‘If you got sick, no one did anything until you died’
THE MASSgraves discovered on Glenroy Farm are thought to be those of prisoners “bought” by farmer Walter Lindsay to work the sugar cane fields.
One such prisoner was Mcijeni Cele, who yesterday detailed ill-treatment at the farm, saying he and others had had to sleep in a dungeon.
The 71-year-old said he had been arrested in 1966 after being found walking in Westville after curfew.
“I was working for a family in Westville and decided to go see my friends, even though I knew it was after the time allowed in my dompas,” he recalls.
He was arrested and held at what is now Durban Central police station.
Days later, he and others were picked up by Lindsay after having being sold for labour and taken to the farm, he said.
Cele had grown up in a nearby village and knew of Lindsay, whom the community called “Lins”. The farm owner died almost 30 years ago.
“When we got there, our clothes were taken away and we were given itchy mealie meal sacks to wear with no underwear.”
Cele and other prisoners slept in a dungeon, which still stands on the property today. “We slept on wooden planks and ate mealie meal, sometimes with beans.”
Cele said they did not wear shoes as they worked the sugar cane fields from dawn until dusk, suffering beatings and being sworn at.
“Prisoners were nothing, we were not human, and if you got sick, no one did anything until you died. Some were badly beaten and those lucky to survive until their time was done, like me, were released.”
Back home, Cele put the experience behind him and went back to work in Westville.