The Prevention and Combating of Torture of Persons Bill could see all public officials – including teachers, nurses and prison warders – liable to be charged with torture.
Several civil society groups held a seminar about the bill on Tuesday.
The bill refers to torture as “any act or omission by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted by a public official or any person acting on behalf of a public official”.
Valdi van Reenen-Le Roux, Trauma Centre director, said the fact that the bill applied to all public officials was significant.
She explained that it would apply to teachers who still meted out corporal punishment, nurses who abused the elderly and officials who worked in mental institutions.
However, a concern raised at the seminar was that there was no mention made of an independent body established to report on and investigate torture complaints.
Currently, the closest body is the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, but they deal only with complaints against police.
Another suggestion made by the panel was the need for far-reaching education drives in communities, mainly to clarify the differences between torture and assault.
Social Development MEC Albert Fritz said he welcomed the bill. But he also warned that the state was in for a “wake- up call”.
“I think this will open up the floodgates of people suing the state,” said Fritz.
One of his biggest concerns is what happens in old age homes.
“(The elderly) are treated like they’re prisoners. But they’re so afraid and under the radar. They just start keeping quiet,” said Fritz.
He added that the bill would affect those in the prison system.
Fritz said some prisoners faced threats by warders of being thrown in cells with known gangsters so that they could be raped or beaten.
These were the people who would benefit from the bill, if enacted. “I’m glad that public officials are going to be held accountable,” said Fritz.
Still haunted by a week of torture in Caledon Square police station
The smell of his own burning flesh and the hot pain coursing through his body as he was shocked is something torture survivor Brian Mphahlele, 57, will never forget.
More than 30 years later, Mphahlele is still haunted by the week of brutality he suffered in Caledon Square police station.
In 1976, Mphahlele was part of the political uprisings in Langa.
He was arrested at 3am, taken to Caledon Square and charged with sabotage.
For seven days, interrogators beat him severely, cracking his ribs. He was shocked several times. He was kicked in the face until most of his teeth were broken or loose. He had to have 13 teeth extracted.
His bare gums are a daily reminder of that assault.
He was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, where he spent a year in solitary confinement.
“I still have flashbacks. But not so much any more. They tell me that talking about it helps. Even though I’ll never forget it, it does help.”
Scars from a history of pain remain deep
Abshir Futale, 28, a refugee from Ogaden, Ethiopia, is a survivor of torture.
As a teenager Futale and other students were accused of being rebels, and locked up without charge. The scars on his legs, arms and chest attest to the beatings with ropes.
Electrodes were attached to women’s breasts and they were shocked, and they were gang-raped. For women, the torture ended in gang rapes.
At the age of 16, Futale fled his country and has been in Cape Town since 2008. He said the counselling at the Trauma Centre had helped with his healing, although it was still difficult.
“I’m 28 and I’m a refugee. Where do I belong? I still don’t know. When will I be a citizen? I have no family. I have no friends. I have no future. I’m a refugee.”
Cape Argus