be as brief as possible, but I think it is going to do the organisation I am representing and the audience here and the hundreds and thousands of people out there, if I am going to make use of this opportunity to waffle and to ho over the submission because you must take into account that the organisation I am representing, it is an organisation that is mainly and largely misunderstood by millions of people there.
 So I want to also make use of this opportunity by presenting my submission that people get an idea what this organisation is all about.  I will try to be as brief as possible.
 In fact I think I will go from the first to the fifth page, and if you think that I am dragging too long, you have got all the right Comrade Chairperson, to just halt me there.  Thank you very much.
 I want to make an introduction of our submission which was compiled by Adv Jansen, Rudolph Jansen, a very close friend of mine and he is here today and I was wondering whether he was not going to be part of the panel here, but nevertheless if he feels he cannot, no problem.
 Firstly I want to say that it cannot be (indistinct) that police brutality was a general phenomena of apartheid law enforcement, it was certainly not confined to the enforcement of the Security laws.
 Unfortunately the fate of ordinary citizens at the hands of police and prison guards was not as well monitored as that of political opponents of the past regime.  The torture and disappearance and the deaths of common law offenders, was through our affixture of law enforcement in this country, in fact there had been little legislative changes since 1990, to make one feel comfortable about the present fate of detained people.
 We have just learned that since the beginning of this year, so many people died, which you can compare the figure with the people who died  the whole of 1985, and this is a grave concern to us and to the nation as a whole because the police, the South African Police Services were supposed to be part and parcel of the transformation and the democratisation process and it just tells you where we are moving to.
 As was the case with the security police and the security legislation, the general attitude of police towards arrested and detained persons coupled with the legal framework that had insufficient safeguards to protect the physical integrity of arrested persons, led to the large scale violation of human rights.
 Other than the assault and unlawful deaths that occurred in detention, be it in police or prison cells, the conviction of countless individuals must remain suspect and the plight of those still being incarcerated, should be investigated.
 It would be naive to think that the convictions and sentences of hundreds of prisoners would stand in the present constitutional dispensation, had the trials taken place today.   Thousands of prisoners were convicted at a time when confessions were easily admissible in terms of the prevailing laws.  In this regard reference  is made to provisions of Section 217 of the Criminal Procedures Act that was found to be unconstitutional.
 It can also not be denied that judicial officers were reluctant to believe many of those tales of assault by the police, both during trials and death inquests, these were aggravated by the absence of legal representation, or the lack of competent representation.
 Added to this was the discriminatory legislation, disallowing convicted prisoners an autonomic right to appeal, provisions which have also been declared unconstitutional.
 The following can be listed as conditions that caused culture of gross human right violations to become a characteristic of a criminal justice system.  "the watering down of the Judges' rule, relating to arrest, the large scale of abuse of the 48 hour rule to bring someone to court, the time being used for investigation and keeping persons in (indistinct).  The inability, legally and financially, the most accused to obtain the assistance of legal representation from the moment of arrest.  The inability to prevent the use of torture equipment on premises under the control of the police.  The lack of independent medical access to police cells and the prisons.  The lack of independent of the judiciary.  The law relating to the admissibility of confessions.  This law being antiquated and unfairly favouring the State.  The lack of fair and adequate access to appeal procedures.
 It is obviously impossible to access the merits or demerits of each and every individual case where gross violations are alleged in this regard, but the fact must be publicly recognised that thousands of individuals are serving prison terms in our gulls, as a result of convictions that could not stand in the present constitutional order.
 To ignore this fact, would be to unquestionably accept the perpetuation of injustice of the past.  The Government and the Department of Correctional Services have (indistinct) the idea of a general amnesty for prisoners, nothing has however come of this and we submit that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, should prompt the Government to implement a general amnesty for the reduction of sentences which accords with the recognition of the problem set here above.
 And I repeat, the Government and the Department of Correctional Services in 1996 and 1997, this year, have (indistinct) the idea of a general amnesty for prisoners, nothing has come however of this promise, and we are calling on the TRC to seriously revisit that public statement which was made previously by the Minister of Correctional Services in 1996, with the Commissioner Mr Hank Bruyn, and the one that was made in April this year, by Kulikhane Setole.
 Prisons and torture in detention were obviously not confined to police cells.  Our prisons also have a notorious record of systematic violation of human rights, the violations of basic rights in our prisons are almost too many to list.
 It starts with the denial of basic rights by enabling legislation, regulation and Departmental orders, the complete legislative (indistinct) of our present system, should be seen as a nation priority.
 The Act, the regulations and Departmental orders should be brought in line with the international norms of our constitution.  Secondly, the violation of human rights consisted of the physical conditions of our prisons and the overcrowding thereof, coherent and certain policy for the future is needed in this regard.  Thirdly the dignity of prisoners were ignored on a large scale.  They were seen as persons deserving only of privileges and not of any rights.
 Our courts also adopted this minimalist approach.  It cannot be denied that the incident of prison violence is attributable to the fact that prisoners do not function in democratic structures and that the inputs in matters affecting the incarceration and rehabilitation have always been ignored and this remained the situation in a democratic order.
 The TRC should give recognition to the fact that the apartheid prisons were an extension of the central system of oppression and that the only way to rectify this in the future, would be to recognise the rights of prisoners, to have a say in matters that directly affect them.
 Furthermore, South African prisons were never transparent and Magistrate and Judges neglected their statutory rights to investigate prisons, the effective monitoring of prisons can only be done by the prisoners themselves.  I want to go into individual cases of deaths of prisoners in police cells according to the information we have in our offices.
 The deaths and disappearances of political activists, were by and large well monitored.  The same cannot be said of common law prisoners.  We submit that the TRC should compile a data base of all cases of deaths in prisons which are reported and where allegations of assaults were made.
 This should form a data base that should be kept up to date by an independent monitoring agency which should be established to ensure the future avoidance of such kind of violations.
 Due to time constraints, we have not been able to collect all the cases of deaths, subsequent upon assault or cases resulting from the authorities neglecting their duties to ensure safe custody.  This information represent individual cases brought to our attention and of which we still have record.  In total these cases only represent, not only  the tip of the ice berg, but half the tip of the ice berg.
 Deaths in detention including suicides, were probably best monitored during the 1990's by the Human Rights Commission of which Dr Max Coleman was the National Chairperson.  This report of deaths in police custody from 1992 is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.  Further incidents are reflected in the copies of newspaper clippings etc.
 We submit the following information at our disposal relating to individual cases.  A certain Mr Victor Jordan Zwane died in Barberton prison under very suspicious circumstances on the 18th of November 1992 and I must also submit that people died in Barberton and in prisons, many years before I ever dreamt to end up in prison.
 We were informed by the then Commanding Officer, a certain Mr D.J. van Schalkwyk that the matter was handed over to the Barberton South African Police.  We have heard nothing of the conclusion of that investigation since our last letter which was dated the 30th of November 1992.
 Six prisoners died in Barberton prison in 1991 as a result of prison violence which was because of the release of the former Captain Jack la Grange, who was released as a political prisoner, where we all knew that he was nothing else but a licensed criminal wearing the uniform of police officers and his co-accused Robert van der Merwe.
 No prosecutions followed after the survivors of the riots intimidated with prison abuse.   The names of the deceased are called here, but what I need to say in this Commission is that this prompted me to start my campaign as an individual in 1991 soon after my release.
 When after our leaders were released and after our political organisations were disbanned, six people got killed because they had legitimate demands.  I think it would be important Comrade Chairperson, to mention these prisoners, because they are the prisoners whom the relatives gave us the go ahead to do our own investigation.
 It was a certain Mr Johan Maqwasa, John Molala, Joseph Makwana, Paulus Molepe, Sipho Lobese and one Mr Khumalo.  We were then visited by the relatives of Khumalo, some time ago and because they had sort of a communication with comrade Walter Sisulu, they then were allowed to demand the corpses and they gave a decent funeral for the late Mr Khumalo and the others of course, didn't have that priviledge to know people in high places.
 And yes, they did not get the same treatment.  A certain Mr Wilson Stompie Harte, allegedly killed by warders officially respond was suicide, Barberton prison in 1991.  Bongwani Stoqwe, suspected to have died in 1991 allegedly assaulted by prison officers after an attempt to escape, official respond was that he had escaped.
 Mr Kusene, shot dead at Orkney police station where he worked as a sentenced prisoner.  November 1992, Department of Correctional Services denied that the matter fell within their jurisdiction.  Outcome of investigation, unknown.
 Mr Mandla Khumalo, prisoner number 23/1724 was beaten to death in medium A prison at Leeukop.  A certain Major van Niekerk, Major Swanepoel, Lieutenant van Rensburg, Warrant Officer Brunner, Warrant Officer Hlale, Sergeant Opperman, Sergeant Sudler, Mr Vosloo and a Warrant Officer Fourie, suspected to be involved.  Despite numerous inquiries by our organisation, no official respond was received.
 Mr Soloman Maseko, Barberton, we were informed of his death by prisoner Perry Moshokwe, prisoner number 37/6475 who was then transferred from Barberton to Bethal in September 1991.  Apart from the initial formal respond, no further information has been forwarded by the authorities.
 A certain Mr Churchill Glepho, shot by traffic officers in the course of arrests on the 24th of April 1983, one Detective Caba from Orlando police station, telephone number 9351210 investigated the matter, but nothing came from the investigation.  And this will be my last page Comrade Chairperson.
 The ninth person was a certain Mr J. Shlongwane.  He disappeared in November 1992 from Doornfontein, Johannesburg on the 15th of June 1993, police came to the house of his relatives and informed them that the deceased had been cremated as they could not be traced.
 This despite the fact that he had his ID document with him, his peace force security card with him, his bank card and other forms of identity on him, and his docket number was SK2/13/2 (150).
 Azamokwake Andries Mbata was arrested in 1991 by the Dundee Murder and Robbery Unit, Warrant Officer Lourens, whom I had numerous conversations on the telephone, at number 034122366 extension 245, disappeared and authorities claimed, he escaped and even up to today, the Mbata's know that Andries was murdered.  All they are asking for is the remains of Mr Mbata. 
 And finally a certain Mr Simon Bengula died in Modabi prison at the hands of a known prison gangster on the 4th of October 1994.  This was after he had attempted to refuse to sleep in the cell and after he stated to prison authorities that he would be killed if he were to sleep in that specific cell.
 His requests were ignored and of course he died.  And if you go to the other page, it is attachments which comes from the Human Rights Commission and names of people who died and disappeared and people who apparently committed suicide and the list is endless Comrade Chairperson.
 But I would then like to say in conclusion that we  would really appreciate because we know that there is life after the TRC, that this matters, these concerns and this argument of us and other relevant organisations, doesn't go unreported.  Thank you very much.