S. African prisoner’s unique plight

Press, 27 January 1978, Page 5

S. African prisoner’s unique plight

E;

JON BLAIR of The

JU.' DL.-'UIS ui Times" (through NZPA)

Pretoria Denis Goldberg is a unique prisoner. After 14 years inside a P tona prison, that is little consolation — particularly since his jailers have recently decided to make life more difficult for him. Goldberg was one of the famed “Rivonia” defendants in 1964 when virtually the whole leadership of the African National congress was rounded up in a single police swoop and put on tr al. Today he is one of n ne white political prisoners occupying a specially, built jail, and the only one! with a life sentence. And for South Africa's political detainees life is life, not the flexible term that is 1 the custom in the West. A few years ago the South African authorities made it quite clear just how seriously they meant that. In April. 1975 Goldberg's compatriot, the distinguished lawyer Abram Fischer, was released from prison where he too was erving ? life sentence, to die of cancer a month later. The South Africans demanded that his ashes be returned to their

custody inside Pretoria' prison. Presumably even ghosts are a threat to South. African security. Fischer’s death was a great blow to Denis Goldberg. Now he faces an interminable future, in the last' years of which he could eas-l ily be on his own. The last, of his fellow prisoners is I due for release in 1986 when; Goldberg will be only 52. Up until now he has. found solace in study. But| the South African authorities, with their seemingly infinite capacity for pet-' tiness are shutting off that refuge as well. In a letter recently received ! by friends in London and, ■ stamped with the' mark of! Pretoria Prison’s official censor, Goldberg writes, "studies will not be allowed' in future, except that those enrolled for further (i.e. degree) studies will be allowed to complete them in a period decided by the commissioner (of prisons) and he may 'How those with; little or no schooling to complete school education. I hope I’ll be able to do my full courses for the Bible degree.” Goldberg’s daughter, who' was separated from her father at the age of seven but who was recently per-,

I'mitted to visit him from her; home in London, says that i the impact on her father of i this new restriction could be “catastrophic”. i "He’s a great optimist but. ■if they stop the studying ■ they’ll cut off his lifeline." 'Another former inmate of ■ the same prison who spent nine years there described (Studying as being “the only! (thing that keeps you sane — the only way of keeping i mentally alert.” j I For the 44-year-old Gold-] | berg, whose prison work in-! volves labour in the car-i Ipentry shop, producing Gov-1 :: eminent furniture, the prospect of ending his 14 years i lof degrees by correspond-,' : ence is a blow indeed. A '(trained and practising engin-i eer on his arrest he is now. embarked on his third I undergraduate degree since he started his sentence, the South Africans forbidding any postgraduate work. But as important as the 'study itself are the privi-j leges that go with it; as a student he is entitled to late, lights until 11 p.m. instead of the mandatory 8 p.m. 'lights out for other prison-, ers (although after examinations and before the beginning of the new univer-: ■ sity year he too must revert' to the 8 p.m. rule). i In addition as a student.

■ | he is entitled to writing materials at all times. Nonstudents may only have writing materials to execute : their maximum permitted (three letters of 500 words peach per month, and for no other purposes. Finally ' Goldberg can obtain books for his course — w'hen these I get through the censor, who (may arbitrarily forbid cer- ■ tain prescribed books — in addition to the fiction avaii.able from the prison library. ; It is difficult to account; I for this sudden and appariently petty-minded change of ! policy by the authorities.! One answer may lie in! ■ something quite unrelated to (the white detainees, who! (until now have taken the (greatest advantage of the! facility with the enormous! rise in the prison population ; in the last 18 months. As a result of the disturbances that have wracked South Africa since June, 1976, the prison service has . had to cope with several hundred young black militant students of secondary I school or university level’. 'Many of these, like Goldberg, will never see freedom again if the South Africans have their way. It seems more than likely, that the change in the regulations was designed to prewent these young men and.

; I women from continuing -i their studies. Few, if any, of » these political detainees are ; illiterate, and as Goldberg i points out, education will s'only be provided to those >;with little or no schooling. > ; In another act. of outs I standing callousness the ; South Africans have also re- >. fused to permit Goldberg’s - j wife who now lives in Engi land, to return to South -i Africa to visit him. ■ According to his daughter it t(is his two visits a month each of 45 minutes duration f( that mean so much to him .land are his main- link with tithe world outside. > A further tragedy for >! Goldberg is the very special i way history and the process nof ageing affect his unique ; I plight. For years his father . has made the trip from Jo(hannesburg to Pretoria to -i visit his son. But now the 1 old man, at 79, is suffering . from a heart complaint and ; friends doubt his capacity to I continue the trips much lo- • nger, Furthermore, the difficulties of finding people ■ to visit Goldberg get worse, i Many of those who ; knew him in the early sixties have now left South ■ Africa, either having served ■ prison sentences themselves • or fleeing before capture by :.the security police. ’,

»l Writing from South fl Africa, a friend recently ‘.gave news of this problem. >|“We are going through a 1 terrible time with visitors • for Denis — many don’t (want to go, many are unsui-i - table, many are not allowed, >(and all these ‘many’ people! - come to about ten. I don’t: s know what we will do.” : You might say that this is i.not so awful. In Uganda ..they just kill opponents of tfthe regime. Why then pick i on South Africa? The answer i is tragically straightforward, i In 1964 Denis Goldberg i and the other leaders of the African National Congress r were found guilty of I sabotage and conspiracy to >! overthrow the South African ■ 'Government by revolution. ■I That Government takes • great pride in being both the i bastion of Christianity and ■ Western civilisation on an [(Otherwise dark continent. By [ so doing it claims both the! ■ standards and ethics of! ■ Christianity and Western civilisation and asks to be( • judged thereby. . The deaths in detention of! . so many' black prisoners in ( , suspicious circumstances, ■ the revelations of the in-' quest on Steve Biko, and the- . treatment meted out to men; like Denis Goldberg, mean ■ that South Africa fails the [test it sets itself. j