torture – Page 2 – praag.org

Hawk boss sent Zimbaweans back to be tortured, killed

Damning new documents put Hawks boss Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat at the centre of a rendition scandal in which Zimbabweans were arrested in South Africa and sent across the border to be tortured and killed.

Internal police memos and a sworn statement by a senior border police official at Beit Bridge in Limpopo allege that he facilitated the illegal deportations.

President Jacob Zuma is expected to be presented with evidence this week that could result in an arrest warrant being issued for Dramat, one of South Africa’s top cops.

Rendition is the illegal kidnapping and transfer of a prisoner from one country to another.

The Sunday Times understands that Dramat has agreed to present himself for interrogation to investigators from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on Tuesday.

A decision will be made after this meeting whether to arrest him and six others, including Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Shadrack Sibiya and the Hawks’s Colonel Leslie “Cowboy” Maluleke, for their alleged role in the renditions.

The investigation was sparked by a Sunday Times exposé in October 2011 that detailed how a team led by Sibiya and Maluleke arrested four Zimbabweans in Diepsloot township, near Johannesburg, who were suspected of killing a Chief Superintendent Chatikobo in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

A paper trail seen by the Sunday Times shows that Witness Ndeya, his nephew Shepherd Tshuma and their friends Nelson Ndlovu and Maqhawe Sibanda were detained at Orlando police station in Soweto before being driven to Beit Bridge on November 8 2010.

Sibanda and Ndlovu were dropped off before reaching the border, but Ndeya and Tshuma were handed over to Zimbabwean police. Days later, Ndeya’s bullet-riddled body was released to his relatives at Bulawayo mortuary, a death certificate shows. Tshuma was released and is now in hiding in South Africa, along with Sibanda and Ndlovu.

Sibiya said in a sworn statement to the IPID investigators that he was never involved in any operation where suspects were arrested and deported to Zimbabwe. “I do not even know the suspects mentioned,” he said. However, he and Maluleke are implicated directly in sworn statements made by rendition survivors and fellow police officers.

The Sunday Times is aware of several other Zimbabweans who are allegedly the subject of rendition by the same Hawks team, including:

Prichard Tshuma, arrested in November 2010 in Alexandra township, who has since disappeared;

Gordon Dube, arrested in Diepsloot in 2010 and believed to have died in custody; and

John Nyoni, arrested in Diepsloot on January 26 2011. A relative was informed a month later that he had died in police custody from a severe beating and gunshot wounds.

An internal investigation headed by Dramat cleared Sibiya, Maluleke and other Hawks officials of any wrongdoing. In a report last year to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Dramat said Zimbabwean crime suspects in South Africa were arrested by South African police and extradited through formal court processes. Those here illegally without arrest warrants in Zimbabwe were handed to home affairs for deportation.

Dramat’s officers suspected that Ndeya, Tshuma, Ndlovu and Sibanda were planning armed robberies in South Africa, but when they could not be linked to any criminal cases they were handed to home affairs for lawful deportation, Dramat said in the report.

However, new documents seen by the Sunday Times suggest that Dramat played a central role in facilitating their alleged rendition. Police memos reveal that Dramat held a meeting in August 2010 with his counterpart in Zimbabwe to discuss “mutual assistance” in apprehending “most-wanted Zimbabwean criminals involved in cross-border crimes”.

Sources close to the investigation said Dramat held more meetings with Zimbabwean police officials in South Africa and Zimbabwe shortly before the alleged renditions. They claim the Hawks are withholding more documents allegedly incriminating their boss in the scandal, including travel claims for his trips to Zimbabwe and Limpopo, where he is believed to have met the Zimbabwean officials.

A sworn statement by a Lieutenant-Colonel Madilonga at Beit Bridge border post directly implicates Dramat.

Madilonga said that in October 2010 a convoy of Zimbabwean police officials driving Mitsubishi Tritons arrived at Beit Bridge, headed by a Superintendent Ncube, a detective from a homicide unit in Harare, who said he was on his way to meet Dramat in Pretoria.

Ncube claimed he had made prior arrangements with Dramat to hunt down Zimbabwean cop-killer suspects in South Africa with the Hawks boss’s help. When Madilonga protested, Ncube gave him Dramat’s cellphone number and told him to call the Hawks boss. Madilonga said Dramat told him he was aware of the visit by the Zimbabweans and should “let them come”.

Two weeks later, on November 8, Ncube returned to Beit Bridge with the Hawks’s Colonel Maluleke, who showed him home affairs deportation documents for two Zimbabwean cop-killer suspects, Ndeya and Tshuma. The border policeman climbed into Maluleke’s sedan, which was followed by another sedan driven by Ncube and carrying Ndeya and Tshuma.

“We never stopped at the border and no documents were stamped for the purpose of deportation,” Madilonga said in his statement.

Once in Zimbabwe, they were surrounded by Zimbabwean police, who pulled Ndeya and Tshuma out of the sedan and showed no interest in the home affairs documents, said Madilonga, who claimed Maluleke warned him the operation was “top secret”.

Madilonga said that in 2012, once the IPID’s investigation was in full swing, Maluleke called to ask him to make a “cover-up” statement.

Investigators now believe that the deportation documents used were fraudulent. Sworn statements by home affairs officials indicate that the detention warrants dated 2010 had been discontinued in 2008, and that illegal immigrants are taken to the department’s Lindela deportation facility, not directly to Beit Bridge, with the necessary documents.

“The members of SAPS are not entitled to deport people themselves and it is illegal to do so,” the acting deputy director of home affairs at Lindela, Job Jackson, said in a sworn statement.

Sibiya blamed faction fighting between the police’s Hawks and crime intelligence divisions. “I don’t know anything about this thing. I was not involved and I have never been involved. Crime intelligence is behind this whole thing – I don’t know why.”

He said the investigation had dragged on for three years. “I’m challenging IPID: let’s go to court on Monday.”

Maluleke said the allegations were planted by crime intelligence officials unhappy with the Hawks’ role in arresting former crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli. “They were in the Mdluli camp, so when he got arrested, they decided whoever was involved in arresting Mdluli, we must take them down,” he said.

Maluleke insisted that his unit had done nothing illegal in arresting and handing over the Zimbabweans. “They are Zimbabweans and belong in Zimbabwe. We arrested and removed criminals from South Africa who are terrorising our community,” he said.

IPID spokesman Moses Dlamini declined to confirm or deny if Dramat, Sibiya and Maluleke were suspects in the case. Asked why the case had not gone to trial yet, he said: “I’m not going to get into a debate with [Sibiya]. Our investigation is not three years old – it’s been just over a year. It’s at quite an advanced stage. That’s all I’m prepared to say.”

Dramat said he was “not prepared to talk about it or comment” on the case. – timeslive.co.za

Afrikaans author and academic Daan Wybenga tortured to death in Clarens

The well-loved Afrikaans author and academic Prof. Daan Wybenga, 69, has just been tortured to death in his house in Clarens, in the Free State. His body was found on Monday night in his home.

Wybenga is the latest casualty in South Africa’s spate of sadistic black-on-white murders, fueled by racial animosity and years of communist propaganda. His body was so badly mutilated that his son, Mr. Wim Wybenga, 37, could only recognise him by his hands.

According to him, the killers threw boiling water over his dad, hit him over the hand, tied up his hands and feet, and taped a plastic bag around his head to suffocate him.

“At the autopsy, my dad still had the plastic bag around his head and his hands and feet were tied up. His skin was burnt off and full of blisters. His face was also swollen,” said Mr. Wybenga.

His corpse was found in the bathroom, presumably because the hot water there was used to torture him. Making their victims drink hot water, or making them stand under hot showers is a favourite form of torture used by South Africa’s marauding black bandits. In the case of the massacre of the Viana family, in Walkerville, near Johannesburg, 12-year old Amaro Viana was drowned in a tub of hot water.

According to Mr. Wim Wybenga, his father was a loving man who deeply cared for others, even strangers.

“My father was well-liked man and gentle. Hy helped poor people. Every month he gave a large amount to charity. Everyone here knows one another and cares for each other. When something like this happens, it disturbs the harmony of the community.”

People in Clarens described him as a caring and respected man who was very fond of his vegetable garden. He took a special interest in an informal settlement inhabited by black people in Clarens and donated food and money to them.

His gold-coloured Toyota Corolla, cellphone, and music system were missing from the house.

Police were still searching for the murderers and appealed to the community to come forward with information. Charges of murder, house robbery, and vehicle theft were being investigated.

Prof. Wybenga was a linguist, author and also had a passion for theology.

From 1984 t0 1992 he lectured in Afrikaans and Dutch at the Northwest University’s Vaal Triangle campus and afterwards at the Sebokeng campus of Vista University.

He retired in 2003.

He published various academic books on the Afrikaans language.

Wybenga is survived by four children, Fernande, Christabe, Gea, Wim and two grandchildren.

The funeral will take place next Thursday at 12:00 at the Reformed Church in the nearby town of Bethlehem.

Three murder accused allege SA police torture

Three men accused of shooting dead an Mpumalanga mineworker three years ago were tortured into confessing to the crime, the Nelspruit Circuit of the High Court in Pretoria heard on Wednesday.

Isaac Sebokuboku Phala, 29, Calvin Tjatji, 24, and Tshepo Seloane, 24, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, armed robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition when they appeared in court, a Sapa correspondent reported.

They are accused of murdering Madingwana Max Matlou, 43, and robbing him of his Samsung cellphone in Mashishing on August 22, 2010. The cellphone was later sold to Cash Crusaders in Emalahleni.

During a trial-within-a-trial on Wednesday, Justice Mogotsi, for Phala, told the court his client would testify that Constable Ernest Vuma Mgwambi, Warrant Officer Johannes Thomas Motau and two captains forced him to make a confession.

“My client will testify that his head was covered with a plastic tube and pepper spray was used to make him suffocate. He said they forced him to produce the murder weapon,” Mogotsi said.

He said Phala was charged only once his wounds had healed.

King William Manzini, for Tjatji, told the court his client would also testify he was assaulted and forced to do a pointing out at the crime scene.

“My client said his constitutional rights were not read to him. On June 4 2011, he was assaulted and was only taken to a doctor for a check up three weeks after the beating.”

Madala Simpson Mulaudzi, for Seloane, said his client was fetched from Tubatse police station and was taken to the Leboeng police station on June 6, 2011.

“My client said he was taken to a bridge at the exit of Tubatse. He was then taken to a veld, where he was handcuffed with his hands in the back and on his legs.”

“After a plastic tube was put over his head, they used pepper spray to make him suffocate. He will testify that he was sjambokked severely on his back and sustained serious injuries.”

Seloane was taken to Leboeng police station where he was introduced to Tjatji, said Mulaudzi.

“He will testify he was told to go to a magistrate and make a confession…. He will also testify that he was told the injuries were inflicted by his parents when they beat him up.”

“He said he was told by Mgwambi that if he reported the assault, he would shoot him dead.

“He said when he went to the magistrate he reported he had been assaulted. That was when the magistrate cancelled the interview. He claimed he was only taken to a doctor on June 9.”

The defence lawyers said their clients would testify that Mgwambi drove them to the crime scene and asked them to return with other police officers to do the pointing out.

When Mgwambi took the stand, he testified that he was the investigating officer in the case and that no assault had taken place.

“No assault took place against the three suspects. The reason why we drove to the crime scene is that it is the only road from point A to point B. There is no alternative road.”

Motau, who also took the stand, denied that the three men were assaulted or forced to make confession.

“I was with the investigation officer, Constable Mgwambi, during the entire investigation. All the suspects co-operated with police and they voluntarily chose to make the statements.”

Judge Mmonoa Teffo postponed the trial to Thursday. – Sapa

Black man gets life for sadistic rape, torture, murder of white pensioner

Curious onlookers outside the Kei Mouth Magistrate's Court where the trial was taking place. Video still: Despatch Online — Curious onlookers outside the Kei Mouth Magistrate’s Court where the trial was taking place. Video still: Despatch Online

A black man who raped and tortured to death elderly Kei Mouth resident Anne Roebert was yesterday sentenced to two life terms in jail plus a further 28 years, reports the Daily Dispatch.

Siyabonga Ntshabalala, 26, stood stony-faced as his lawyer Ntombenani Mtini read to the court his plea statement, which was replete with gruesome detail of his crimes.

In his plea, Ntshabalala describes how he and his co-accused Zukisani Tulani – who has pleaded not guilty to the rape and murder – broke into the home of the popular 75-year-old in Donax Street, Kei Mouth, because they knew she had a safe.

They tied her up with an electrical extension cord and demanded the keys to the safe. Roebert told them she thought the keys might be in her bag, says Ntshabala in his statement.

But none of the keys in this bunch fit the safe. She then referred them to another set of keys in a bag downstairs. These, too, did not open the safe. They decided to rape her to make her “speak the truth”.

After both men had raped her, she told them the keys were somewhere in the house. He said he had then fetched an iron from downstairs and plugged it in and had begun burning her with it on her stomach. He said Tulani had repeatedly strangled her with the cord.

“I burnt her until she said she does not have the energy to talk anymore.”

She had then fallen from the bed and died. They ransacked the house.

They split their booty and returned to their separate homes where they were later arrested by police

Complete disregard for the right to life, dignity, privacy, security and property

After Ntshabalala pleaded guilty and Tulani not guilty to the charges, Judge Nomathamsanqa Beshe separated their trials. Tulani’s trial begins today.

In sentencing Ntshabalala, Beshe said his callous crimes showed a complete disregard for the right to life, dignity, privacy, security and property.

She said it was clear Roebert had suffered a great deal at his hands and that they had used rape as a means of torturing her before burning her with a hot electrical iron. They did not have to use violence to the degree that they did or at all. “What resistance would a 75-year-old woman offer to two young men in their twenties?”

She sentenced Ntshabalala to life for both the rape and the murder. He was sentenced to a further 10 years for housebreaking with intent to rob, rape and murder and 18 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The sentences will run concurrently.

Senior state advocate Nico Henning yesterday told the court he had been prosecuting for many years and had never come across such a degree of torture.

Mtini acknowledged there was little she could say for her client in mitigation. “[Mrs Roebert] was an elderly woman who should have been allowed to enjoy the peace of her home.”

Roebert’s family and friends sat in the public gallery.

Bev Roebert said her mother-in-law had been a remarkable woman and was much loved in Kei Mouth. She had edited the local newspaper and was deeply involved at the golf club.

“She was the life and soul of Kei Mouth. This is a peace-loving community with many pensioners and widows. They are so traumatised by this.”

Ntshabalala – who has a long rap-sheet spanning a decade, was out on parole for housebreaking when he raped and murdered Roebert. – dailydispatch.co.za

Britain to appeal colonial torture judgement

Britain’s Foreign Office said it would appeal a High Court judgement on Friday that three elderly Kenyans who were tortured under British rule in the 1950s could pursue their claim for damages from London.

“The judgement has potentially significant and far reaching legal implications,” it said in a statement.

“The normal time limit for bringing a civil action is 3 to 6 years. In this case, that period has been extended to over 50 years despite the fact that the key decision makers are dead and unable to give their account of what happened.”

The Foreign Office added that it did not dispute that each of the three claimants in the case suffered torture and other ill treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.

Lawyers for the claimants said Friday’s judgement would be carefully studied by victims of alleged colonial torture from Malaya to the Yemen from Cyprus to Palestine, as well as South Africa.

The claimants, Jane Muthoni Mara, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Paulo Muoka Nzili celebrated the news in Nairobi, Kenya. They were represented by a white lawyer, Martyn Day.

London’s High Court ruled the case, relating to the 1950s Mau Mau uprising, could proceed despite the time elapsed.

The ruling means the case will now go to a full trial. Lawyers for the three hailed it as a “historic” judgement.

While the government accepts UK forces tortured detainees it denies liability and will appeal against the decision.

After the 2011 ruling, the case went back to the High Court in July to consider a claim by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that the actions had been brought outside the legal time limit. The FCO said it faced “irredeemable difficulties” in relation to the availability of witnesses and documents.

As the news filtered through, several dozen elderly Kenyans erupted into cheers. They linked arms and danced through the grounds of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, which has been supporting the claimants.

For them, and other veterans of the Mau Mau struggle, today’s judgement was a significant victory.

But elsewhere in Kenya the case has received little attention. Only a handful of reporters from the Kenyan media turned up to cover the reaction from the veterans themselves.

There are historical reasons for this. Many of those who found themselves in power following independence in 1963 had previously been associated with the Home Guard: those who fought with the British colonial authorities against the Mau Mau rebels.

When independence came, many believed this chapter in Kenya’s recent history would sow division rather than foster unity. The elderly veterans of that struggle are still fighting for recognition, both at home and abroad.

In his ruling, the judge said: “A fair trial for the Kenyans on this part of the case does remain possible and the evidence on both sides does remain significantly cogent for the court to complete its task satisfactorily.”

A lawyer for the three said the claimants had not been in court because they were in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, but they were “absolutely delighted” when they learned of the result.

Martyn Day said lawyers would be pressing for a trial “as quickly as possible” but they would also be pushing for the government to reach an out-of-court settlement.

“This is a historic judgement which will reverberate around the world and will have repercussions for years to come,” he said in a separate statement.

“The British government has admitted that these three Kenyans were brutally tortured by the British colony and yet they have been hiding behind technical legal defences for three years in order to avoid any legal responsibility. This was always morally repugnant and today the judge has also rejected these arguments.”

He added: “Following this judgement we can but hope that our government will at last do the honourable thing and sit down and resolve these claims. There will undoubtedly be victims of colonial torture from Malaya to the Yemen, from Cyprus to Palestine, who will be reading this judgement with great care.”

Written evidence from the three Kenyans sheds light on their treatment at the hands of colonial forces:

Mr Nyingi, 84, a father of 16, said he was arrested in 1952 and detained for about nine years. In one incident in 1959 he said he was beaten unconscious and still bears marks from leg manacles, whipping and caning. “I have brought this case because I want the world to know about the years I have lost and what was taken from a generation of Kenyans, he said
Mr Nzili, 85, said he was stripped, chained and castrated shortly after being arrested in 1957. “I felt completely destroyed and without hope,” he said
Ms Mara, 73, said she was 15 when she was raped at a detention camp. “I want the British citizens of today to know what their forefathers did to me and to so many others. These crimes cannot go unpunished and forgotten,” she said

A spokesman for the FCO said the judgement had “potentially significant and far-reaching legal implications”.

“The normal time limit for bringing a civil action is three to six years. In this case that period has been extended to over 50 years despite the fact that the key decision-makers are dead and unable to give their account of what happened,” the spokesman said.

“Since this is an important legal issue, we have taken the decision to appeal. In light of the legal proceedings it would not be appropriate for the government to comment any further on the detail of the case.”

The spokesman reiterated that the government did not dispute that each of the claimants suffered torture at the hands of colonial forces.

“We have always said that we understand the pain and grievance felt by those, on all sides, who were involved in the divisive and bloody events of the emergency period in Kenya, and it is right that those who feel they have a case are free to take it to the courts,” he said.