"According to the most recent information at hand, yet more people currently in the clutches of the South African police are confronted with the immediate possibility of assassination by these licensed killers.
Thozamile Gqwetha, President of the South African Allied Workers Union, detained since 8 December 1981, ranks high in the list of possible immediate victims. Last week, he was secretly admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Johannesburg Hospital. His brother, Robert, who subsequently saw him, described him as unrecognizable. He was suffering from severe headaches at the back of the head, acute depression and anxiety, a dramatic loss of weight, difficulty in speaking and partial loss of memory. All this is a result of the systematic physical and psychological torture to which he has been subjected by his racist jailers.
"Recent reports further indicate that Yunus Mohamed, a lawyer normally based in Durban and in detention since 27 November 1981, is also in a bad physical state. There is also information that Luyanda Mphahlwa, also detained last year, has similarly been savagely treated. While fresh information about other detainees is not immediately available, it is clear that they too are being subjected to the same brutality that resulted in the death of Dr Aggett.
"Unless the international community raises its voice and demands the cessation of the torture and the immediate release of all detainees in South Africa, yet more opponents of the apartheid regime will be murdered in the secrecy of Pretoria's dungeons."
The Chairman joined with Mr Nzo in calling for the mobilization of world opinion to save the lives of these patriots and secure the immediate release of all South African detainees.
Footnote
In a statement issued on 25 February 1982(GA/AP/1295), the Chairman referred to alarming news from several sources concerning the treatment of trade unionists and others detained by the racist regime in South Africa. He referred in particular to a telegram from Mr. Alfred Nzo, Secretary-General of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), which read: