Report on ANC detention camps is released

The African National Congress (ANC) released a report by an internal commission of inquiry (the Skweyiya Commission), appointed to investigate detainee abuse allegations in ANC camps abroad. The members of the Commission, Louis Skweyiya, Gilbert Marcus and Bridgitte Mabandla, found evidence of brutality and torture to extract confessions from alleged South African spies and other detainees. The worst abuses had been committed at the Quatro rehabilitation centre in Angola, but they added that the conditions in other ANC camps in Angola, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia had in no way been acceptable. The commissioners recommend the establishment of an independent commission to pursue this matter and to identify all ANC officials responsible for abuses of human rights. It recommended that those found guilty should be stripped of power in the ANC. Other recommendations included the complete withdrawal of allegations against detainees held without trial by the ANC in exile and an unequivocal apology to victims for pain and suffering, regardless of whether or not they had been agents of the South African government. On behalf of the ANC, Nelson Mandela accepted full responsibility for the findings of the commission. He promised that a fully independent commission would be appointed and that all the recommendations made by the three commissioners would be given the necessary attention.