A call for sweeping policy amendments to prevent abuse of force and torture in the South African Correctional Services system and by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) has been answered, with the recent Cabinet approval of the Prevention and Combating of Torture Bill.

At a seminar organised last month by the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Graduate School for Public and Development Management to investigate the systemic drivers of institutional abuse, an enduring theme was the call for the criminalisation of torture.

“Currently in South Africa, there is no law against torture. One can be prosecuted for the use of excessive force or assault, but not torture itself, which is unacceptable,” asserted Wits Justice Project coordinator Nooshin Erfani-Ghadimi.

The new anti-torture laws are considered an important breakthrough for the prevention of torture on the continent and follow years of lobbying by local and international human rights groups.

The Wits Justice Project, an initiative that investigates the treatment of prisoners within the country’s criminal justice system, has observed the continued use of apartheid-era intimidation tactics and repeated reports of abuse of power and torture within the correctional services system and the SAPS.

A report by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services detailed 2 276 reports of member-on-inmate assault and 5 841 complaints of inhumane treatment by correctional service officers and members of the SAPS in 2010 and 2011 alone.

Ghadimi asserted that there remained a culture of impunity in South Africa, with little or no consequence for cases in which the abuse of institutional power was observed.

Moreover, the Correctional Services Act permits the use of restraint mechanisms such as electronically activated stun belts, electric-shock shields, leg irons and belly chain restraints; however, the use of force by correctional officers or their training in the use of these restraints is not clearly regulated or legislated, nor does it define maximum or minimum force.

“There is an urgent need for training of correctional staff in the use of restraints as well as conflict resolution skills,” said Ghadimi.

During the seminar, independent researcher David Bruce added that the State had a profound and deep capacity for violence, and would use this capacity in its efforts to protect its legitimacy.