Life in Robben Island prison described by SWAPO leader.

• Position: Herman Toivo Ja Toivo

A graphic picture of life at the Robben Island prison in South Africa has been provided to a United Nations working group on human rights by Toivo Ya Toivo, the newly appointed Secretary-General of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), who was released in 1984 after spending 16 years at that prison.

He told the group that Robben Island was a notorious jail where prisoners of conscience and political prisoners were incarcerated. All prison wardens were white, bent on reducing the prisoners to slaves. They subjected them to cruel and harsh conditions. Prisoners were assaulted at will by the wardens and dogs were often deliberately set on them. The prisoners were made to work on stone quarries for building projects on the Island and on the mainland, and on lime quarries.

His deposition before the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts Investigating the Situation of Human Rights in Southern Africa took place on 14 August at Lusaka, Zambia. He said he wished to share with the Group his "special experience and the experiences of all other Namibians", and went on to add that apartheid had deprived Namibians of their economic rights and had stripped human decency from them, virtually reducing them to slaves.

Mr. Toivo stated that when prisoners got sick, medical facilities were very poor and wardens would overrule a doctor's recommendation for a sick prisoner to see a specialist. He quoted the example of a fellow prisoner, Wilton Mkwayi, who had a bad back. A doctor referred Mr. Mkwayi to a specialist. The wardens wanted another specialist of their choice. The doctor refused, but the wardens insisted, so Mr. Mkwayi was sent to another doctor. He was operated upon. Luckily the operation was successful.

He said the International Committee of the Red Cross had made some progress in making changes in the prison. For example, it had reached agreement with prison authorities on the purchasing of spectacles for prisoners. They were bought for some prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, Wilton Mkwayi, Theophelua Chulo and others. However, prison authorities withdraw the privilege of free spectacles in 1982.

Mr. Toivo was one of those denied the privilege, together with Govan Mbeku, who had a more serious problem with his eyes. While being operated upon on one eye, it was found that the other eye also needed an operation.

The SWAPO leader said that, as a rule, life in a prison was tough because "jail is jail", but conditions at Robben Island were...