Malunga was still on his ''fast to the death" when this photograph was hurriedly snapped as he was marched down the corridor in the Johannesburg Hospital. For over a week, Malunga was chained to his bed and cuffed when ever he needed to leave the room for therapy. Malunga, the last of the hunger strikers who had resumed his fast just this week, was yesterday charged in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court and released on bail. He then resumed eating, though he is still in hospital for treatment.
Outraged doctors refused to treat him while he remained chained to his bed or to take responsibility for any complications that could develop from non-treatment. He, too, refused to take medication and issued a statement saying he supported the doctors’ stand. The only person who still saw, but did not treat, Malunga was a psychiatrist. Headaches, stomach cramps, depression and delirium plagued Malunga as he continued to refuse medication. He said he had resisted giving in to his ill ness and depression. "I thought I was losing my head. My mind wondered. But my mind maintained a grip on one thing; the need to fast till was charged or released."
Malunga is charged with assisting terrorists in terms of section 54 of the Internal Security Act. Lawyers acting for Malunga said yesterday they believed the publication of the conditions under which be was held at the hospital and pressure from the British government encouraged the police to lay charges. He is still weak and will remain in hospital to recover from his fast. But this time it will be as an ordinary patient. He will no longer have policemen watching him as he eats, sleeps or goes to the toilet. The shackling of the section 29 detainees, Malunga, Veli Zwane and Simon Modise, and the round-the-clock police guard created a major uproar after it was revealed in the Weekly Mail last Friday. The National Medical and Dental Association condemned this treatment of patients, saying it was "incompatible with reasonable medical care''.
This week, Malunga was the last of these prisoners still kept in shackles. Malunga has fasted four times, a total of 32 days, and has undergone an operation. He began his first fast on December 2 and declared it over on December 15. He ended his second fast 10 days after it began on February 18, after assurances that he would be charged. This did not happen. Malunga began another fast on April 17 but this was shortlived as he had to undergo an operation on April 20. His final fast began on April 24. His jubilant mother, Kohlisiwe Malunga, said she was very happy her son had been released. The detention of her son had been "a very painful experience'' for her and that she too could not eat while be was on hunger strike.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
