The Truth Commission went behind bars in July 1997 to investigate gross human rights abuses committed in the apartheid prisons and ANC camps in exile. One of the aims of the two-day hearing was to record the memories of so many political prisoners whose lives were wasted. Another was to recommend to government ways of creating a human rights culture in places of detention. The hearing was held at the old fort in Johannesburg, or "Number Four", as the prison was commonly known. One person who had eerie memories returning to the old fort was Truth Commission member Hugh Lewin. He spent seven years in jail for sabotage in the sixties. This is how Lewin captured the essence of imprisonment in his book, called Bandiet.

Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#butcher

slices of life - the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually

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