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Characteristics of the apartheid regime (V): Political deprivation of rights and suppression of the opposition
These laws represented the creation of a governmental instrument of oppression with which unpopular blacks - but also white opposition members - could be taken out of circulation. All political actions were made more difficult or suppressed. Victims of this law include the world famous African National Congress (ANC), which was Nelson Mandela's and Oliver Tambo's party and was banned by the government on 8 April 1960, forcing it to go underground. [You will find other materials on this area in the resistance section]
Three long years ago Gladys Magolo was the mother of three healthy boys. Today, one is officially missing. He "disappeared after a short period in police custody". Her second son is at home. He suffered brain damage following a short stay in police custody. And her third son is in prison, after being arrested in May (1987) (...). Mrs. Maqolo's husband spent 8 years on Robben Island (high-security prison for political prisoners, which also housed Nelson Mandela). Unlike her eldest son, Willem, a trade unionist, and her second son, Africa, a member of the United Democratic Front, her third son, Mbuyiselo Maxin had no political aspirations. On 1 October 1984, Mbuyiselo was attacked on his way home. He was injured and spent the night in hospital. The following morning he reported the attack to the police, as he had recognized his attacker. The officer at the police station, however, tried to persuade Mbuyiselo to drop the changes against his attacker, since he said that he knew Mbuyiselo's attacker and he did not have a father. A few days later Mbuyiselo went to the police again. He didn't return. Mrs. Maqolo searched everywhere for her son, but to no avail. After 5 days she received word that she should go to the Livingstone hospital where her son was being treated; she would not need a permit to visit him. As she approached his hospital bed, he started acting like a madman. "He didn't know me. He was bound screaming to his bed. The police were standing over him. I asked the doctor what was wrong with him. He said that he had got blood on his brain and that it was now damaged. The doctor said that I should ask in St. Albans about what had happened. They would know." Mrs. Maqolo was given a permit to visit her son. On the permit it said that he had been sentenced to 60 days imprisonment or a fine of 30 Rand. In the box reserved for entering the reason for sentencing, stood only an 'x'. Mrs. Magolo gave the papers to her solicitor, who managed to establish that her son had been charged with contacting someone in police custody. Mrs. Magolo still doesn't understand the events that were to follow, but she does remember that they more dreadful than her worse nightmares. Her son was repeatedly moved between the prison and the hospital and she tried desperately to keep track of his movements. It all ended one day as an ambulance, escorted by a police car, stopped outside her front door and her son was carried into the house like "a dead baby". He was wearing some pajamas and a shirt. His jeans and other items of clothing were all in a bag; his jeans had been washed. "Mbuyiselo had been a healthy 30 year old, the families bread winner". Mrs. Maqolo's solicitor tried to establish the facts behind the incident, but the inmate who had accompanied Mrs Magolo's son in the vehicle taking them to St. Albans prison and who had initially stated that Mbuyiselo had been uninjured in the vehicle, withdrew his statement, saying instead that Mbuyiselo's head injuries were already present before he was taken to prison (...). In February (1987), Mrs. Magolo had two major problems. The first was that her son, Willem, 40 years old and a cook at the mine in Springs, had disappeared. He had been imprisoned for a short term in September 1986, but Mrs. Magolo had not been able to establish his whereabouts following his release. He didn't visit her as usual at Christmas. The police had also been looking for her other son Africa and had found a letter addressed to Willem during one of their house searches. She thinks that this could have something to do with his disappearance. Her second problem was that the security police repeatedly entered her house at all times of day and night in search of Africa. She told the police that she didn't know where he was, although he did sometimes visit. On the 8th of December, Mrs. Magolo entered the office (the Black Sash) and was shown a leaflet with a picture of her son Africa with the title "we want him /Ons soek hom". Along with his picture was information about a consumer boycott (of black South Africans) and that Africa had been responsible for the boycott (...). During another police search for Africa in Mrs. Magolo's house, they wanted to take the brain-damaged Mbuyiselo with them. She said that he would go mad for fear and she screamed at the police; eventually they left him alone. Mrs. Maqolo spent a month in hospital last year because of a stomach ulcer and a nervous breakdown. On the 9th of May 1987, the security police eventually caught up with Africa and arrested him. Mrs. Magolo said: "At least they have admitted that they have him. I know that he's in prison." [Taken from: Sash, Band 30, Nr. 2 August 1987, 12ff.]
[Further characteristics of the apartheid regime: Homelands, classification, society, economy]
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Subjects: Human
Rights I Democracy I Parties
I Examples I
Europe
I
Globalisation
I United Nations
I Sustainability
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