By Alex Eliseev
A senior policeman used apartheid-era torture techniques on a land activist - using a piece of rubber to smother her until she fainted.
This was the testimony Samantha Hargreaves gave in the Protea magistrate's court on Tuesday.
She is one of three Landless People's Movement (LPM) activists who claim that Superintendent Simangaliso Simelane, 35, of the Crime Intelligence Unit, brutally interrogated them.
But Simelane's lawyer, advocate Albert Ramawele, argued that his client's interviews with the three had taken just 30 minutes and were conducted out of curiosity.
"He wanted to know why white people were discouraging blacks from participating in elections," Ramawele said.
Hargreaves, along with dozens of other activists, were arrested for convening illegally during last year's April election.
They were taken to the Protea North police holding cells, and later to nearby Crime Intelligence Services offices.
They claim they were held for hours, tortured and threatened. Hargreaves testified that she was thrown on the floor in a pitch-dark room and ordered to shut up.
"I was screaming once the lights went off. I shouted 'Help, help'. I could see a bit of light coming from a window above.
I hoped someone would hear me," she said.
"I screamed as long as I could until it (the rubber) was around my neck. Once the suffocation started, I stopped.
"When the rubber comes off, you just try to breathe. Breathe. Breathe. I tried to convince the person I was ready to talk."
When magistrate Dan Thulare asked Hargreaves how she could be sure it was Simelane who had tortured her, she said: "I recognise him."
Hargreaves described the tool used to smother her as a thick piece of rubber that was powdery, like the surface of a balloon. She said it was not until she got to her doctor that she could see the full extent of her injuries.
"My hands and face were exposed. The skin around my wrists kind of peeled off and formed a scab," she said.
Hargreaves also said an attempt to hold an identification parade was unsuccessful because none of the policemen pitched up.
But Ramawele said his client would deny assaulting, torturing or doing anything to the activists.
"He will testify that he was interested in knowing why there were two white people in a situation where they wanted to discourage blacks from participating in elections," he told the court.
Hargreaves, Ann Eveleth and Moses Mahlangu have laid criminal charges against Simelane, who faces charges of assault and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The activists are also appearing in court on separate charges in connection with convening an illegal gathering and intimidation of voters, laid against them by police during their arrests last year.
However, they intend to launch a civil case against the Ministry of Safety and Security.
The LPM is a pressure group lobbying for the rights of all citizens of the country, especially the poor, to own land.
The trial continues.