During
apartheid, every one of the 74 deaths in SA police custody up to 1994 was
widely condemned in screaming headlines and frantic international protest
campaigns. Under the ANC regime, deaths in custody soared to 695 in 2006 and
reached 860 deaths in 2010. Only the annual Amnesty International summaries
have some paragraphs tucked away mentioning this horrific fact. No screaming
headlines, no frantic international protest actions. Why did world opinion come
to such a screeching halt once the ANC came to power?
Burglary
suspect, 21, was hunted downand collared in his squatter-shack by the black
community: KwaThema police claimed he then committed suicide overnight
also:
- deaths in police-detention jumped from 695 in 2006 — to 860 in 2010
under ANC regime and
- Amnesty International raises alert about high
number of deaths in SA police detention and
- 74 people died in SAP detention during entire
period of apartheid up to 1994…
8 September 2011 source:
journalist Mpho Morereane – Although an inquest still
has to be conducted to establish the exact facts, the SA police force have
already announced that an unnamed 21-year-old man ‘hung himself’ in the
KwaThema Police Station holding cells on the morning of Sept 8 2011. Journalist
Mpho Morereane quoted the police as saying: “He apparently tied a blanket
around the bars of the window in the cell and hung himself. The police found
his body at around 8am, when he was about to be taken for profiling. How he
climbed and reached the bars still puzzles the police. The deceased was
arrested on last Thursday for house break-in and theft. He apparently stole a
DVD player, blankets, potable radio and a duvet from a shack at Extension
Three, KwaThema. The community, which is tired of burglaries in the area,
hunted him down at Barcelona section, still in possession of the stolen items.”
‘This happened in a blink of an eye…’
Sergeant Andries Tshabalala, KwaThema police
spokesman, told Morereane that ‘they were shocked by the incident because
police regularly checked the detainees. This happened in a blink of an eye.
However, we would like to send our condolences to the family of the deceased.
People in custody must know that they are not guilty until proven guilty by the
courts,” says Sgt Tshabalala.
He adds that an inquest docket has been opened.
