Poetry: Detention without Trial, Deaths in Police Custody

The 1960s saw the National Party (NP) strengthen its control, and give the police greater power to silence critics of Apartheid. As described earlier, people could be detained without trial or banned and, for the first time, political detainees were killed while in the hands of the police. More often than not, the police and Minister of Justice declared such deaths to be accidental, or cases of suicide.

Detention

Poet: Sipho Sepamla

• Far into the still night
• when snores stir the pulse pulse Heartbeat. in unison unison In time with each other; all together.
• when the body limps into the next day
• because the ache of bones has been quietened
• there arrives a moment
• when the quiver quiver Shaking. of stars is dulled
• on the car which jerks to a stop

• the earth rumbles
• men tumble out
• they run
• take positions
• house lights turn night into day
• because a raid takes place

• detention
• echoes the damp air
• in the absence of any fanfare fanfare A showy, external display.

• another one is taken
• gone
• as good as dead.

Questions

1. What is the atmosphere like before the raid? How does this change?
2. How does the shape of the poem – the length and arrangement of the lines – reflect the change of mood in the poem?
3. What effect do you think detentions had on resistance to Apartheid?

Two Buckets

Poet: Stanley Mogoba

• A sleepy voice
• from the confined confined Restricted, cramped. space:
• ‘Beware of the bucket
• Move to the left;
• sleep there.
• Any false move,
• You fall into a lavatory bucket,
• Or into drinking water next to it.’

• In this startled startled Surprised. manner,
• I made my entry
• Into a dark world,
• Where thousands of men Pine To lose strength because of sadness.
• Pine and are forgotten.

Today In Prison

Poet: Dennis Brutus

• Today in prison
• by tacit tacit Understood without being spoken. agreement
• they will sing just one song:
• Nkosi Sikelela;
• slowly and solemnly solemnly Seriously and sadly.
• with suppressed suppressed Kept in; not allowing yourself to show or feel emotion. passion
• and pent up pent up Not expressed. feeling:
• the voices strong and steady
• but with tears close and sharp
• behind the eyes
• and the mind ranging
• wildly as a strayed bird
• seeking some names to settle on
• and deeds being done
• and those who will do the much
• that still needs to be done.

Questions on ‘Two Buckets’ and ‘Today in Prison’

1. Where has the person just arrived in ‘Two Buckets’? What are conditions like there?
2. How do the prisoners’ actions challenge the system in ‘Today in Prison’? Think about the meaning of ‘Nkosi Sikelela’.
3. What do you think “the much that still needs to be done” is?
4. Compare the different ways that people react to being unjustly imprisoned in the two poems.

Before Interrogation?

(An Epitaph to Ahmed Timol and Others)

Poet: Ronnie Kasrils (writing as ANC Kumalo)

ANC Kumalo This was a pseudonym, or pen name, used by the poet to hide his identity.

• Their triumph triumph Victory, success. when landing him
• was like hooking a fish.
• Four days later they told his father
• go pray in the mosque
• your son is dead
• he has fallen from a window
• we have lain him out on a slab.

• Saloojee plunged plunged Fell, dropped. from this spot
• in 1964, they grinned at Timol
• showing him the seven storey drop
• like you he would not talk.

• Smirking Smirking Smiling in a sly, self-satisfied way. and winking

• enjoying the sport
• they led him three flights up;
• do you like the view
• are you ready to talk?
• you’re a prize catch
• do you prefer the honour
• of a bigger splash?

• Playing him out
• at the end of a line
• he refused to break
• under the striking rod;
• patience ran out
• in a sjambok rage
• they flung him to ground
• with a head-wheeling crash gaff A long fishing pole. In this case, something used to beat Timol.
• that covered the marks of the gaff.

• They spoke of the leap
• like an Olympic feat;
• we never use force
• it was a matter of course
• some hang themselves
• some slip on soap
• this one chose to jump.

• The police mouthpiece mouthpiece A person, newspaper or TV show which uncritically conveys the opinions or beliefs of others; in this case, a spokesperson.
• addressed the press
• the seventeenth account of sudden death:
• ‘We threaten no one
• We assault no one
• We assume that no one
• would want to escape
• no one
• no one
• no one.’

• And flicking his tongue
• he wrote an epitaph for all the dead:
• ‘We know Communists
• when violence is planned
• commit suicide
• rather than mention
• their comrades names.
• They are taught to jump out
• before interrogation.’

Questions

1. What was the official reason given for Timol’s death?
2. What actually happened?
3. Look at the imagery used to describe the interactions between Ahmed Timol and the Security Police. What does this say about the power relations that exist between them?

Assurance From the Justice Minister

Poet: Ronnie Kasrils (writing as ANC Kumalo)

• Justice Minister Vorster
• with a thread of smile
• between ghostly lips
• says he visits his prisons
• regularly
• – like a doctor at the patient’s bed –
• and has nothing to hide.
• Journalists and MP’s are welcome
• to tour.
• They may touch the pulse mercury Metal used in thermometers.
• squint at the mercury
• talk no doubt to the healthiest
• generally spend an hour where men spend their lives
• and publish anything.
• Libel actions, perjury charges perjury charges Being taken to court and charged with spreading bad rumours or lying. and
• charges for offences
• under the Prisons’ Act
• need not worry them.
• All the Act says
• is that you may not publish
• untrue stories.
• That way you end up
• like the three Afrikaans warders
• who spoke to the press:
• one under house arrest
• the other two in lock-up.
• The Justice Minister is fond
• of that type of assurance.

Questions

1. Does the speaker think journalists will be able to get a real picture of what prison life is like? Why or why not?
2. What kind of “untrue stories” do you think the Justice Minister was concerned with?
3. Do you think his promise to journalists in the poem is genuine? Why or why not?
4. What dangers do you think someone reporting on a death in detention would have faced? How do you think the accusation of lying could be used to control journalists?

Repression and Political Quiet