TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 5

Subsection 11

Detention, torture and trials

74 There were numerous, largely unsuccessful, court applications to halt assault and torture in custody in the wake of the 1976 revolt. Many high school pupils were assaulted following arrest by the SAP. From the accounts it appears that both the SAP and Security Branch police members were responsible for assaults and torture of school children at the time.

75 A fifteen-year-old pupil who wishes to remain anonymous was arrested in August 1976 with other pupils en route to a meeting. They were taken to Mowbray police station where a police officer identified four of the pupils as “ringleaders” and took them to the commanding officer, who told them he would “beat the politics out of them”. They were brutally assaulted with batons by a group of police members, including the commanding officer. The anonymous deponent suffered a perforated eardrum and still bears scars on his forehead.

76 Mr Mkhululi Brian Mphahlele [CT00194] states that he was tortured and beaten at Caledon Square police station by Security Branch members Swarts and Coetzee in January 1977 while being questioned about the school boycotts. He then served three years for arson. Mr Joseph Ndabezitha [CT03031] also mentions Swarts and Sergeant Greeff in his account of being tortured that year. Mr Toto Mzwandile Ntsobi [CT03097] was beaten and given electric shocks by security policeman ‘Spyker’ van Wyk in 1977 at Caledon Square.

The detention and torture of Yusuf Gabru

Detention and torture were not limited to scholars. Salt River High School teacher Mr Yusuf Gabru was detained in 1976 under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act and held at Caledon Square. Spyker van Wyk, his brother, and two other security policemen interrogated Gabru and beat him with their fists and knuckles. He was forced to sit on his knees for a day. After two weeks he was told that he was being released. He was then taken into the room next door, his belongings were once again removed and, after a severe beating, was told that he was being redetained. Gabru describes this as the most devastating moment of his detention. Other methods of abuse included trying to force a pork sandwich into Gabru’s mouth because he came from a Muslim family. Gabru says that the physical torture was far easier to bear than the psychological torture. On one occasion Spyker van Wyk and another policeman took him up a staircase, spoke about slippery staircases and suicides and pushed Gabru’s head over the railings. Spyker van Wyk also told Gabru that Imam Haron had been murdered.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT ASSAULT AND TORTURE WERE USED AGAINST PEOPLE ARRESTED AND DETAINED DURING AND AFTER THE 1976 POLITICAL UNREST, BOTH AT THE HANDS OF ORDINARY POLICE PERSONNEL AND THE SECURITY BRANCH. IN PARTICULAR, DETAINEES HELD AT CALEDON SQUARE POLICE STATION EXPERIENCED TORTURE. THE PERPETRATORS MOST FREQUENTLY MENTIONED IN THIS REGARD ARE INDIVIDUALS KNOWN AS SWARTS, VAN WYK, COETZEE AND GREEFF.