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Spelman Spotlight
October 12, 1983
International Update
Apatheid Continues In South Africa
' by Veronica Peggy Green
Associate Editor
Associate Editor's Note: This
article is the first in a series,
reporting the activities and fin
dings of the Lawyer vs. Com
mittee for Civil Rights Under
Law’s Southern Africa Project
Annual Report 1982: Tighter
Restriction, Continued Repres
sion.
With the country in an up
heaval during the civil rights
movement, 1960 saw President
John F. Kennedy inviting a select
group of lawyers to the White
House and asking them to lend
their professional services in
support of racial justice. In
answer to the call, the American
Bar Association and several state
bar associations started the
Lawyer’s Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law in 1963.
The committee's membership
over the years has included law
school deans, past presidents of
the American Bar Association,
and former U.S. Attorney
Generals working against dis
crimination based on race,
creed, color, and sex.
In 1967, the committee es
tablished the Southern Africa
Project after realizing the destiny
of civil rights in America is
encircled with the same struggle
in other parts of the world.
The goals of the project are
quite simple, (1) To make sure
defendants in political trials have
an attorney of their choice and
everything necessary for their
defense; (2) To aid in legal
proceedings to halt actions up-
holding South African
apartheid; (3) To act as a legal
source in U.S. international legal
obligations to South Africa; (4)
To make the people aware of the
happenings in South Africa.
New laws have been made to
further tighten the chains of
apartheid in South Africa. The
Intimidation Act of 1982 gives the
present government power
against strikes, boycotts, and
demonstrations. If a citizen is
convicted under this act, they
face a maximum fine of$20,000,
10 years imprisonment or both.
The Internal Security Act
heightens the use and abuse of
power. The government can
hold a person indefinitely
without warrant, charge, or trial.
According to the Southern
Africa Project Annual Report,
“Anyone suspected of commit
ting, intending to commit, or
having knowledge of an offense
under the security legislation can
be detained for the purpose of
interrogation. The person may
be held incommunicado and in
solitary confinement. No court
can order the detainee’s release.
The law permits indefinite
detention until the person
replies satisfactorily to all
questions.”
A commission was appointed
to examine the security legisla
tion. However, these hopes
never turned completely
positive after the commission
recommended government
detention powers to be con
tinued. The commission also
backed the banning order in
which the “Minister of Law and
Order” can ‘ban’ anyone he
considers a threat to the public
order. A banned person is often
under house arrest, cannot
receive visitors, and may not be
published or quoted in public.”
Torture and death in deten
tion was also a focus of the
report. Tshifhiwa Isaac Muofhe,
a Lutheran minister was in good
health before being detained by
security police in November of
1981, in Venda, South Africa. He
was found dead two days later
from wounds and internal
bleeding. A court inquest
deliberated 2 days, concluding
that the evidence showed
Muofhe had been beaten to
death by interrogating officers.
After an attack by the African
National Congress group on a
police station in Venda, Muofhe,
three other Lutheran ministers
were detained by security police.
Rev. Farisani described torture
methods used by the police after
being released. “He was forced
to do exercises until he collaps
ed; he was beaten until his ears,
eyes, nose and mouth bled; he
had a wet canvas hood put over
his head; and he was repeatedly
subjected to electric shocks.
After three weeks in detention
he suffered heart failure and was
transferred to a hospital.”
Venda authorities originally
denied all allegations. Seven
months later, in July of 1982, an
investigation into the death of
Isaac Muofhe began. Financial
assistance for legal representa
tion was provided by the South
African Project.
A medical team concluded
that Muofhe died of severe
bruising of the body; head,
genitals, and internal bleeding.
The government's surgeon
agreed that death was brought
on by “extensive use of force.”
One of the senior pathologists
said he found “10 instances of
direct violence” to Muofhe’s
back.
The police reported, during an
investigation, that Muofhe con
fessed. They proceeded to a
location in the mountains that
night, and Muofhe “tried to
escape by jumping off the back
of a truck, sustaining the injuries
described by the doctors.” The
defense failed when the lawyer
showed the truck claiming to be
used was not in working order
that night.
The first public governmental
admission came when the South
African Minister of Law and
Order justified the actions by
saying, “You won’t get much
information if you keep a
detainee in a five-star hotel or
with his friends.” He also said,
“Only six, seven, or eight” of the
deaths in detention were caused
by assault.
World Peace
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Day Observed
, by Layli Dumbleton
World Peace Day, established
by the United Nations, was
observed on Sunday, September
18, 1983, at the Robert W.
Woodruff Library. The convoca
tion, sponsored by the Baha’is of
metropolitan Atlanta, was based
on the theme “World Peace -
More Than Just An End To War.”
Three noteworthy speakers
elaborated on this topic. Dr.
Mildred Glover, in a speech
entitled “The Role of Women in
World Peace,” deplored war,
poverty, and prejudice as the
three greatest threats to the
world's “seed corn,” or its
children. She remarked that
children learn evil, crime, and
violence because they are not
naturally bad, and that official
corruption is what permits these
abominations to survive.
Women, she advised, must un
derstand the forces that operate
in society so that they can
influence them. She stated that
since women around the world
are most victimized by poverty
and prejudice, they should take
an active role in the elimination
of both, and, moreover, they
should let their voices be heard
concerning the arms question.
Dr. Charles King, in a talk
entitled “World Peace Through
Racial Unity,” elucidated on the
unseemly racial dichotomy in
America and expounded on the
necessity of bridging this gap
(Continued on Page 7)