Poor people are treated with contempt by rude government officials

I AM very pleased that Sandile Memela has raised the largely overlooked issue of the violation of the rights of black people by members of their own racial group (Sunday Tribune, May 29).

But I am also sorry that we have to keep using what should be meaningless categories because we still have a long way to go to eradicate the damage done by the institutionalised racism of the past.

I am asked to assist many black African people suffering abuse at the hands of their fellow blacks, and I am appalled by the way that poor people, in particular, are treated with contempt by rude civil servants or government officials.

They also suffer widespread abuse, including malicious arrest and torture, at the hands of many police members, who seem to have internalised apartheid standards of policing.

I hear much about ubuntu but see little of it in practice. Older black friends agree with me that, in the past 30 years, too many people who suffered oppression seem to have lost humaneness in their dealings with others.

One recent example illustrates what I mean. A few weeks ago two elderly, sick men were arrested in a hostel when police found beer in their rooms.

One had one case, the other two cases. They were kept at the local police station all day without food, and without being charged (the computers were down). They were then locked in cells, without their medication.

Mr K, an extremely frail old man, suffers high blood pressure, diabetes, TB and cancer. I managed to get hold of the station commissioner and asked her to allow him to go home and present himself at court the next day.

She refused. I asked her what would happen if he died because he did not have his medication and her response was “that’s fine”.

Several hours later a more sympathetic senior officer allowed the old men to return to the hostel.

Summons was issued and the two men duly reported to court, prepared to defend themselves regarding why they had the liquor in their rooms.

Despite my telephone calls to the head of the local legal aid office, they received no assistance and reported to a room I had been told they were to go to, in order to find out which court they were to appear in.

Then matters took a turn for the worse. They ended up with a senior (black) prosecutor who, they said, screamed at them about having liquor in their rooms and told them to pay thousands of rand in an admission of guilt fine.

That was subsequently lowered and the money was paid by their friends. They were not even given a chance to defend themselves in court, and now they have criminal records.

A gross injustice has been done and I have complained to Legal Aid about their failure to assist these men.

Given the ugly inter-racial tensions which often surface in this province, I should also add that the medical and legal professionals who assist in helping poor black African people are usually, with some exceptions, those classified Indians.

• Mary de Haas is a KwaZuluNatal violence monitor and analyst.