/ 17 June 1994

Escaped prisoner tells of cell wars

One of the prisoners who broke out of Modderbee Prison has given a vivid inside account of the upheavals which left four dead and 19 injured at the East Rand jail last week.

Housebreaker Clifford Baholo (21), one of the 87 prisoners who escaped from Modderbee at the height of the violent protest over demands for amnesty, spoke to the Mail & Guardian from a safe house this week. He has since been recaptured and returned to jail, where he is serving a four-year sentence.

Baholo said the election had aroused hopes among black inmates that the old prison system would be “voted out” and that the new government would halve their sentences. They were enraged when this did not happen. “We were being treated the same as people who killed for apartheid. like
Janus Waluz.”

He said the disturbances had started at 10am last Thursday when inmates began toyi-toying near the J and K blocks, the “Raadsak” section. As the crowd grew and began moving towards the reception area, warders with guns took up strategic positions on the prison roof, while about 100 others surrounded the jail. The prisoners had armed themselves with sharpened spoons, pipes and other homemade weapons.

“As prisoners tried to force their way into the reception area at about noon the first shots were fired. Someone collapsed in front of me with a bullet in his head,” Baholo said. “Inmates started running around in all directions trying to find a place to hide. The next I saw was another inmate, Serame, fall with bullets in his stomach.”

Fellow-prisoners dragged Serame to the prison hospital, but there was no one to assist him and he was left unattended. “Everyone was running amok. The warders ran from the different sections to reception looking for guns to protect themselves as inmates chased them in an attempt to capture hostages. Some warders eventually got to reception, where they fought back with their ‘donkiepie’ batons.”

Outnumbering the warders, the prisoners forced their way into the reception area. “At this stage a warder called ‘Rambo’ came on to the scene with a pump-action shot-gun which he fired at the inmates. After firing six shots, he was forced to flee.”

At 1pm two warders, one white one black, were captured and held hostage in cells. Initially the prisoners vowed not to release them until all their demands had been met, but after discussion, it was decided to release the black warder. An uneasy calm settled on the jail until 8pm, when blankets were set alight in the cells.

“Gang wars were being planned as the various factions prepared for an onslaught. It was each man for himself; everyone was terrified. On the outside the warders were waiting and in the inside the gangs were in control,” said Baholo. “I was shaking from fear and decided I wasn’t going to die in prison. I had to escape.”

Finding a manhole cover in the prison grounds, he lowered himself into a sewer and walked several kilometres to Johannesburg and short-lived freedom. “Friends and relatives thought they were seeing a ghost. When I explained my situation they all advised me to return to prison immediately.

“It was never my intention to run away for good. Although it’s nice outside I have to pay my dues. I have committed a crime against society and for that I have to serve my time,” said Baholo.