Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has accused a prison official in Kgosi Mampuru correctional facility of ‘actively obstructing’ one of its clients from accessing legal representation during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to GroundUp.

LHR is representing five current and former inmates at Leeuwkop Maximum Correctional Centre who are suing the Minister of Justice and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), alleging assault and torture by prison officials.

The trial, which began in October last year, was set to continue in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) on 11 May, but Judge Ellem Jacob Francis postponed it to 25 January 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Visits to prisons have been prohibited since the introduction of the lockdown, including person to person consultations with lawyers.

LHR accused a prison official of obstructing the right to legal representation of one of the plaintiffs by refusing to facilitate the signing of a FICA document needed for litigation.

In a letter of complaint sent to Head of Prison Charles Sebothoma on 10 May, Clare Ballard, of LHR, said the prison official wanted to know what the form was about and what the litigation related to before he assisted her with getting the document signed.

She said she expressed reservations about his insistence to know the details, but she did subsequently provide him with the names of the parties to the litigation and the nature of the case.

‘He advised that he would refuse to assist with anything that would facilitate inmates suing the department. I expressed shock at this and asked him to provide me with his name and rank, information which, by law, I am entitled to. He refused to give me his name and said, repeatedly, that I was "out of order",’ said Ballard.

She said she told the official that the plaintiff was entitled to legal representation and that he was obstructing that right by refusing to assist, particularly since the lockdown prevents legal representatives from visiting clients in prison.

After the complaint was laid, the document was quickly signed and sent back to her, Ballard reportedly told GroundUp.

In the court papers, LHR said there was an ‘imbalance of power’ between the parties in the case because the Minister and DCS were in a position to control when and if the plaintiffs have access to their lawyers and proceed back to trial.

‘This is profoundly problematic given that the defendant is alleged to have tortured the plaintiffs while in their very custody,’ wrote LHR.

Although it was reasonable to give the Minister and DCS time to deal with Covid-19, LHR said an unmanaged and indefinite delay in the trial could result in impunity for torture in prisons.

Full GroundUp report