Torture bill will affect all officials

The Prevention and Combating of Torture of Persons Bill could see all public officials – including teachers, nurses and prison warders – liable to be charged with torture.

Several civil society groups held a seminar about the bill this week to coincide with World Anti-Torture Day.

The bill refers to torture as “any act or omission by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted by a public official or any person acting on behalf of a public official”.

Valdi van Reenen-Le Roux, Trauma Centre director, said the fact that the bill applied to all public officials was significant. She said it would apply to teachers who still meted out corporal punishment, nurses who abused the elderly and officials who worked in mental institutions.

However, a concern raised at the seminar was that there was no mention made of an independent body established to report on and investigate torture complaints.

Currently, the closest body is the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, but they deal only with complaints against police.

Another suggestion made by the panel was the need for far-reaching education drives in communities, mainly to clarify the differences between torture and assault.

Social Development MEC Albert Fritz said he welcomed the bill. But he also warned that the state was in for a “wake-up call”.

“I think this will open up the floodgates of people suing the state,” said Fritz.

One of his biggest concerns is what happens in old age homes.

“(The elderly) are treated like they’re prisoners. But they’re so afraid and under the radar. They just start keeping quiet,” said Fritz.

He added that the bill would affect those in the prison system.

Fritz said some prisoners faced threats by warders of being thrown into cells with known gangsters so they could be raped or beaten.

These were the people who would benefit from the bill, if enacted. “I’m glad that public officials are going to be held accountable,” said Fritz.