Special Hearings — Prison Hearings — 1997-07-21

UNKNOWN: The first time I was told that I was under Section 15, Section 50 not 15.  After fourteen days they told me that I was detained or arrested under Section 28 or 29.  After five months I was told that I have been detained or arrested under Section 5.  After six months was the first time I saw my mother.

MR LEWIN: And throughout that time you were always in detention in isolation on your own?

UNKNOWN: Yes.  What I tried to explain was that as you left for a checkup still sick, on arrival there you were handcuffed and when you consulted the doctor your legs and your hands were still handcuffed.  There would be a chain on your hands which was connected to the legs and as you passed through the passage at the Johannesburg hospital people would be rather shocked to see what was taking place because you actually looked like a bad criminal.  You couldn't even explain your facts to the people who were observing this.  In the checkup room which they referred to as the OPD, a place which was designated specifically for you, you could not mingle with others.  Obviously people would look at you and wonder what it is with you, you would look like some sort of animal, you were not yourself anymore.  It would be difficult then because you wouldn't trust the police in your company or the doctor who was to consult with you, you trusted nobody.  You just asked whether you would be alive to get home the next day.
 I had been signing a lot of documents which said that I was being arrested.  They would tell me you have been released but we are arresting you again.  What I want to share with you is that I remember one day, I think it was in July in 1987, they assaulted me at 5 o'clock in the morning then I was taken to the political prisoners who were youngsters from Manzenville and Krugersdorp, sister Bennet and amongst them was Kone.  The special branch was on John Vorster Square and we were summoned in one by one, as my turn came they said these youngsters were leaving.  I was told that I'm being released, I'm a free woman now and I could go.  I was very jubilant, tears of joy rolled down my cheeks and I started preparing to go and see my family.  When I came to the reception area, the prison warder accompanied me and I signed and they took fingerprints as I was released.  It was then that the Security Branch came, telling me that they are detaining me under Section 3 of the State of Emergency Act.   I said I'm released but they said no, we are detaining you and we have this document to back that up.

MR LEWIN: Deborah was anything ever referred to by the police in terms of your miscarriage.

UNKNOWN: The police told me that it was because I didn't eat that I had a miscarriage.  They didn't know that I did have something to eat, there was water and sister Bennet gave me my biscuits but the police didn't know of that, I was the only one who knew but for the sake of the hunger strike I was not supposed to eat.  I was the only one who was pregnant at that time and I thought maybe they might feel sympathetic towards me because I was pregnant and not eating.  I didn't tell them that I was eating.
 White females were our warders and even if you told them that you were suffering from a headache, they would say that it was not so and you were lying.  My lawyer Priscilla Djara would come and ask them why they didn't take me to the hospital and she would tell me that their response was that I was faking it.  She would say that, that person was ... you saw there was blood and she vomited in her cell but they would say I faked the whole incident.  They didn't care what happened to me even when you asked to see a doctor, they would come to after a long time or rather the prison warder would not come.  As they changed shifts you wouldn't know with whom you spoke previously to consult a doctor.  That was our life in prison.  Whilst sick you would be given perbex tablets or panado tablets.

MR LEWIN: Deborah could you, because we need to try and tie up now, could you just tell us how long were you in prison and was it always at Sun City.

UNKNOWN: It was one year and three months.

MR LEWIN: And during that time you were never charged?

UNKNOWN: No, for the first six months or rather the first two, three or four I left for the hospital and after I had been to the hospital there was this long document that they wanted me to sign because they wanted to charge me, using that document but I refused to sign.   They tried all ways to get me to sign it.  From the time they took me to the police station for interrogation, they wanted me sign the document but I refused.

MR LEWIN: You mention also the fact that you weren't allowed to see your family and you were kept isolated.  In your statement you also mention another result of your miscarriage and what happened, what happened to the father?

UNKNOWN: What was told to me when I went for a checkup again was that I cannot bear children anymore because they extracted a ... tube.  The one that is remaining is damaged.  I did undergo treatment and part of the fee was paid by the state.  After I was released I did receive treatment for this ... tube at the hospital and after the treatment was completed I could have a child.

DR BORAINE: Thank you, are there any other questions from other Commissioners?  Then it remains for me to thank you warmly.  You have had to relive again a very bad period of your own life and experience, I know this is upsetting but I hope that in being able to share your experiences, you will help us to avoid this happening again to other people and in that way you'll be making a very strong contribution.  Thank you very much indeed for coming.

UNKNOWN: Thank you.