D e c e m b e r 1 5 2 0 1 2 S AT U R D AY S TA RNEWS8

ANYONE who thinks solitary con-finement is a thing of the past,should spare a thought forPhakamisa Tozi, who has been

detained in what is now termed “segre-gated confinement” for 293 consecutivedays in Port Elizabeth’s St Albans Correc-tional Centre.

This week Tozi launched an urgent ap-plication seeking a Constitutional Court or-der compelling Minister of CorrectionalServices Sibusiso Ndebele, the head of StAlbans Maximum Correctional Facility,the area commissioner of correctionalservices and Minister of Justice and Con-stitutional Development Jeff Radebe tobring an end to his “unlawful segregation”.

With a post-Marikana spotlight onSouth Africa’s increasingly dubiousrecord of human-rights violations, it lookslike Tozi will spend Christmas behindbars in a 4m x 3m single cell with 15 min-utes of exercise a day and drastically lim-ited privileges. For example, he is not per-mitted to attend church, school orcommunal exercise, has been barred fromsocialising with fellow inmates and has noaccess to reading material, TV or radio.

Sentenced in 2009 to nine years forhousebreaking and theft, Tozi, 29, hasbeen held in segregated confinement sinceFebruary 29 this year in contravention ofthe provisions of the Correctional Ser-vices Act which does not permit “segrega-tion” exceeding seven days. The act allowsfor a 30-day extension, only if a psycholo-gist certifies that further detention will notbe harmful to the inmate’s health.

In the past, solitary confinement wascommonly employed as a punitive meas-

ure for political prisoners. Now it appearscriminals are suffering the same fate.

In his Constitutional Court applicationthis week, Tozi states that his continuedsegregation is unlawful in terms of SouthAfrican law and infringes his constitu-tional rights – including his right to hu-man dignity, bodily and psychological in-tegrity, his right to be detained inconditions consistent with human dignityand his right not to be tortured or treatedor punished in a cruel, inhuman or de-grading way.

According to human rights lawyerEgon Oswald, who is representing Tozi, hisongoing segregated confinement is also inbreach of South Africa’s international lawand treaty-based obligations – particularly

international principles relating to pris-oner rights, dignity, torture and cruel inhu-man or degrading treatment.

“Tozi’s conditions of detention amountto torture. They contravene the Correc-tional Services Act of 1998, the SouthAfrican Constitution and the UN Conven-tion on Civil and Political Rights…”

After a fight broke out between a St Al-bans official and Tozi at the beginning ofthe year, Tozi claims he was assaulted by10 correctional services officials, beatenwith batons, kicked, hit and stabbed in thehead with a knife by a warder before beingplaced in a single cell. Here, Tozi says, hewas shocked by warders using shock-boards until a departmental official, whowitnessed the assault, prevented the tor-ture from continuing.

During the course of these assaults,Tozi sustained severe injuries to his head,face, legs, one of his hands and body, in-cluding two open bleeding head wounds.

He was subsequently admitted to the re-gional hospital for six days before being re-turned to the isolation cell where he re-mains to this day.

For the first 60 days of his segregatedconfinement, he was shackled inside hiscell. Though prison officials have claimedthat Tozi’s ongoing incarceration is a resultof gang-related activities, he denies this inhis Constitutional Court application.

In May, Oswald wrote to the correc-tional services’ provincial commissioner,the minister of correctional services andthe correctional services’ national com-missioner stating that Tozi was being de-tained under inappropriate inhumane con-ditions and demanding that his unlawful

segregation be immediately terminated,but to no avail.

As a result, two months ago Oswaldlaunched an urgent application in the PortElizabeth High Court to change the condi-tions of his client’s detention.

When Justice Phakamisa Tshiki ruledthat the matter was not urgent, Tozi wasleft with no alternative but to approach theConstitutional Court.

“This is an extremely urgent matter,”says Oswald. “There’s no way the law per-mits segregated incarceration for a periodof 292 consecutive days. If Tozi is guilty ofan offence, he must be sent to court, triedand be sentenced. This is torture.”

Now Tozi is claiming that his segre-gated confinement not only infringes hisconstitutional rights, but also poses an im-mediate threat to his mental and physicalhealth. Following an earlier unlawfulsearch by correctional services officials,Tozi was diagnosed with post-traumaticstress disorder and suicidal thoughts andstarted receiving treatment in late 2010.Tozi claims his mental and emotional statehas deteriorated significantly since then asa result of his confinement.

It’s not the first time allegations of tor-

ture by prison officials in St Albans havecome under the spotlight.

In 2005, for example, prison officialswent on a prison-wide rampage of as-saults, torture and beatings of inmates fol-lowing the stabbing of a warder. This re-sulted in former inmate BradleyMcCallum, represented by Oswald, suc-cessfully prosecuting the government forviolating its international treaty law obli-gations at the UN Human Rights Commit-tee in Geneva (UNHRC).

McCallum and 230 others are now suingthe minister of correctional services fordamages in what is expected to be thelargest damages claim ever broughtagainst correctional services officials. Thecase is expected to be heard during thecourse of next year. Nonetheless, sevenyears later the warders implicated in theseassaults remain in their jobs and a correc-tional services investigation has still notbeen concluded – in spite of an instructionby the UNHRC. Says Oswald: “Acts of seg-regation and torture are not limited to StAlbans, this is a malaise occurring in pris-ons nationwide…”● Carolyn Raphaely is a member of the

Wits Justice Project.

PHAKAMISA Tozi has neither beendetained in solitary confinement in PortElizabeth’s St Albans CorrectionalCentre, nor under “unlawfulsegregation”. Tozi’s incarceration is inaccordance with the provisions of theCorrectional Services Act. His rightshave not been infringed.

Tozi is known as a high-rankingleader of one of the prison gangs. Toziassaulted correctional officials on twoseparate occasions. On February 19, 2012,Tozi stabbed an official (Mr Mahaluba) atSt Albans, was found guilty, sentenced to18 months imprisonment and reclassifiedas a maximum offender. Due to thisclassification, his transfer to KokstadSuper Maximum Correctional Centre iscurrently being processed.

It is DCS’s prerogative to incarcerateoffenders according to theirclassification and capacity of centreswithout prejudice. Tozi’s claims that hewas assaulted by DCS officials areuntrue. In fact, he has assaultedcorrectional officials on two separateoccasions.

Following the stabbing of Mahaluba,the offender was placed in the specialcare unit (a single cell, and not solitaryconfinement) in accordance with section 30 of the Correctional ServicesAct, Act 111 of 1998… The head of themaximum correctional centre applied for the extension of his incarceration in the special care unit to the areacommissioner and approval was granted.This application was processed inaccordance with section 30 of theCorrectional Services Act.

Tozi was to be transferred to KokstadSuper Maximum Correctional Centreafter his reclassification as a maximumoffender. Due to a pending criminal caseagainst him, he has had to be kept atSt Albans Maximum Centre pending thefinalisation of this charge.

This contributed to the number ofdays he was kept in the special care unitfor security reasons. It was, and still is,practically impossible for thedepartment to place the offender in acommunal cell.

URGENT MATTER: St Albans Correctional Centre inmate Wandile Tozi.

DCS RESPONSESolitary confinement case uncovers abusesAfter 293 days, man lodges Concourt application. By Carolyn Raphaely

INJURY: Wandile Tozi has brought anurgent application to compel prisonwarders to stop assaulting him, and toensure that he receives medicalattention for his injuries.

SAMANTHA HARTSHORNE

SHOPPING malls around SouthAfrica will be more than just ahaven for buyers this festive sea-son. Thanks to Timberland, shop-pers can now also give to theneedy at their favourite centres.

“Old for New” bins in Timber-land stores aim to entice cus-tomers into donating second-hand clothing to The StarChristmas Fund beneficiaries,which include old-age homes, or-phanages, city welfare organisa-tions and NPOs.

Shoppers not only get thechance to hand over used clothingto a bona fide distributor, but re-ceive 15 percent discount on Tim-berland purchase to boot.

According to Bashir Bessy, re-tail manager for Timberland, theresponse to the charity drive hasbeen overwhelming and the ini-tiative is a “good fit” for the out-door clothing brand’s core focuson recycling.

“We are calling on people todonate their shoes and gear – anybrand – for a good cause. Peopleare taking off their shirts andshoes in store and walking outwith the new ones on.”

The bins were placed in all 24of the outdoor and footwearstores countrywide on Friday forthe festive shopping rush and willremain there early into the NewYear.

Timberland, an outdoor andfootwear specialist manufacturer,has been trading in South Africasince 1996.

After the Christmas season,the collected clothing will be dis-tributed to the underprivilegedby the Star Christmas Hamperfund.

The newspaper fund focuseson distributing food parcels to

registered needy organisations atChristmas time and the samebeneficiaries will be handed thecollected clothing.

Timberland sees the project asa local symbolic move to augmenttheir brand in terms of protect-ing the planet.

Their in-house earthkeepersrange is the flagship green mer-chandise, sporting characteristicrecycled soles and bio-degrade-able materials.

“Timberland has been at theforefront of using earth-friendlyproducts. As an outdoor brand we

need to protect the outdoors or we(will perish). So getting second-hand clothing to the less fortu-nate is part of it,” said Bessy.

Other earth-friendly projectsinclude “re-netting” by re-usingfishing web in a variety of waysand recycling coffee beans.

Bessie says Timberland will beworking with The Star on otherinitiatives, once the platforms forassembling the goods have beenestablished in the stores.

“It’s about time we showed theworld that we can do somethingbetter than the rest.”

BIANCA CAPAZORIO

FACED with the prospect of hugecrowds, pan-pipe Christmas car-ols on repeat and fights over park-ing spaces, more South Africansare opting to do their Christmasshopping online this year.

South African siteKalahari.com, which sells every-thing from books to coffee ma-chines, says this week has beentheir busiest to date. The onlineretailer has seen a 30 percent in-crease in sales from last year.

Their annual survey of shop-pers with an internet connection,released earlier this month, indi-

cates that “more shoppers areforegoing the busy rush of festiveshopping malls for the conven-ience of online shopping”,spokeswoman Liz Hillock said.

Hillock said last year’s annualfestive season shopping surveyshowed that only 13 percent ofconnected shoppers elected to hitthe malls for their seasonal shop-ping – a number which had de-creased to 9.6 percent this year.

The survey also showed that92 percent were planning to shoponline this year, up five percentfrom last year.

Yuppiechef.com, a SouthAfrican website selling cooking

and kitchenware, said they wereshipping double the number ofdaily orders this year.

Gary Hadfield, chief executiveof local online retailer Loot.co.za,said that, given the festive seasontrading period comprised justless than a quarter of their an-nual trading, “we tactically re-launched the Loot website at theend of November”.

A survey this month of morethan 6 000 shoppers, by online re-search group Columinate, foundthat 44 percent of South Africansstill intended to shop in a mall. Athird said they would buy certainthings online.

Old-clothes-for-new drivea good fit for Star charities

More choose to do their festive shopping online

OLD FOR NEW: Store manager Nondumiso Msikinya of theTimberland store in Hyde Park Shopping Centre holds up donatedgoods exchanged for 15 percent discount on new goods.