Special Hearings — Prison Hearings — 1997-07-21

MR P NAIDOO: I was arrested for the first time in my house in Lenasia at 5a.m. on the 27th of November 1981.  I was in perfect health physically and mentally.  The security police did not tell me where they were taking me all they said was, pack your bag and I was taken to John Vorster Square for questioning.
 I was in solitary for three months and during that period I was badly tortured and my health was severely damaged.  I lost the hearing of my left ear, until today I still wear a hearing aid as I lost 75% of my hearing in my ear.  When I was beaten on my right ear my ear rang, I've still got a buzzing sound in my ear since then.  Within hours of my being detained a Major Abrie grabbed me and smacked me, he beat me up, banged my head on the desk and he said to me that I must give him the names of people who belonged to the Internal Reconstruction and Development Department of the ANC or I would die.   I told him I had nothing to do with that department.  He made me sit in the corner for a few hours and he then took me to the cell.
 At the cell when I was taken to John Vorster Square I was made to face the wall and I saw another detainee coming up, I managed to peep and it was comrade Cedric Mason.  I was put into the cell of comrade Cedric Mason but I don't know where Cedric Mason was taken to.   That was on a Friday evening.   I was left in my cell the Saturday and Sunday and on Monday morning my interrogation began.  They handcuffed my wrist to my ankle and I was told to remain like that and I was asked  questions such as, who were the other people who were members of IRDD.  The person who handcuffed me, my wrist to my ankle was Warrant Officer Smith.  He then placed a plastic bag and proceeded to question me and each time I gave the same answer he punched and kicked me.
 At lunch time the bag and handcuffs were removed and I was given soup and bread.  Immediately after lunch the handcuffs were put back onto my wrist and ankle and the questioning and punching started again.  After about two hours the cuffs were removed and Warrant Officer Smith made me squat and do pushup exercises on the floor.  This routine followed the next day.  
 That afternoon late a policeman by the name of Prins came into the room and without saying anything, my wrist was still handcuffed to my ankle, he pushed me down onto the floor and put his foot on the cuffs which dug into my ankle and with a little piece of stick which had a key on it, he beat me onto the soles of my feet.  This continued for some time.
 After that the cuffs were removed and I was asked to hold a chair above my head kneeling and the questioning continued.  This kind of interrogation continued for the next two days at John Vorster Square.  They kept telling me that if I do not talk, I was going to shit.  They said to me, did I see the sign when I was brought to John Vorster Square and I said to them I didn't see any sign and they said there was a sign there that said, beware of flying Indians.  At one point they threatened to take me to the Vaal Dam and drown me.  This continued throughout the night.
 The next morning I was taken to Vereeniging Police Station.  At Vereeniging Police Station I was interrogated continually for six days and six nights in teams.  The people who were involved in the interrogation was Warrant Officer Smith, Warrant Officer Booysens, Warrant Officer van der Merwe, Lieutenant Venter and somebody by the name of Schalkie who continued to interrogate me.  
 On the sixth day of my interrogation I began to fall asleep on my feet and I had a dream and I began to talk about my involvement in harbouring and assisting in the escape from the country of Steven Lee.  I began to talk, I couldn't stop myself, it was something the police didn't know anything about but I realised at that point that I was doing something that I shouldn't be doing, I shouldn't be talking but I also could not stop.  I'd given them the whole story of how I'd assisted in harbouring and getting Steven Lee out of the country.
 I was then taken back to my cell and I felt ashamed of myself that I began to tell the police something which I had no right to tell them.  I implicated other comrades who took part in this escape.  I contemplated suicide, not because I was hurt or anything but because I felt I had betrayed the cause, the cause which I believed in.

MR LEWIN: Take some water Prema.