Andrew Trench
“THEY made me sit on the floor with my hands underneath and stuck the crowbar between my arms and the back of my knees. Then they lifted me between two tables with each end of the crowbar resting on the table with my body hanging like a pendulum between the two tables …”
These are the words of Mbulelo Kata, a nightwatchman at a magistrate’s office in Seymour in the Eastern Cape, who claims he was tortured by police after being arrested last Thursday after a R100 000 theft at the office.
A fieldworker for the Border-Ciskei Peace Committee, Charles Meyer, gained access to Kata in a police cell after a tip-off from local residents.
Meyer said Kata alleged a police officer assaulted him as he hung suspended between the two tables in a bid to force him to confess and name his accomplices.
He said his trousers were removed and an electric heater placed under his testicles. Meyer alerted regional minister of police, Dr Maliza Mpehle, who has ordered an investigation.
Police commissioner General Mtutuzeli Hlela said a medical examination showed Kata _ still in custody _ had no serious injury. The allegations were “serious” but the incident was “not as serious as (had been reported). People lie when they are involved with the police.” _ Ecna