Special Hearings — Health Sector Hearings — 1997-06-17

NOMFUNDO WALAZA: Thank you very much Glenda.  I think the first thing that I felt that was important to do was to contextualise this case study and in a way give a reason why the Health and Human Rights Project had decided to ask Ivy Gcina and Sheila to talk today.
 The death in detention of Steve Biko was a critical moment in the history of health and human rights in South Africa because that created schisms in the medical and other professionals that remain to this day.  His death led to an increase, according to some researchers, of the number of visits made by district surgeons to political detainees.  And his death led to a few minor reforms that in retrospect had little impact on the health care of detainees.
 But what is most ironic about the furore over the Biko doctors is that the highly publicised case did not prevent further deaths in detention or torture for the next 20 years.
 In our submission to the TRC, the Health and Human Rights Project draws attention to more than a hundred cases of detainees ill-treated by doctors, nurses, psychologists while detained under security legislation.  A phenomenon, we believe, was widespread in apartheid South Africa.
 Former detainees had told us numerous stories about inadequacies of the custodian care system; doctors failing to take adequate medical histories; district surgeons refusing to listen to their complaints; medics pronouncing them fit for torture and further interrogation; physicians handing medical files to the security police; nurses deliberately withholding treatment or shackling detainees to their beds; psychologists violating the confidentiality of their patient for security reasons; doctors neglecting to keep proper clinical records and failing to follow up a prescribed course of treatment.  And this list goes on. 
 In  fact there are probably as many complaints about health care in detention as there were detainees in South Africa.  Each one has a story to tell, and their voices have been conspicuously absent from the TRC hearings.
 There is one woman, however, who did not leave enough to tell her story.  A 50 year-old political activist and diabetic she died in 1987 as a result of the gross negligence of prison officials, security police, district surgeons and nursing staff.  Her name was Nomabanda Elda Bani and she was detained on the 29th of August 1986.
 I think the reason, as I said, why we chose this case as the Health and Human Rights Project is that we felt that the medical, her medical reality was denied by health professionals.  She had severe insulin dependent diabetic and she was told to eat sweets and take sugar.  Her treatment was withdrawn at the time that she needed the most assistance.  She was left in a coma for days before her death.  For weeks she was incontinent, and her cell mates who are here to talk on her behalf today, had to witness the humiliation that she had to endure as a result of medical negligence.  And in a way we feel very strongly that the medical professionals contributed to her death and actually forced her to her death bed.  
 And it is with that, that I, at the present moment, want to introduce the two women to tell the story of how she suffered in detention.  We asked her former cell mates to describe the circumstances which led to her death in 1987 after her one year in detention.  
 It is my honour and my privilege to introduce the two women from the Eastern Cape.  Ivy Gcina, who is currently a member of Parliament, she was the longest detainee at the time during the state of national emergency, she spent 35 months in prison.  And Sheila Lesani, who is at the present moment at home, she is very important in the sense that she is a diabetic and she accompanied the patient to hospital most of the time that she had to go.  So I will hand over to them to tell the story of what happened during that time.  Thank you.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: Thank you Nomfundo.  Mrs Gcina you can use the mike in front of you.  I think you are going to be speaking first.
 Thank you very much for coming and we really do want to pay tribute to Elda Bani today.  We know that she suffered and you were her co-mates and suffered with her, so please go ahead and in your own words and in your own way please tell us the story of Elda Bani and also your own story.  Thank you.

IVY GCINA: Thank you.  I would like to greet everybody here and I would like God to give you strength because after all the things that happened to us during the apartheid period we did not know that there would be people like you who will find out the truth so that we can forgive those who did these things to us.  But I would like to ask Sheila, as she was the person who was together with Elda Bani in prison and they were in a single cell together, they were then transferred to the hospital in the Northern Prison in Port Elizabeth.
 I will start on the 12th of June 1987 where they were transferred to my cell. I will help her as we are going to testify on behalf of Elder Bani  I will hand over to Sheila and then continue afterwards.

MILDRED LESANI: I would like to greet everybody here.  I am Sheila Lesani who was detained on the 16th of July 1986 in the Northern Prison.  I stayed there for a long time.  Mrs Bani came on the 29th of August.  We were then together in that cell.  We were both diabetics.
 The first thing was that we did not have a toilet in our cell. There was a bucket there.  As we were diabetic we would eat and Mrs Bani would eat and we were supposed to go frequently to the toilet, while she was eating I would go to the bucket.  There was no care for us.  We stayed for a long time in prison.  Mrs Bani had a pile of pills and insulin injections.  She used to inject this insulin herself.
 We were then taken to the hospital, to the prison hospital.  After a while Mrs Bani was not given treatment until we were transferred to Cell 14 where there were other detainees in that cell, but most of the time we were together and we were very ill.  We could not help each other.
 In the Cell 14 Mrs Bani was not receiving treatment at the time.  After that we were called to the reception, after we arrived at Cell 14, when we arrived at the reception we were told that - it was on the 12th of June, if I am not mistaken of that day, we were told that the state of emergency was not disbanded, we were to continue to be detained.  
 After that Mrs Bani started to get ill.  She asked Mrs Gcina whether we were going home or not.  Mrs Gcina said no we are not going home.  This disturbed her. Mrs Bani was very sick and she was not receiving treatment in prison at that time.
 On the 13th of August Mrs Bani went to hospital alone.  She came back on the 15th, the same week.  She was very ill at this time.  She came back to the cell.  I don't know whether to continue about that.  I think Mrs Gcina will take over then.  
 But I remember one night before Mrs Bani passed away it was twelve, midnight, I was taken to the office.  Captain Nel was there.  He woke me up at that time.  When I got to the office I was asked whether I knew Mrs Bani.  I said yes.  They asked me where I knew her.  I said I knew her because we were together in the prison cell.  They asked about the injuries, I said she was not injured when she got to prison.