's "Terrorism Act": Grave Concern for Safety of Detainees

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Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 18/70 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Publisher Department of Political and Security Council Affairs Date 1970-05-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1970 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description South Africa's "Terrorism Act" Grave Concern For Safety Of Detainees; Mrs. Mandela And Twenty-Three Other Detainees; Student Protests Against Arbitrary Detention; Deaths In Detention; Trials Under The Terrorism Act; The Late Imam Abdullah Haron; Death Of A Priest, A Poem By Alan Paton Format extent 28 page(s) (length/size)

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T ON APARTHEID OF POLITICAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL AFFAIRS No. 18/70 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* May 1970 SOUTH AFRICA'S "TERRORISM ACT" Grave Concern for Safety of Detainees Page I NTRODUCTION MRS. MANDELA AND TWENTY-THREE OTHE2 DETAINEES STUDENT PROTESTS AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTIONS DEATHS IN DETENTION TRIALS UNDER THE TERRORISM ACT THE LATE IM ABDULLAH HARON DEATH OF A PRIEST, A POEM BY ALAN PATON The Terrorism Act, the most draconian measure in legislation enacted by the South African Government to to the policy of apartheid, has already cost the lives the armoury of suppress opposition of many prisoners. As this is written, at least twenty men and four women, including Mrs. Winnie Mandela (wife of the well-known African leader, Mr. ) are being held incommunicado under this Act. They were detained in May-June 1969. Twenty-two of them were tried under lesser charges and acquitted in February 1970; two others served terms of imprisonment for refusing to give evidence against their colleagues. The accused were acquitted by the Court but were immediately re-detained, as were the two who refused to testify against them. The United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid and many organizations have expressed grave concern over the fate of these people now at the mercy of the South African Security Police. *All material in these notes and documents may be freely reprinted. Acknowledgement, together with a copy of the publication containing the reprint, would be appreciated.

INTRGDUCTICN "South Africa hill rot lore tlh stigra of a police state until the Terrorism Act is repealed." (Rand Maily ail, J.hannesburg, May l,-1970). The Terrorism Act, described by Professor John Dugard of the University of the Witwatersrand Law School as "the most abhorrent Act ever to be passed by the South African Parliament" (Rand Daily hail, Johannesburg, April 16, 1970), has been on the statute books since June 1967. Section 6 of this Act authorizes any commissioned police officer to detain any person who,, he believes, is a "terrorist" or is withholding any information relating to "terrorists" or to offences under the Act. The person may be detained indefinitely, until the Commissioner of Police is satisfied that he has satisfactorily replied to all questions or that "no useful purpose will be served by his further detention". "No court of law shall pronounce upon the validity of any action taken under this Section, or order the release of any detainee. "No person, other than the hinister or an officer in the service of the State acting in the performance of his official duties, shall have access to any detainee, or shall be entitled to any official information relating to or obtained from any detainee. "If circumstances so permit, a detainee shall be visited in private by a magistrate at least once a fortnight." As Professor John Dugard noted on 17 June 1969, the title of the Act is misleading: one did not have to be suspected of engaging in terrorist activities to be detained. "If a student protests against a particular law - such as the law which closed the former open universities -, he is committing an act. "If it is thought that this act might embarass or endanger the State, that student can find himself accused of terrorism." (Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg, June 18, 1969). Forty-five Namibians and twenty-three South Africans have so far been tried under the provisions of this Act: twenty were sentenced to life imprisonment and twenty-nine to long terms of imprisonment. Two died during trials and eight were acquitted. (Nine were sentenced under other Acts.) Scores of others have been detained for long terms under the provisions of the Terrorism Act as suspects or possible State witnesses. The exact number is not known as the Government refuses to provide the information even in reply to questions asked in Parliament. The detainees are held incommunicado without access to anyone, even courts, relatives or lawyers. Not only are they at the mercy of the Security Police, but there has been overwhelming evidence that they are subjected to brutality during interrogation.

It is known that seven persons have died while in detention under the Terrorism Act, including the trade union leader Mr. Caleb Mayekiso, and the religious leader Imam Abdullah Haron. Evidence of torture and ill-treatment of many others has been revealed in courts or at inquests. lirs. Mandela and twenty-one others were detained under the Act for several months and then charged with much lesser offences under another Act. When acquitted even on the lesser charges, they were immediately re-detained under the Act in the same courtroom. Miss Shanti Naidoo and Miss N.B. Nkala, detained at the same time, have never been charged, but only called as witnesses in the case of Mrs. Nandela and others (and refused to give evidence). They have all spent a year in prison, most of the time in solitary confinement. In this issue of "Notes and Documents", the case of these twenty-four detainees, which has given rise to mounting concern, is reviewed and some particulars are given on earlier trials and detentions under the Terrorism Act. The Government has refused to reveal how many others are in detention, but there is evidence to believe that several others are so detained. Despite widespread demands in South Africa and abroad, the South African Government has repeatedly refused to disclose when and if the twenty-four detainees will be brought to trial or released, or even where they are being detained. Families and lawyers have been denied access to them so that there is not even an assurance that they are alive and safe. As noted earlier, two of those detained with these twenty-four last year have died in prison. This has led to fears that the Government is intent on wreaking vengeance against these opponents of apartheid and possibly obtaining "evidence" against them by cruel means. hr. Alfred Nzo, secretary-general of the African National Congress, described the re-detention of these twenty-four men and women as a "systematic and insidious form of genocide". (The Nationalist, Dar es Salaam, February 2C, 197C). The New York Times said in an editorial on February 23, 197c: "In its treatment of twenty-two blacks charged with working for the banned African National Congress, South Africa seems determined to outdo even its own appalling record for 'legal' cruelty and hyprocrisy... "The prosecution's strategy seems clear: It will simply hold the defendants under the Terrorism Act until more 'evidence' can be obtained or concocted by the bestial methods that have become a hallmark of South African 'justice'." The Guardian, London, commented on May 13, 1970: "No case could exemplify more vividly how much of a police state South Africa has become. The assumption behind the Government's action seems to be that if you cannot find people guilty of any offence, you keep them inside all the same while you manufacture other charges

-3 against them. All those who argue that by "maintaining a dialogue" with South Africa apartheid will be softened should look at this development. It has happened in spite of the "dialogue"..... "All the suppressed violence of a racially segregated society is likely to emerge when white gaolers have total physical control over black prisoners, detained inconunicado and with no term set for release. To their credit, a number of South Africans have been demonstrating this week on behalf of these detainees. If Mr. Vorster wants to deny that under his Premiership he has created a police state, he should listen to their pleas."

NRS. XANDELA AND WENTY-THEE OTHER DETAINEES In May-June 1969 at least forty persons were arrested in South Africa and detained under the "Terrorism Act". Two of the detainees, hr. Caleb Mayekiso (a prominent trade union leader) and Imam Abdullah Haron (a prominent Moslem leader) died during interrogation in prison. Subsequently, on October 28, 1969, twenty-two of these were charged, not under the Terrorism Act, but with lesser offences under the Suppression of Communism Act, particularly with membership in the African National Congress (banned in 196.) and the promotion of its objectives. The trial began on December 1, 1969, in the Pretoria Supreme Court. Seven other detainees were brought before the Court as State witnesses. Five of these gave evidence, but two others (Miss Naidoo and Miss Nkala) refused to give evidence against their friends and were sentenced to two months in prison. The prosecution was unable to produce much evidence to substantiate the serious charges. It dealt mainly with such matters as the formation of a group to publicize African grievances, distribution of leaflets, possession of literature, and efforts to organize relief for political sufferers. On the other hand, the trial disclosed that State witnesses had been induced by brutal torture during detention to make statements against the accused. Allegations of brutality by five witnesses were not challenged by the State. When the trial resumed on February 16, 197C, after a two-month recess, the Attorney-General of the Transvaal announced that the State was withdrawing the prosecution. The judge found the accused not guilty and acquitted them. The accused and their relatives, however, could hardly rejoice. The Security Branch of the Police immediately cleared the court and detained the twenty-two accused under the Terrorism Act. The two "witnesses" were also redetained. These twenty-four are still in detention at the mercy of the Security Branch, with no access to courts or their families or lawyers. They have been in solitary confinement for a year except for the period of the trial. They range in age from nineteen to seventy-three. They include men and women, trade unionists, journalists and students. The accused 1. lvr. Samson Ratshivande NDCU, 30 years old, worker in a scullery. 2. ,r. David MOTAU, 47, truck driver employed by the South African Associated Newspapers, Johannesburg. Has a wife and eight children, the youngest of whom is two and one half years old. (Uncle of Mr. Latsaba, accused no. 7).

-5- 3. Mrs. Winnie MANDELA, 35, wife of Mr. Nelson Mandela, prominent leader of the African National Congress now serving life imprisonment, and mother of two children. Had herself been repeatedly jailed and banned for opposition to apartheid. Social worker. 4. Mr. Hiengani Jackson MAHLAUTE, 31. Has wife and two children, the youngest of whom is six months old. 5. Mr. Elliott Goldberg TSHABANGU, 42, clerk. Former executive committee member of the Furniture, Mattress and Bedding Wrkers' Union and member of local committee of South African Congress of Trade Unions. Banned for five years in 1964. Has wife and four children. 6. Mrs. Joyce Nomafa SIKHAKANE, 26, reporter on the Rand Daily.Mail, Johannesburg. Mother of a three-year-old child. 7. Mr. Nanko Paulus MATSABA, 3C, postal clerk at the South African Associated Newspapers, Johannesburg. 8. Mr. Lawrence NDZANGA, trade unionist, former secretary of the African Railway Workers' Union. 9. Mrs. Rita Anita NDZANGA, wife of Mr. Lawrence Ndzanga and former secretary of the Toy Workers' Union. Mother of four children. 1G. Mr. Joseph ZIKALALA, 19, matriculation student and clerk. Youngest of the accused. 11. Mr. David Dalton TSOLETSI, 22, matriculation student from Diepkloof, Johannesburg. 12. Mr. Victor Emmanuel MAZITULELA, 22, clerk. 13. Mr. George MOKWEBC, 23, matriculation student and clerk. 14. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain NCBANDA, 2(, messenger. 15. Mr. Samuel Solomon PHCLCTG, 39, salesman. Former secretary of the African Metal Workers' Union. Has wife and four children. 16. Mr. Simon MCSIKARE, 39, messenger. Has wife and two children. 17. Mr. Douglas Mtshetse MVEMDE, a 73-year-old pensioner of Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. Has 63-year-old wife and six children. 18. Miss Venus Thokozile MNGCMA, 51. Mother of two children. 19. Miss Martha DIAMINI, 46, housewife with two children. Banned for five years in 1964. 20. Mr. Gwen Msimilele VANGA, 29, reporter on the East London Daily Dispatch. Married. 21. Mr. Livingstone MANCOKO, 50, of Port Elizabeth. Father of four children. 22. hr. Peter Zexforth MAGUBANE, 37, prominent African photographer employed by the Rand Daily Mail. Father of three children. The "witnesses" Miss Shanti Naidoo, 32, employed in a bookshop in Johannesburg. Daughter of late Mr. T.N. Naidoo, former chairman of Transvaal Indian Congress and adopted son of Mahatma Gandhi. Herself a banned person. (Her whole family has suffered persecution for opposition to r~theid. Her brother, Indres, is serving a ten-year sentence in prison. Another brother Murthie had been detained and tortured in 1965. Her youngest brother has been warned by police. Her sister, Ramnie, who had been arrested at the age of nine for handing out leaflets, married a former political prisoner and is now in London.) Miss Nonbwe Brycina NKALA, a member of the African National Congress. She had suffered imprisonment for A.N.C. activities.

-6- An account of the trial * The twenty-two Africans were charged with being office bearers, officers, members or active supporters of an unlawful organization, the African National Congress. They were alternatively charged with performing acts which were calculated to further the achievement of an object of communism, namely, the bringing about of political and/or industrial and/or social and/or economic changes within the Republic by the promotion of disturbances or disorder. The Prosecutor, Mr. J.H. Liebenberg, said in his opening address on 1 December that the accused had revived the A.N.C. during 1967 by means of the experience and energies of old members. Contact had been established among the members in the townships around Johannesburg and then extended to other provinces, notably the Eastern Cape and Natal. Members had visited centres like Durban, Port Elizabeth and Umtata to revive branches there. The prosecutor went on to state that the merits of the communist system which would end the inequalities suffered by the Africans by reason of the laws and practices of the capitalist society, the need for organizing the masses to overthrow the capitalist state and usher in the "Utopia" of a classless society, had been explained to the new members. Communist literature had been found in the possession of the members of the A.N.C. in fair quantities. The accused, through the instrumentality of Mrs. Winnie Mandela, had maintained regular correspondence with the London office of the A.N.C. The pamphlets, printed overseas and distributed in South Africa, had dealt mainly with the guerrilla warfare instigated and continued by the leaders of the A.N.C., the South African Communist Party and the South African Indian Congress. The accused, he said, had openly supported the policy of violent forms of struggle announced by the A.N.C. leaders in 1961. Every new member was bound by oath to abide by and work for the achievement of the A.N.C. aim to overthrow the White Government in South Africa. The local branch members had expressed strong support for the so-called freedom fighters. In their striving to build up the A.N.C., he said, the accused had devoted much time and energy to tracing and making contact with, and giving or promising financial support to, convicted A.N.C. members, their families or dependants. For this purpose, visits had frequently been made to prisons where such prisoners were detained. Questionnaires had been distributed in which certain details in respect of their families had to be completed. The information obtained had been transmitted to the London headquarters which had arranged for financial aid to the families in question. The accused, he said, had used various means of propagating the A.N.C. message. The funerals of former members had given opportunities for political speeches. In some cases, the names of certain legal bodies had been used as a camouflage for A.N.C. activities. * A more detailed account was given in "Notes and Documents", No. 2/70, January 1970.

- 7 -- Where the accused had felt that the standpoints of the A.N.C. required open and loud propagation and where they could operate with relative safety, they had had no hesitation in issuing pamphlets and circulars in the name of the A.N.C. The Prosecutor concluded that the State had at its disposal more than eighty witnesses, a substantial number of whom were being held in detention because of the exigencies of the case. Evidence presented by the State The prosecution produced a number of policemen and several detainees as State witnesses, but no evidence emerged to substantiate miost of the charges in the indictment and the statements of the Prosecutor. The evidence by policemen consisted mainly of description of documents and papers recovered from some of the accused in searches prior to their detention. Apparently, a few of these were leaflets published illegally after the banning of the African National Congress, others were documents which were legal in the past (such as the A.N.C. oath), but most were not unlawful at all. For example: (a) Hr. Zikalala had two school notebooks in which, in addition to algebraic equations, there were some notes which said that the greatest privilege was to share in the Government of a country, etc. (b) Pir. and Mrs. Ndzanga had press cuttings on the lack of school facilities for African children. (c) Mr. kahlaule had some writing in a notebook about forcible removals of Africans. (d) i,,rs. Mandela had some poems dealing with the South African situation. The evidence by the other State witnesses is briefly summarized below. Mr. Philip Ralph Golding, a United Kingdom national who had arrived in South Africa in 1967 and been detained under the Terrorism Act in Mqay 1969, appeared as State witness on 1 December. He said that, while giving weekly lessons in economics to non-whites, he had met Mr. Pholoto (accused number 15), who was one of the students. kr. Pholotohad told him that he had belonged to the A.N.C., and had introduced him to Mr. Ndzanga (accused number 8) and Mr. Tshabangu (accused number 5). At the end of 1968, when he was going to the United Kingdom, the three accused had asked him to convey greetings from a Miss Emily Malapo to Miss Phyllis Altman. He had volunteered to take other messages and they had asked him to convey messages to the London office of the A.N.C. He did not deliver the messages, however, as no one from the A.N.C. had contacted him. Mr. Golding said he had given 15C rand to Mr. Pholoto in 1969 for the A.N.C. During cross-examination on December 8, Mr. Golding admitted that he had been assaulted during interrogation in prison, and told that he would be freed if he gave evidence in accordance with the statement he had made in prison. hr. Lucas (pperman, the second state witness, said that he had discussed with fr. Golding a number of possibilities for raising finances for the A.N.C. for propaganda. He had also offered to contribute but had never actually done SO. Mr. Herbert Nhlapo, a detainee, said he had attended three meetings with seven of the accused. At these meetings, they had discussed formation of an organization to draw the attention of the authorities to the plight of the Africans. He had learnt later that the organization had ceased to exist after Mrs. Mandela and 1r. Tshabangu had been questioned by the Security Police. Mr. Mohale Andries 1hohameyele, a former assistant librarian at the United States Information Service and a detainee, testified that he had attended meetings with five of the accused. At one of the meetings, they had discussed funeral arrangements for Ir. Lekoto, an elderly A.N.C. member. hr. Lekoto's coffin had an A.N.C. flag on it. He said that he had helped Mrs. Mandela, Miss Sikhakane, and Mrs. Ndzanga to duplicate a leaflet at the U.S.I.S. on a Sunday in March 1968. The leaflet, issued in the name of the A.N.C., concerned the Urban Bantu Council elections in and had exhorted the masses not to be hoodwinked into accepting the U.B.C. as a form of freedom. He had also helped them to duplicate a message of farewell to 1r. Lekoto, to be read at his funeral, calling on the masses not to give up the struggle. 1rs. l andela, he said, had used his postal address for some time to receive mail and two postal orders - for £5 and £lC - from London. Liss Princess Nomyamise hadikizela, sister of Mrs. Winnie Mandela who had also been detained since Lay, appeared as state witness on December 11 and 12. She said that she had lived with her sister and had carried a parcel and a written .niessage to 1hr. Vanga at the request of her sister. She admitted she had also attended the funeral of a man called Laubile in the uniform of a A.N.C. volunteer, and added: "14hen a person of the Congress dies, as a volunteer I don the uniform. " She said, under cross-examination, that she had been forced to make a statement because of threats in detention, and that the police had suggested to her that the uniform was a A.N.C. uniform. She had, in fact, not taken part in A.N.C. activities and the uniform was also that of the Women's Federation. She said she could no longer distinguish between what she knew and what the police told her. Miss Eselina Nomqwitelo Klaas from Port Elizabeth, warned as an accomplice, said she had been arrested on ,ictober 30, 1963, and sentenced in 1964 to two and a half years for furthering the aims of the A.N.C. She had been released in 1966. In June or July 1968, at the request of Mr. hancoko (accused number 21), she had distributed forms to families of six people who had been released from jail after serving sentences for A.N.C. activities, and had delivered the completed forms to Mrs. Ndzanga in Johannesburg (accused number 9). Mrs. Ndzanga and nrs. Mandela (accused number 3), had enquired about prisoners and their families, and had given her 11 rand ($15.40) and some old clothing to distribute to people in financial difficulties. She had been asked to inform Mr. Mancoko an( other ex- prisoners or families of prisoners in difficulties that they would be helped in Johannesburg.

- 9 -- Later, hr. Samson Ndou (accused. number 1) had given her some more forms and a parcel to be delivered to Mr. Lancoko: she thought that this parcel contained A.N.C. leaflets. The parcel had been examined later by Nr. Mancoko and Mr. Mayekiso: at their request, she had burnt the leaflets. (Dir. Caleb Mayekiso, a prominent trade union leader, was detained under the Terrorism Act in June 1969 and died in prison a few days later.) She admitted, under cross-examination, that she had discussed welfare work with Mr. Mancoko and not the A.N.C. She also admitted that she had been subjected to brutality in prison. Two witnesses refuse to give evidence for the State Miss Nonbwe Brycina Nkala, a detainee called as State witness, refused to give evidence on two grounds: (a) the police had promised to release her from detention if she made a statement and had not kept the promise; and (b) she did not want to give evidence against her own people. She said that she had been convicted of taking part in the activities of A.N.C. and had been released in 1966. Detained in lay 1969, she had been kept alone, and had been made to stand for long periods during interrogation. She was sentenced to two months in prison for refusal to give evidence (the term to coincide with the suspension of the trial for a Christmas recess until February 16, 1970) and warned that another sentence would be imposed if she refused to testify after serving the sentence. (Under the terms of section 212 of the Criminal Procedure Act, a person may be sentenced to up to twelve months' imprisonment each time for refusing to give evidence.) Iiss Shanti Naidoo, another detainee called as a State witness, also refused to give evidence. She told the court that she did not want to give evidence as two of the accused, hrs. Winnie Landela and Miss Joyce Sikhakane, were her friends. She said she would not be able to live with her conscience if she gave evidence for the State in this case, Under cross-examination, she said she had made a statement in prison after a five- day long interrogation during which she had not been allowed to sleep. Mr. Justice Bekker said he fully undeostood her state of mind, but added that her reason for refusing to testify was a moral, not a just, excuse. He sentenced her to two months in prison and warned her that if she again refused to testify after serving this sentence, he would have to sentence her again to a further term in jail. Five State witnesses allege brutality in prison As indicated earlier, five of the State witnesses alleged brutality during interrogation in prison.

- 10 - Pressed by the Counsel for defence, the first State witness, 1'1r. Golding, said that he had been assaulted during detention. Soon after being arrested on 17 or 18 Lay, he had been taken to Compol Buildings where he had been questioned by hajor Swanepoel, Lieutenant Erasmus, Lieutenant Ferreira, Sergeant Truter and two others for two days. "I was punched a bit ... I was kicked a bit." Lieutenant Ferreira had hit him in the face once and kicked him a number of times. He had been kept standing on both days of his interrogation, and kept in isolation. Two weeks after the assault, he had made a statement to the police. hiss hadikizela, 21-year old daughter of a former Transkei i inister and sister of irs. Winnie Mandela, said under cross-examination that she had made a statement to the police after she had been threatened with ten years in jail. She said she was in the seventh month of detention in solitary confinement and had spoken to no one other than the warders and the police interrogators. She had lost a large amount of weight. She had been interrogated thrice. The questioning had started during the early hours of the morning and continued into the afternoon. She had been told by an African policeman that she would have to stand on bricks until she talked, and that an old lady who had been made to stand on bricks was unable to walk when she was taken out. liss Klaas testified under cross-examination on 12 December that she had been detained on 34 lay and continually questioned for four days. "For four days I was kept standLng in a small police station without sleep. The police wanted me to make a statement. I stood all the time. I was never left alone." Iiss Nkala said she had been made to stand for long periods during interrogation. liss Naidoo said she had been kept in solitary confinement, subjected to brutal interrogation and threatened with the arrest of all her family. She had to sleep on the floor of the cell. She had made a statement only after a five-day interrogation during which she had not been allowed to sit or sleep. She said: "I was interrogated, I was forced to make certain admissions because I couldn't stand the strain of standing on my feet for hours and hours... "Ty mind went completely blank and I went to sleep standing and I had a sort of a dream in which I was actually speaking to the officers who were interrogating me, in my sleep, and afterwards when I had sort of regained my senses, I was interrogated on this dream I had which was complete nonsense... "The interrogation went on for five days without any sleep." The State did not challenge the statements of any of these five witnesses.

-- 11 - Accused acquitted but re-detained When the trial resumed on February 16, 197c, the Attorney-General of the Transvaal, Mr. K.D. Moodie, announced that the State was stopping its prosecution of the accused and asked for an acquittal. lir. Justice Simon Bekker said that the accused were entitled to a verdict and found them "not guilty". The accused, however, were not released. Police escorted them from the court to an enclosed van and drove them away under an armed escort. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lieutenant-General G.J. Joubert, told the press that they had been detained again and that the police were "instituting further investigations in regard to other possible charges". Hr. Joubert also stated that Niss Shanti Naidoo and Mrs. Brycina Nkala were also detained under the Terrorism Act, after completing two-month sentences. Mr. Joel Carlson, the defence attorney, told the press that the twenty-two Africans had in their possession, when re-detained, confidential documents, including statements which were intended for use in the defence case. The defence counsel had been refused access to the prisoners and to the doctments. Affidavits on torture of_ detainees and application for protection An urgent application was then filed by Liss Iris viadikizela, sister of Mrs. Mandela, and fourteen relatives of other detainees alleging that assaults and torture had been used against the detainees. i'iss Ladikizela said in her affidavit that the trial had brought to light evidence by several witnesses that they had been made to stand for long periods without sleep. This had also happened to the accused. As a result of re-detention, her sister and other detainees were again at the mercy of the interrogators and she feared that they would again be interrogated in the same manner. She said her apprehensions were strengthened by her belief that the cruelty meted out to detainees was part of an interrogation method adopted by certain members of the Security Police under ht-ajor T.J. Swanepoel. It was common knowledge that a number of people had died while detained in terms of the Terrorism Act. There were strong grounds to believe that her sister and other detainees were now in peril of renewed subjection to harassment and suffering. With the aftermath of the mental cruelty of solitary confinement and the trial, this could cause her sister to have a mental breakdown. The applicants asked for an order instructing the Ministers of Justice and Police to take adequate steps to protect the detainees and to produce them in court. They also asked that affidavits in the possession of the detainees at the time of their detention which related to their treatment while in custody be taken from them by an attorney of the Supreme Court and that evidence be taken by a commission. Statements by seventeen of the twenty-two detainees on interrogation by the Security Police were submitted to the Court.

- 12 - Mrs. Rita Ndzanga said in her affidavit that during the initial interrogation on May 16, 1969, she had been hit by a policeman. "I fell on the floor. He then said 'staan op' (get up) and attempted to kick me while I lay on the floor." He then instructed another policeman to pour water on her face. After more than twelve hours of interrogation, she had begun to make a statement. In June 1969, she had again been interrogated and asked to take off her shoes and stand on three bricks. "I refused to stand on the bricks. Cne of the white Security Police climbed on top of a chair and pulled me by the hair. He dropped me on the bricks. I fell down and hit a gas pipe. "The same man pulled my hair again, jerked me and I again fell on to the metal gas pipe. "The man who pulled my hair had his hands full of my hair." She had been hit as she stood on the bricks, and she had fallen. Water had been poured on her. Another detainee, Ir. George Iokwebo, alleged that an elderly white policeman had practised karate tactics on him during interrogation. "I was kicked in the back, stomach and cheeks; I was also punched in the stomach for a considerable time, leaving me gasping for breath. The tea boy fastened my hands above my head to railings. (ne of the bricks under my feet was removed hourly." When the bricks were removed, he was able to touch the ground only with the tip of his shoe. F'r. J. Carlson, the defence attorney, said in an affidavit that the documents to which he had been denied access referred to the treatment of the twenty-two Africans by the police and also to attempts by the Security Police to persuade some of the detainees to procure the services of another Johannesburg attorney, Lr. kendel Levine, for their defence. l/ _pplication s for protect ion and information denied Mr. Justice C.D.J. Theron dismissed the application of the relatives for court protection. Cn L.arch 13, 197(7, Ir. Joel Carlson applied to the Security Police for information about the whereabouts of the detainees, for permission for relatives to visit the detainees and for medical attention for those who are ailing and for the aged. ((ne detainee is in his late seventies.) He also asked when the detainees would be brought to trial. He received no reply. i/ 1r. Mendel Levine, according to press reports, is a supporter of the ruling National Party.

- 15 -- Relatives fear for safetv of detainees Mr. Carlson told the press on April 4, 197Cl: "In view of the Terrorism Act under which the twenty-two are detained - incommunicado, indefinitely and in solitary confinement - relatives have a real fear for the well-being of those in detention." Meanwhile, in an anguished plea on harch 7 (reported in Sunday Time s, Johannesburg), Mrs. Mononmoney Naidoo, the elderly mother of Liss Shanti Naidoo, said: "I am frantically worried about my daughter, Shanti, who has been detained, incm.municado, for nine months. "I am old and ill, and I fear I shall never see Shanti again. I implore the authorities either to charge my daughter, if she has done something against the law, or to release her. "She has been held incommunicado for six months, appeared briefly in court and then just disappeared again under a blanket veil of the law. "I am haunted by the fact that two detainees, arrested at the same time as Shanti, have died in jail. "And in sworn affidavits handed to the court, other detainees have alleged that they were beaten, assaulted and made to stand for days and nights on end. (ne 73--year-old man alleged he was strung up to a pipe on the wall with just his toes touching the ground and assaulted. "Shanti is frail and delicate. I am going out of my mind with worry." Detentions condemned in South Africa The , South African women's organization, announced a series of protests from Larch 1, 197-, against the continued detention. The protests are held every Fionday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. outside the Y.1i.C.A. Building in Johannesburg. Cn April 4, 197c, k]rs. , Progressive Party Lember of Parliament, called cn the Government to charge or release the accused. She said: "To most people these detainees are just Black suspectspossible terrorists. What is always forgotten is that the detainees are men and women with anxious families, with jobs and responsibilities. "What sort of democracy is this where people can virtually disappear into solitary confinement, undergoing heaven knows what sort of interrogation? "If, after all these months, the Government cannot frame charges against them, the detainees should be released forthwith."

(n April 13, 197T, an interdenominational service was held at St. Mary's Anglican Cathedral, Johannesburg, to draw attention to the plight of the detainees. The service was sponsored by the social action committee of the Witwatersrand Council of Churches. (See next section)

- 15 - STUDENT PROTESTS AGAINST ARBITRAPY DETENTIONS The continued arbitrary detentions have sparked massive student demonstrations in May 1970. These have in turn encouraged widespread protests by professors and other public figures. Demonstrations on anniversary of detentions On May 11, 1970, students at the Universities of the Witwatersrand, , Rhodes and Natal, as well as students of the Johannesburg College of Education, held pickets, torchlight vigils, mass meetings and other demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the detentions of Mrs. Handela and others (who had been arrested during the night of May 11-12, 1969). Thousands of students joined in these protests not only against the detention ol th tTenty-t!To Africans, but also against "the erosion of the rule of law and in particuwIr against indefinite arbitrary detention under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act." At Grahamstown three students were arrested on the charge of contravening a municipal by-lav by standing with placards outside the university gates: they were released after paying 10 rand ($14) fines. Student pickets at 'Titwatersrand University, Johannesburg, were repeatedly attacked at night by roving egg and tomato throwrers. The Litwatersrand students voted at a mass meeting to continue protests with a march to the police headquarters on I'arch 18. Over 550 students arrested at march The Johannesburg City Council gave permission for the Witwatersrand student march, but on the eve of the march (at midnight of March 17-18), the Acting Chief Magistrate ordered a ban. Next day, the students held a large meeting to protest the ban. The Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg, the It. 7ev. Leslie Stradling, participated in the meeting. After this meeting, about 600 students proceeded to march into the city despite the ban. Hundreds of baton-.carrying policemen stopped the protesters near the police station. Three hundred and fifty-seven students were detainedfor several hours and it was reported that they would be charged under a section of the Riotous Assemblies Act which provides fol imprisonment of up to twelve months or a fine of up to 100 rand ($140). Those arrested included three priests, two Roman Catholic and one Anglican Father Cosmas Desmond, a Franciscan missionary priest; rather Collin B. Collins, secretary-general of the University Christian tovement; and Father Collin Davison of the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg. Also arrested was Mr. Ian Thompson, a lecturer in philosophy.

- 16 - Meanwhile, following representations by Dr. C. R. Bozzoli, vice-chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Pelser, announced on May 20, 1970, that he would approach the matter sympathetically and that he "would not like to see convictions recorded against the young students if such can be at all avoided without serious harm to the maintenance of law and order." Further student protests In Cape Town, permission was refused for a march to protest the arrests of the 1itwatersrand students. Students at the University of Cape Town then held a mass meeting on the campus on March 20: 250 of them marched to the City Council office and held a sit-down demonstration. About 1,800 students of the Uitwatersrand university attended a mass protest meeting on May 20: twenty-two of them sat in front, blindfolded and gagged to represent the 22 detained Africans. The students also held a seminar to discuss further action: Miss Nadine Gordimer, writer, and Er. Joel Carlson, attorney, addressed the seminar. Students at the University of Natal at Pietermaritzburg and Durban were also refused permission for protest marches. A protest meeting was held in Pietermaritburg. In Durban, the students held a teach-in and a large protest meeting, and stayed away from classes. Hundreds of students went around Durban explaining why they opposed arbitrary detention and collecting signatures for a petition supporting the students. Many members of the faculty expressed support for the students. Students at the Rhodes University, Grahamstown, decided to set up a fund to assist the arrested Witwatersrand students toward legal costs and fines. Professors of law join in protests In the wake of the student demonstrations,professors of law from all white universities and other public figures joined in protests against arbitrary detentions under the Terrorism Act. These included: The Rt. Rev. Leslie E. Stradling, Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg Miss Nadine Gordimer, writer Mrs. Helen Suzman, Progressive Party member of Parliament Mr. Gray Hughes and Mr. M. Mitchell, United Party members of Parliament Professor John Dugard, Dr. Barend van Niekerk, i-r. David Zeffertt and Mrs. Z. Graff of the Law Faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand Professor S. A. Strauss, Professor of Law at the University of South Africa in Pretoria Professor H. L. Swanepoel, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Potchefstroom University Professor B. Reinart, Professor of Law at the University of .Cape Town Professor T1. A. Joubert of the University of South Africa Professor A. S. Matthews, head of the Department of Law at the University of Natal

- 17 - -croessor ,'. vcn .ar eTc, ierii c). Faculty of Law at the Rand Afrikaans University Professor A. J. Kerr of the Law Department of the Rhodes University Mr. K. Schwietering, senior law lecturer at Stellenbosch University South African Institute of Race Relations South African Council of Churches The Rev. C. F. Beyers Naude, Director of the Christian Institute Four members of the University of the I itwatersrand Law Faculty declared in a joint statement: "It is meaningless to speak of the rule of law as being part of the fabric of our legal system as long as Section 6 of the Terrorism Act of 1967 remains on the South African statute book ... "By this Act, the Security Police have Emerged as higher authorities than the courts of law in our legal system. "This position can no longer be accepted in silence." (Sunday Times, Johannesburg, May 10, 1970) Professor A. S. Matthews, head of the Department of Law at the University of Natal, said: "A totally unregulated right to detain is not merely a breach of the rule of law; it is the antithesis of the rule of law in any meaningful sense." (Ibid.) Rev. C. F. Beyers Naude, director of the Christian Institute, said: "Every true Christian and every person with a sincere moral concern should reject, protest against and fight this law until it is obliterated from our statute books." (Ibid.) Professor Phillip Tobias, head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Witwatersrand, described the detention of the twenty-two men and women as "a horrible offence against humanity." "It is inconceivable that any country which permits this sort of thing can honestly claim to believe in the principles of justice, human decency or respect for the rule of law." (Ibid., May 17, 1970) It was reported that the Johannesburg Attorneys' Association had approached the Incorporated Law Society of the Transvaal to make representations to the Government about the detentions, and that other law societies were discussing the matter.

- 18 - DEATHS IN DETENTICN In issue No. 12/69 of "Notes and Documents", the Unit on Apartheid published particulars on eleven persons who had died in detention in South Africa since 1963. The list has now grown to fourteen, as follows: Name Date of death "Looksmart" Solwandle NGUDLE Suliman SALe (JEE James HAIAAK51AY Leong YU[V PIN Unknown Ah YAN J.B. Tubakwe Nicodimus KGd.ATHE Solomon 1i- DIPANE Jaines LENKCE Caleb '.AYEKISC Mv'ichael SHIVUTE Jacob 1 r NAKGOTLA Imana Abdullah HAR N September 5, 1963 September 9, 1964 date unknown, 1966 November 19, 1966 date unknown (death disclosed in Parliament on January 28, 1967, without detail, in reply to a question) January 5, 1967 September 11, 1968 February 2, 1969 about February 28, 1969 March 1C, 1969 June 1, 1969 June 16-17, 1969 September 9, 1969 September 27, 1969 These detainees had been held incommunicado so that only the prison warders and the Security Police knew of the treatment they had endured in prison. Nevertheless, in a number of inquest proceedings, medical evidence became available that the detainees had been subjected to brutal assaults during interrogation, including burns by electric shock torture. Brief particulars on the recent deaths in detention are given below. jr Nicodimus (Nick) KG ATHE 'r. Kgoathe, 57, a furniture worker, was detained on November 7, 1968, and died on February 2, 1969. The Security Police claimed that he had fallen while taking a shower. The post- mortem showed that he had died of broncho-pneumonia, possibly as a complication of a minor head injury. It was disclosed at the inquest, however, that he had spent two weeks in hospital before his death. The doctor who had him admitted to hospital said that he had found various injuries which he thought were the result of assault. A police sergeant testified that b'r. Kgoathe had complained of assault by Security Police during interrogation. But the magistrate found that he was unable to conclude that any person was to blame for the death.

- 19 - Mr. Solomon MCDIPANE Nir. Modipane, a Bakwena tribesman, died in prison about February 28, 1969, three days after his arrest. Police spokesmen claimed that he had slipped on a piece of soap. A magistrate endorsed a post-mortem report that death was due to natural causes. No inquest was held. I!.r. James ,ENKOE Ir. Lenkoe, 35, a Lesotho national, and railway worker, died in prison on k}arch 1C, 1969, five days after being detained. The Government claimed that he had committed suicide. It was revealed at the inquest that traces of copper had been found in a wound on his toe. Four pathologists, including a renowned American expert, Dr. Alan R. ioritz, testified that the wound was caused by an electric burn, a few hours before his death, and could have been caused by electric shock torture. The I agistrate, however, accepted the Security Branch version of suicide. r. .Caleb NAYEKISC, A prominent trade union leader and a leader of the African National Congress, r r. Yayekiso was detained on 1ay 14, 1969 and died on June 1, 1969. The Government claimed that he had died of "natural causes". hr. i-ichael SHIVUTE Lr. Shivute was detained on June 16, 1969, and died during the night of June 16/17. The Government claimed he had committed suicide 1hr. Jacob i1ONAKGOTLA One of several members of the Bakubunq tribe, arrested in a tribal dispute and held in detention under the Terrorism Act, 1,r. i'onakgotla died on September 9, 1969, the day before the trial was to begin. The district surgeon found that he had died from thrombosis. No inquest was held. Imam Abdullah Haron Imam Haron, a prominent i',oslem leader, was detained on ]hay 28,1969, and died on September 27,1969. (see separate note in this issue).

- 20 - TRIALS UNDER THE TERRCRISM ACT The detentions and trials which have so far taken place under the Terrorism Act have disclosed, in addition to violations of the most fundamental principles of justice, gross abuse of the Act for holding people incommunicado in cases where no charge of "terrorism" was involved. In one case, seventeen Africans involved in a tribal dispute were detained under the Act, but were not charged under the Act. In another case, thirty-eight Africans were detained under the Act, but only ten were charged under the Act and these charges were not pressed. As noted earlier, Yrs. Mandela and her colleagues were also detained under the Act, but were charged under another statute. In most of these cases, brutal torture of the detainees (accused and witnesses) was alleged. The trial of Mrs. handela and twenty-one others has been reviewed in this issue. Earlier trials are briefly reviewed here. Trial of thirty-seven Namibians, 1967-68 Immediately after its enactment in June 1967, the Terrorism Act, with its retroactive provisions, was used against thirty-seven of an unknown number of Namibians who had then been in detention, some for more than a year. The illegal trial of these Namibians led to widespread international protests and condemnation - including condemnation by the United Nations organs concerned (the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Commission on Human Rights, the Council for Namibia, the Special Committee of Twenty- four). Cf the thirty-seven accused, fifteen were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment and sixteen to terms of imprisonment ranging from five to twenty years. Three were sentenced to five years each under alternative charges under the Suppression of Communism Act, rather than the Terrorism Act. Two were acquitted and one died in prison during the trial. During the course of this trial, in December 1967, an urgent application was made for a court order to protect hr. Gabriel Nibindi, a Namibian detainee, from cruel and brutal assaults, including electric shock torture. Affidavits in support of his application were filed by some of the accused who also alleged torture. hr. Nbindi was released two months after, before the court was to hear oral evidence. An agreement was reached between the parties in terms of which the State paid 3,CCC rand ($4,2CC) to hr. Mbindi toward the costs of the application, though without admitting the truth of the allegations. Trial of twelve Africans in Pietermaritzburg in February-March 1969 Of the twelve accused, adherents of the African National Congress, eleven (ten men and one woman) were sentenced on harch 26, 1969, to terms of imprisonment ranging from five to twenty years. Gne was acquitted.

- 21 - Cne of the State witnesses in the trial, Mr. Desmond Francis, told the Court that he had been arrested in Southern Rhodesia and handed over to the who had kept him in solitary confinement for over 4C days and had subjected him to brutal torture. (An account of his experience in prison and a review of this trial were published in "Notes and Documents", No. 8/69). Windhoek trial. July-August 1969 Eight Namibians were tried under the Terrorism Act in Windhoek in JulyAugust 1969. A number of other detainees were produced as State witnesses. C3n August 22, 1969, the Court sentenced five of the accused to life imprisonment and one to 18 years. Two others were acquitted. Trial of Bakwena tribesmen, August 1969 Following the burning down of a Bakwena tribal sub-chief's home near Hebron in October 1968, and reports of dissatisfaction with Chief Lerothidi II for imposing collective fines, the police arrested seventeen Bakwena tribesmen between Cctober 1968 and February 197C. These detentions received public attention only in March 1969 when two of the tribesmen died in detention. Er. Nick Kgoathe, arrested in November 1968, died in prison early in February 1969. 1'r. Solomon Modipane, arrested on February 25, 1969, died in prison three days later. They were both mar-ried with children. The Security Police claimed that they had died of "natural causes". The inquest on the death of Nr. Kgoathe, at which the family was represented by counsel, disclosed police brutality. No inquest was held on the death of 1,r. Modipane. (nly six of the Africans were eventually charged on June 24, 1969. The others were released after many months in detention. The charges were not under the Terrorism Act, but of sabotage, alternatively attempted murder, alternatively arson. In August, the Pretoria Supreme Court acquitted them of all the charges, finding the evidence against them conflicting and valueless. Trial of Bakubun tribesmen. September lq6Q Several members of the Bakubung tribe in the Rustenburg district were detained in April 1968 and subsequently charged with attempting to murder Katherina onakgotla, chieftainess of the tribe. Cn January 21, 1969, one of them, Mr. Marks Nonakgotla, 5C, appeared in the Rustenburg magistrate's court on an application for bail. He told the court that he had been shocked unconscious by an electric machine and beaten b*policemen in an attempt to get him to make a statement. He opened his shirt and showed a red mark of about five inches in diameter on the right side of his chest. Two days later, the Pretoria Supreme Court granted an interim order, restraining any member of the police from interviewing him.

22 - The next day, the State withdrew the charge of attempted murder against the nine prisoners so that the bail application of Mr. Marks Monakgotla could not be considered. However, before the Africans could leave the court, they were arrested under the Terrorism Act and transferred to Pretoria. On 29 January 1969, the Court refused to extend the interim order against the police, on the State's submission that the courts had no jurisdiction over the prisoner now that he had been detained under the Terrorism Act. Between January 29 and March 17, thirty- eight other tribesmen were detained under the Terrorism Act. hr. James Lenkoe, one of the detainees, died in prison on March 1G, 1969. The inquest revealed evidence of electric shock torture, though the magistrate accepted the police version that hr. Lenkoe had committed suicide. Ten of the prisoners were charged on August 4, 1969 with terrorism, alternatively with intent to commit murder. One of them, Mr. Jacob Monakgotla, died of "natural causes" on 9 September, a day before the trial began. Three were discharged on 11 September and the State withdrew the main charge of terrorism when the six others pleaded guilty to attempted murder. (Strangely, Major Swanepoel, chief interrogation officer of the Security Branch, gave evidence in mitigation). 1r. Justice Theron said he had sympathy for the reasons the six accused had attempted to murder the chieftainess. He sentenced them to three years' imprisonment each, two years of which was suspended. Trial of Nr. hathangela, December 1969 Mr. Donald Sifiso hathangela, 26, a Malawi national, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment under the Terrorism Act in Pietermaritzburg in December 1969.

- 23 -- THE LATE lIAM ABDULLAH HABCN* Imam Abdullah Haron, a prominent Moslem leader of Cape Town, was detained under the Terrorism Act on hay 28, 1969, and died in prison on September 27, 1969, after four months in solitary confinement. The Government claimed that he had died of a heart ailment, but this story was widely questioned. As the Reverend Canon L. John Collins wrote to the Special Committee on Apartheid: "He was a loved and respected religious leader in the Cape and utterly opposed to the doctrine of apartheid. He aided the victims of the system by giving solace and support to the wives and families of political prisoners and by educating their children, irrespective of their religious beliefs or political persuasions. "As no charges were brought against him, and as he was not brought to trial, one is entitled to assume that he was detained because of this work among the dependants of political prisoners. He is the twelfth man to have died in detention in South Africa, and the fifth this year while kept incommunicado in solitary confinement in terms of the Terrorism Act. "The South African authorities have given the cause of his death as heart failure. He was in excellent health before his arrest and we also have evidence that he was still well and his spirit unbroken at the end of July after he had been in detention and under police interrogation for fifty-eight days. "The death of the Imam, which has brought grief not only to his family and to the Moslem community, but also to all who have known and revered him, gives the lie to any claims made by the South African Government that its apartheid regime is humane and stable, a bastion of Western and Christian civilization. We believe him to be another martyr to the cause of freedom from racial tyranny in South Africa." The Imam's funeral was attended by 3(,CO0 people who walked several miles from his home to the burial ground. "It was not just a funeral. It was a political demonstration." The Special Committee on Apartheid in a communique on October 7, 1969, protested vigorously at the Imam's death and expressed its belief "he was victimized for his anti-racialist views and his belief in the brotherhood of mankind and equality of all men". The South African Government did not accede to widespread demands for an impartial inquiry, but held an inquest after a delay of several months. It was then disclosed that the Imam had twenty-six bruises on his body covering 56c square centimetres and a h-ematoma on his back; his seventh right rib was broken. * See also "Notes and Documents", No. 16/69 and No.2C/69.

- 24 - Sergeant J.F.P. Van Wyck of the Security Police testified that Imam Haron had been taken out of the Cape Peninsula between September 17 and 19, 1969, in the exclusive custody of the Security Police. He stated that on the night of September 19, he had fallen down some stairs and had suffered injuries. Sergeant Van Wyck and Major Dirk Genis, Security Branch detectives, claimed that the Imam had been held on suspicion of contacts with the Pan Africanist Congress, of receiving money from the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Defence and Aid Fund and of taking money out of South Africa for use by exiles. The following facts were brought out during the inquest: (a) Sergeant Van Wyck was the officer who had assaulted Miss Stephanie Kemp and Mr. Alan Brooks in 1964. The Government made out-of-court settlements in those cases and allowed the victims to leave the country. (b) Imam Haron had been interrogated by Sergeant Van Wyck between July 2 and 11, 1969, and had reluctantly made a statement. During that period, the Imam, who had no complaint before, had twice been seen by doctors. He had complained of pain over his ribs and was given pain-killing tablets. There was no indication of heart trouble. After September 20, however, though the Imam had a broken rib, no doctor had been called. The Security Branch had "treated" him with pain-killing tablets. (c) During the last ten days, the Imam did not walk around. He usually stood or sat in the sun, and sometimes did not leave his cell. (d) The first mention of the alleged fall was on the afternoon of September 28 when Major Dirk Genis had seen the body and noticed the bruises. (e) According to Dr. T.G. Schwar, the former senior State pathologist in Cape Town who had conducted the post-mortem on September 28, there were twenty-six bruises on the body, a haemotoma, various blood clots in the chest wall, a narrowing of the artery and clots in the deep veins of the calves. The seventh right rib was broken. One of the bruises was large, twenty by eight centimetres. Some of the bruises were possibly seven to ten days old, but others were fresher. Two parallel bruises were similar to injuries seen on those who had been hit by an instrument such as a stick. (f) According to Dr. Percy Helman, a prominent specialist surgeon, all the bruises on the Imam's body could not have been caused by a fall down stairs.

- 25 The inquest magistrate, however, accepted police evidence and declared that the cause of death was myoacardial ischemia: a likely contributing cause being trauma (injury) superimposed on a severe narrowing of a coronary artery. A substantial part of the trauma he said, was caused by an accidental fall down a flight of stone stairs. "On the available evidence I am unable to determine how the balance thereof was caused." The evidence at the inquest and the finding caused wide disquiet and provoked demands for a thorough judicial inquiry. Cn March 15, Mrs. Catherine Taylor, United Party Member of Parliament, called for a top-level inquiry into the death of' Imam Haron in view of the fact that the evidence led at the inquest cast "ugly doubts" on the treatment of prisoners in detention, especially those "held incommunicado under the Terrorism Act". Professor Hansi P. Pollak, chairman of the Cape Western Region of South African Institute of Race Relations, wrote in a letter to ca pe.KTies (March 19, 1970): "We ... strongly support the growing demand for a judicial commission of inquiry into this whole grave matter, more particularly into the treatment meted out to the Imam while in detention. "The aspect of this case which makes it the special concern of my committee is that a full inquiry and report by a manifestly impartial commission is surely required in the interests of harmonious race relations. "The late Imam was a public figure and important religious leader among Cape Moslems. The circumstances of his death while in official hands and the many disquieting aspects of the inquest evidence can surely, if left unexplained, potentially have great repercussions on their relations with Europeans in general and the authorities in particular. "The inquest can be no substitute for the kind of inquiry now being sought. For there, the sole relevant issue was the cause of death... "But the issues requiring investigation by a judicial commission are obviously not thus limited. They would include, for instance, precisely why the evidence placed before the magistrate was so scanty, especially since the Imam was being held incommunicado. Hence the cause of any injuries he may have sustained must, prima facie, be within the exclusive knowledge of his official custodians (presumably other than those who testified at the inquest). "Again, the inquiry would not be limited to the cause of death but would include the question whether or not, independently of such cause, the detainee was the victim of unlawful violence." - 26 - The Reverend C.S. Sergel, Mrs. C. Sergel, the Reverend J.A. Stewart and Mrs. Mary Schurr of Bellville wrote in a joint letter to Cape Times, (March 19, 197): 'Lay we express publicly our real concern and extend our sympathy to the faiaily of Imam Haron and to the Moslem community. They must have felt sickened with horror at the facts disclosed at the inquest... "This tragic event, with so much else in this land, gives such cause for sorrow that we hope, as the Cape Times said in an excellent leading artic , there will be'profound disquiet by members of the public of all political convictions'. "Every thinking person in South Africa, and far beyond her borders, will be waiting anxiously to hear what the Government will say and do about this matter. In the meantime we, as members of the Christian community, would like to say we do care, very much indeed."

- 27 -- DEATH C-F A PRIEST* A poem by Alan Paton Most Honourable I knock at your door I knock there by day and by night My knuckles are raw with blood. I hope it does not offend you To have these marks on your door. I know you are there Most Honourable I know that you hear my knocking But you do not answer me Pity my impotence I cannot reach your power I cannot bring you my tale of sorrow You may die and never know !hat you have done or you may fall And leave no chance of its undoing. Most Honourable the sorrow is not my own It is of a man who has no hands to knock No voice to cry. A sorrow so deep That if you had it for your own You would cry out in unbelieving anguish That such a thing could be. host Honourable do not bestir yourself The man is dead He fell down the stairs and died And all his wounds can be explained Except the holes in his hands and feet And the long deep thrust in his side. * This poem was first published in the SundayTimes, Johannesburg, on March 22, 1970.