SOUTH AFRICA-HUMAN RIGHTS: ABUSE STILL RAMPANT IN PRISONS

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

CHRIS LOUW

PRETORIA, Jun 26 1995 (IPS) - CHARGES BY A PA IS-BASED WATCHDOG GROUP THAT SOUTH AFRICA’S PRISONERS ARE STILL SUBJECTED TO ABUSE MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER THE ADVENT OF DEMOCRATIC RULE HAS FUELLED THE ON-GOING DEBATE HERE ON THE COUNTRY’S PRISON SYSTEM.

THE INTERNATIONAL PRISON WATCH GROUP (IPWG) SAID IN A REPORT ISSUED FRIDAY THAT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND TORTURE WERE FREQUENT OCCURRENCES IN SOUTH AFRICA’S PRISONS.

IT ALSO NOTED THAT THE CONDITION OF PRISONERS WORLDWIDE HAD DETERIORATED IN THE PAST YEAR AND THAT MORE PEOPLE WERE IN PRISON THAN EVER BEFORE.

JODY KOLLAPEN, SPOKESMAN FOR LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, TOLD IPS HERE HE DOUBTED THAT TORTURE WAS BEING PERPETRATED IN SOUTH AFRICA AT THE SAME LEVEL AS IT WAS YEARS AGO, “BUT IT IS STILL THERE”.

“WE HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE A NEW LEGAL ORDER OUTLAWING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, FROM A FACTUAL POINT OF VIEW IT WILL CONTINUE TAKING PLACE,” SAID KOLLAPEN.

HE RECALLS A RECENT CASE OF YOUNG CHILDREN CAUGHT BY POLICE IN POSSESSION OF A SCREWDRIVER: “THEY WERE ARRESTED AND KEPT IN A POLICE CELL FOR THREE DAYS. I’M NOT SURE IF THAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED HAD THEIR SKINS BEEN WHITE. THEY WOULD PROBABLY HAVE BEEN TAKEN HOME.”

THE IPWG SAYS SOUTH AFRICA HAS THE FOURTH HIGHEST DETEOEL I(?; RATE AFTER RWANDA, THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA. OUT OF EVERY 100,000 SOUTH AFRICANS, 273 ARE BEHIND BARS. THAT COULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. KOLLAPEN SAYS THE PRISON POPULATION IS, “CLOSER TO 330 PER 100,000 OF THE POPULATION ACCORDING TO OUR FIGURES”.

THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF ADMITS THAT THE COUNTRY’S PENITENTIARIES ARE FAR FROM EXEMPLARY, WITH CORRECTIONAL SERVICES MINISTER SIPHO MZIMELA LASHING OUT AT THE COUNTRY’S PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT FOR BUILDING OUTDATED PRISONS AND FAILING TO MAINTAIN THEM.

MZIMELA, WHO HAS BEEN TOLD THAT PRISONS WERE STILL BEING BUILT ACCORDING TO GUIDELINES ACCEPTED IN 1935, SAYS THIS IS “CRIMINALLY IRRESPONSIBLE” AT A TIME WHEN JAILS ARE DANGEROUSLY OVERCROWDED. “THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO CONCEPT,” HE ADDED.

THREE PRISONS HAVE ALREADY BEEN CLOSED BECAUSE OF INHUMANE CONDITIONS, BUT THE CLOSURES HAVE REPORTEDLY CONTRIBUTED TO OVERCROWDING IN OTHER INSTITUTIONS.

FOR EXAMPLE, POLLSMOOR IN THE WESTERN CAPE, WHERE PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA WAS HELD SHORTLY BEFORE HIS RELEASE, WAS BUILT TO ACCOMMODATE 2,800 PRISONERS. IT NOW HOLDS 6,400.

IN ITS REPORT, THE IPWG SAID THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY LAST MONTH BY SOUTH AFRICA’S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND ITS REPLACEMENT WITH COMPULSORY LIFE SENTENCES WAS THE ONLY POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT HERE.

NOT EVERYONE IN SOUTH AFRICA SHARES THIS SENTIMENT.

JUDGES — MANY OF WHOM WERE APPOINTED TO THE BENCH DURING THE APARTHEID YEARS — ARE OPPOSED TO THE SCRAPPING OF THE DEATH PENALTY. SO IS THE NATIONAL PARTY (NP) OF DEPUTY PRESIDENT FW DE KLERK, WHICH HAS BEEN INSISTING ON A REFERENDUM TO DECIDE THE ISSUE.

THE NP ARGUES THAT THE WAVE OF VIOLENCE SWEEPING THE COUNTRY SINCE ITS FIRST EVER DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS, HELD IN APRIL 1994, WILL ONLY BE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL ONCE THE DEATH SENTENCE HAS BEEN RE-INTRODUCED.

STRONG VOICES HAVE ALREADY GONE UP AGAINST COMPULSORY LIFE SENTENCES REPLACING THE DEATH SENTENCE.

CORRECTIONAL SERVICES MINISTER MZIMELA SAID PEOPLE SHOULD BE LEFT SOME HOPE, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE SENTENCED FOR LIFE. “DON’T EXTINGUISH THE LIGHT, THERE MUST ALWAYS BE A FLICKER,” HE SAID.

THE JUDGES HAVE A DIFFERENT GROUSE. THEY ARE INCREASINGLY CRITICAL OF WHAT MANY OF THEM SEE AS THE CONFUSING SITUATIONS REGARDING PRISON SENTENCES.

PRISON OFFICIALS HAVE THE POWER TO REDUCE SENTENCES AND RELEASE PRISONERS ON PAROLE. SOME JUDGES COMPLAIN THAT “FACELESS BUREAUCRATS” ARE OVERTURNING SENTENCES, RENDERING THE COURT SYSTEM “A COMPLETE JOKE”.

LAST WEEK, A SUPREME COURT JUDGE THREW UP HIS HANDS IN DESPAIR, CHARGING THAT THE CORRECTIONAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT WAS “BEYOND ALL REASONABLE COMPREHENSION”.

JUDGE THEO GROBBELAAR SAID HE HAD BEEN SHOCKED “TO THE CORE” WHEN TOLD THAT PRISON OFFICIALS HAD DECIDED THAT DOUBLE MURDERER NTHUTHUZELI NTSHEPE WOULD BE RELEASED IN 20 YEARS’ TIME, DESPITE BEING SENTENCED LAST MONTH TO TWO TERMS OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT AND AN ADDITIONAL 50 YEARS.

THE PRISON OFFICIALS’ DECISION WAS DISCOVERED WHEN DETECTIVES CONFISCATED DOCUMENTS FOLLOWING NTSHEPE’S ESCAPE FROM GAOL LAST WEEK.

WESTERN CAPE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FRANK KAHN ON FRIDAY TOLD THE SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (SABC) THAT JUDGES, WHO TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION ALL RELEVANT FACTORS DURING TRIALS, SHOULD BE CONSULTED IF SENTENCES WERE TO BE SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED BY PENITENTIARY OFFICIALS OR IF PRISONERS WERE TO BE RELEASED.

HE ALSO URGED THAT IF GOVERNMENT WAS SERIOUS ABOUT ATTRACTING FOREIGN INVESTMENT IT SHOULD FIRST INVEST MONEY TO IMPROVE THE FUNCTIONING OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM.