South Africa's "Terrorism Act": Grave Concern for Safety of Detainees http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1970_15 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. 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For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org South Africa's "Terrorism Act": Grave Concern for Safety of Detainees Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 18/70 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Apartheid 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) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1970_15 http://www.aluka.org T ON APARTHEID 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. Nelson Mandela) 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".