[Detainees peril at

w a n x : o fthe Fort“Conditions may\ cause epidemic

and dea99

;SUNDAY TIMES REPORTER

WHITE male ex-detainees have sent a report to the Minister of Justice, the Medical Officer of

Health for Johannesburg, the Medical Council anti other prominent persons and organisations, com­plaining about the medical services at t h e fort, Johannesburg, and of “ unhygienic conditions there.

They consider that “ the! inspect food and kitchens, andposition demands the immedi­ate attention of the authorities before serious consequences result in a new epidemic or unnecessary fatalities among prisoners.”

These are some of the com­plaints which detainees “feel it is their duty to bring to the atten­tion of the public and to organi­sations and individuals concerned with public health.”

Cursory medical examination of prisoners on admittance con­trary to prison regulations, which require detailed reports on the physical and mental con­dition of every prisoner ;

Failure of authorities to

lack of supervision in these respects;

Unsatisfactory access of pri­soners to doctors;

Poor state of food served to prisoners;

Inadequate sanitary arrange­ments.“We were appalled by conditions

prevailing in the section of the Fort in which we were confined,* the detainees report in the memo­randum.

Degrading

urban lawyer was fugitive

for 5 monthsSUNDAY TIMES REPORTER

DURBAN, Saturday.

Mr ROWLEY ARENSTEIN, a prominent Durban attorney, returned to a normal life this week after

five months spent as a fugitive from the police m his own

] iome town*For the first time since the

start of the State of Emergency in South Africa he is now able to associate openly with his wife and two young daughters.

The 42-year-old lawyer told me how he had been forced to play a game of cat and mouse with the police to avoid being imprisoned without trial and without charges being brought against him.

Arrested

Mr. Arenstein was arrested at his home early on March 30. The same day his wife and the wives of three other detainees made an urgent habeas corpus application in the Durban Supreme Court.

As the Crown could not furnish documentary proof that a State of Emergency had been declared, Mr. Justice Henochsberg ordered the unconditional release of the four.

Mr. Arenstein said that as no charge had been laid against him there was no legal reason why he should not “disappear.”

But he knew that if the police [knew where he was he would

irobably have been imprisoned.Mr. Arenstein decided to

remain in Durban, and with the exception of one week-end visit to Swaziland that is what he did for five months.He knew the police were looking

for him. One uniformed policeman, waited for him at the flat where his wife was staying.

.1 Another time he was told of a police radio report that he had been seen in Durban and that he was to be “picked up.”

Shaved beard

“I shaved off my beard,” Mr. Arenstein said. “I took certain precautions against being found, but I would rather not go into too much detail about that.

“ If there had been a charge laid against me I would readily have presented myself to the police, but I was not prepared to be put in jail without trial at the whim of a Government that could not work democra­tically under the rule of law.” Being a practising attorney, Mr.

Arenstein was not able to earn a living during the period and this resulted in months of austerity for himself and his family.

(News by Roy Rudden, 15 Hen woods Arcade, Durban.)

They alleged that “no physical examination whatsoever took place” on their admittance. They were asked, instead: “Is there any­thing wrong with you?”

The memorandum describes as ‘degrading and patently un­

healthy” the procedure followed for the “medical examination of African prisoners” who were observed to stand unclothed in queues outside the doctors’ con­sulting room.

Another complaint was that after prisoners had been locked in at 4.30 p.m. for the night, they were apparently powerless to get medical help in an emer­gency.The report tells of a detainee

who was taken seriously ill at about 10 p.m. He was delirious and severely sick.

“Despite this condition, the night warder—who does not possess cell keys and, further­more, is himself locked into the section—was unable to communi­cate speedily with anyone outside because the alarm system was out of order.”

Rotten foodIn the section in which they

were detained, prisoners found that the only change in conditions since the typhoid epidemic was a small wall built round the cess­pool to raise the level above the exercise yard floor.

Complaints about the con­dition of food at the Fort allege that “on several occasions soup was found to be full of insects.” Vegetables were “a dirty brown

colour, exuding a horrible stench.No hot water was available for

washing cups, personal bathing or I for laundering. I

Urinal pots were placed closel to tubs of water in which food| dishes were washed.

Imperative

MR. R O W LE Y A R E N - STEIN.— he is again starting to grow the beard he shaved off “for personal security reasons” during the State of

Emergency.

Enamel food dishes were badly chipped and were washed in an I open yard adjoining the water | closets. .

In explaining why they consider it imperative that attention should be drawn to conditions in the I Fort, the detainees say: “Since the I conditions in which we were kept were identical with those of Euro-1 pean awaiting-trial prisoners, the I grave consequences that could re-1 suit from these conditions are at| all times present at the Fort.

% See “ The heartbreak of aldetainee-mother” on Page 9.1

Detentions just a Govt, trick, say Liberals

SUNDAY TIMES POLITICAL REPORTERa CALL for a commission of in-

A quiry into the Government’s conduct during the State of Emergency was issued yesterday by Mr. Alan Paton, president of the Liberal Party, and Mr. Peter Brown, the party’s chairman.

They w»hi a com m ission to in­vestigate the following questions:

Why the Government detained 1,900 persons but was unable to formulate a charge against one of them;>

Why the detainees were not brought before an impartial tri­bunal;

Whether the Department of Justice took steps to ensure that no one was detained on false in­formation;

Allegations by detainees that the Emergency was designed merely to I hamper the Government’s politi­cal opponents.

“ Secret police”. In a statement issued yesterday |Mr. Paton and Mr. Brown said: I 1 “The detainees were locked up I I without charge or trial for manyl ■ months during which it was said I I that investigations were proceed-1 ling in order to bring charges! 1 against them. No charges have I been brought. I

“We believe that the deten-1 tions' were a deliberate attempt I to smash the political! opponents of the Government,!

irrespective of whether they had! committed an offence or not.”The secretary of the Transvaal

Liberal Party, Mr. E. Wentzel, alleged yesterday that the “Secret Police” were in complete control of the Union during the three- month Emergency.

(News by 0 . S. Bloomberg, 174 Main Street, Johannesburg.)

Collection Number: A3299Collection Name: HILDA AND RUSTY BERNSTEIN PAPERS

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