A Dry White Season (15 page)

Ben’s ability to resist was sorely tested by Dr Hassiem’s arrest. But even then he tried to remain reasonable. His first reaction was to telephone Stanley.

The taxi driver was not available, but the woman who answered promised to convey the message. What was the name? Just tell him the
lanie
phoned, he said, obeying Stanley’s instructions.

The call came on the Tuesday afternoon while Ben was working in the garage where, of late, he’d been finding refuge for longer hours than before among his chisels and saws and hammers and drills.

“Lanie?”
Stanley didn’t identify himself, but Ben immediately recognised the deep voice. “You in trouble?”

“No, of course not. But I’d like to talk to you. Can you spare the time?”

“I got to be in your suburb tonight. Let’s make it eight o’clock, all right? I’ll pick you up at the garage where we turned off to your place last time. So long.”

Fortunately it was easy to get away without an explanation as Susan had to go to a meeting and Johan to some school function. When Ben arrived at the garage at eight o’clock the white car was already waiting for him, parked unobtrusively behind a row of dark pumps. The pungent smell of oil still lay heavily on the day’s heat trapped under the low awning. A tiny spot glowing in the driver’s window betrayed Stanley, smoking placidly.

“How’s it,
lanie?
What’s your trouble, man?”

Ben got in beside him, leaving the door open. “Have you heard about Dr Hassiem?”

Stanley started the engine, laughing. “Of course. Close your door.” When they’d gone a block or two, he said gaily: “Those
boere
know their job, I told you.”

“What now?”

“If they can play dirty, we do the same.”

“That’s why I wanted to see you,” said Ben urgently. “I don’t want you to mess everything up at this stage.”

“Me
mess everything up?! What you talking about, man? Is Gordon dead or isn’t he?”

“I know, Stanley. But it’s gone far enough.”

A brutal laugh. “Don’t kid yourself. It’s just started.”

“Stanley.” It felt like pleading for his own life, putting his hand on the big man’s wrist on the steering wheel as if to restrain him physically. “It’s out of our hands now. We must let the law run its course. And whoever is guilty will pay for it.”

Stanley snorted. “They all playing the same ball game,
lanie.”

Ben preferred to ignore him. “There’s one thing we can do,” he said “One thing we must do. And that is to make sure we get the best advocate in Johannesburg to represent the family.”

“What’s the use?”

“I want you to go with me to Dan Levinson tomorrow. He must brief an advocate as soon as possible. One who won’t allow them to get away with anything, no matter what the cost.”

“Money is no problem.”

“Where does it come from?”

“That’s not your worries.”

“Will you go with me tomorrow?”

Stanley sighed, irritable. “Oh hell man, all right. But I tell you it’s no use.”

They drove back to the filling station, stopping in the same dark nook behind the pumps where the smell of oil hit their nostrils with fresh violence.

“All I’m asking you is to give the court a chance, Stanley.”

A harsh, bitter laugh. “All right. Meet you in our smart liberal pal’s office tomorrow. See if we can get an advocate who’ll bring Gordon and Jonathan back to us.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“I know,
lanie.”
His voice sounded almost soothing. “But you still believe in miracles. I don’t.”

4

The court inquest into the death of Gordon Ngubene coincided with the school holidays (21 April – 9 May), which made it possible for Ben to attend all the sessions. Most of the public interest stirred up by the funeral two months before seemed dissipated by then. There was a fair number of black spectators in the public galleries – some of them quite noisy and causing disturbances with shouts of “Amandla! – Freedom!” and a bristle of clenched fists – but, apart from the inevitable cluster of journalists, there were very few whites: some students and lecturers from Wits, representatives of the Black Sash and the Progressive Reform Party, a Dutch delegate from the International Commission of Jurists who happened to be in South Africa for consultations, and a small sprinkling of others.

A useful and dispassionate account of the proceedings was published subsequently by the Institute of Race Relations. It was banned soon afterwards, but there was a copy among Ben’s papers.

GORDON NGUBENE (54) an unskilled labourer from Orlando West, Soweto, unemployed at the time of his arrest, was
detained on 18 January this year in terms of Article 6 of the Terrorism Act and held at John Vorster Square. On the basis of certain information received by his family an urgent application was made to the Supreme Court on 5 February to restrain the Security Police from assaulting Mr Ngubene or from interrogating him in an unlawful manner, but on 10 February the application was rejected for lack of evidence. On 25 February Mr Ngubene’s death in detention was announced by the SABC and confirmed by the police the following day, although his relatives had never been informed officially. On 26 February a post mortem examination was conducted on Mr Ngubene’s body by the State Pathologist, Dr P. J. Jansen, assisted by Dr Suliman Hassiem on behalf of the family. Mr Ngubene was buried on Sunday 6 March and on the following day Dr Hassiem was detained in terms of the Internal Security Act, which prevented the legal representatives of the family from consulting with him. In anticipation of Dr Hassiem’s release the inquest of Mr Ngubene’s death, originally scheduled for 13 April, was postponed
sine die.
Soon afterwards the magistrate was informed that there was no likelihood of Dr Hassiem’s release in the near future, and in view of the fact that he had also signed the post mortem report drawn up by Dr Jansen, a new date was set for the inquest and the proceedings opened in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on 2 May.

According to the medical report submitted on the first day Dr Jansen had executed a post mortem on the naked body of a middle-aged Bantu male, identified as Gordon Vuyisile Ngubene, on 26 February.

Mass: 51,75 kilogram. Height: 1,77 metres. Post-mortem lividity dependent on the lower limbs, scrotum, face and back. Some blood-stained fluid from the right nostril. Tongue protruding between teeth.

The report listed the following injuries on the body:

1. Ligature around the neck between the thyroid cartilage and the chin, and a broad ligature mark 4 cm wide below, more prominent laterally. No bruising or haemorrhage of the deep tissues of the neck. Tracheae compressed. Hyoid bone not damaged.

2. Swelling over right cheek bone with bruising of the underlaying tissues and fracture of the bone itself.

3. Three small round abrasions of 3 mm inside left ear and a larger abrasion of the same kind in the right ear.

4. A haematoma over the lumbosacral area.

5. The seventh right rib broken at the costochondral junction.

6. Abrasions and laceration marks on both wrists.

7. Marked swelling of the lower scrotum. A specimen taken from it had a dried-out parchment-like appearance and revealed traces of copper on the skin.

8. Horizontal lacerations and abrasions on both shoulder blades, the chest and abdomen.

9. The right ulna broken about 6 cm below the elbow.

10. Extreme congestion of the brain with small haemorrhages, brain fluid bloodstained. Also moderate congestion and waterlogging of the lungs.

11. A variety of other bruises and abrasions, concentrated on the knees, ankles, abdomen, back and arms.

Dr Jansen found that death had been caused by the application of force to the neck, consistent with hanging. Under cross-examination he conceded that such pressure could also have been exerted in other ways, but insisted it was beyond his jurisdiction to speculate on such possibilities. However, he admitted that some of the injuries had been older than others – several of them as old as fourteen to twenty days, others three to four days, still others of even more recent date. He confirmed that Dr Hassiem had been present at the autopsy and that, as far as he knew, Dr Hassiem’s report had been identical to his in most respects. On a question by Adv Jan de Villiers, S. A., on behalf of the family, Dr Jansen said he did not know why Dr Hassiem would have taken the trouble of drawing up a separate report if he had co-signed the main one.

After that, several Special Branch witnesses were called to give evidence. Capt F. Stolz testified that on Tuesday 18 January, at about 4 a.m., acting on certain information, he had gone to the house of the deceased, accompanied by Lieut B. Venter, Lieut M. Botha and several black Security Policemen. Mr Ngubene had resisted arrest and a certain amount of force had
had to be applied to restrain him. Subsequently Mr Ngubene had been interrogated on several occasions. The police had reason to believe that the deceased had been involved in subversive activities and several incriminating documents had, in fact, been found in his house. In view of the fact that state security was involved, these documents could unfortunately not be submitted to the court.

According to Capt Stolz the deceased had declined to cooperate, although he had always been treated with courtesy and correctness. In reply to a question by Adv Louw, for the police, Capt Stolz emphasised that Mr Ngubene had never been assaulted in his presence and that he had always enjoyed good health while in detention, except for sporadic complaints of headaches. On 3 February he had also complained of toothache and the following morning he had been examined by a district surgeon, Dr Bernard Herzog. As far as he knew Dr Herzog had extracted three teeth and prescribed some tablets, but he had emphasised that he could find nothing seriously wrong with the deceased. Consequently the police continued their interrogation as usual. Asked what he meant by “as usual” Capt Stolz said it had been customary for the deceased to be taken from his cell at 8 a.m. and brought to the captain’s office, where he would remain until 4 or 5 p.m., sometimes earlier. During the period of his detention members of the investigating team had bought food for Mr Ngubene “from their own pockets”. He added that the deceased had been allowed at all times “to sit or stand as he wished”.

On the morning of 24 February the deceased unexpectedly showed signs of aggression and tried to jump through an open window in Capt Stolz’s office. He was acting “like a madman” and had to be restrained by six members of the Special Branch. As a precautionary measure he was then manacled and put in foot-irons attached to his chair. At that stage he appeared quite calmed down and by noon he announced that he was prepared to make a full statement of his subversive activities. On Capt Stolz’s request Lieut Venter took down three pages of the statement in longhand, whereupon Mr Ngubene complained of feeling tired. He was then taken back to his cell. The next morning, 25 February, one Sergeant Krog reported to Capt Stolz that Mr
Ngubene had been found dead in his cell. A note found with the body was submitted to the court. It read:
John Vorster Square, 25 February. Dear captain, You can carry on interrogating my dead body, perhaps you will get what you want from it. I prefer to die rather than to betray my friends. Amandla! Your friend, Gordon Ngubene.

Cross-examined by Adv De Villiers, for the family, Capt Stolz repeated that the deceased had always been treated well. Asked how he could account for the injuries found on the body he said he had no idea, detainees sometimes deliberately injured themselves in various ways. Some injuries might have been caused by the scuffle on 24 February. Adv De Villiers wanted to know whether he did not regard it as excessive to require six strong policemen to subdue a frail man who had weighed barely 50 kilograms at his death, whereupon Capt Stolz repeated that the deceased had acted “like a madman”. Asked why there had been no bars in front of the window to prevent detainees from trying to jump out, the captain said that the bars had been removed temporarily the previous day for repairs to the window frame.

Turning to the note allegedly found on the body, Adv De Villiers said he found it strange that it should bear the date of 25 February since the body, discovered at 6 a.m. that morning, had already shown signs of advanced rigor mortis.

Capt Stolz: “Perhaps he was confused in his head.”

Adv De Villiers: “As a result of torture?”

Capt Stolz: “He wasn’t tortured.”

Adv De Villiers: “Not even on February third or fourth when he complained of headache and toothache?”

Capt Stolz complained to the magistrate that the advocate was trying to cast unwarranted suspicion on the Special Branch. The magistrate, Mr P. Klopper, asked counsel to refrain from insinuations, but allowed him to proceed with his cross-examination. The witness stuck firmly to his earlier evidence, except for offering some elaboration on the alleged involvement of the deceased with the ANC and “activities endangering the security of the State”. Asked about the portion of the written statement taken on the afternoon of 24 February, Capt Stolz said the document contained material which could not be disclosed in court as it would hamper the Security Police
in an important investigation.