PRETORIA. President Jacob Zuma expressed sadness on Tuesday over the death of a suspected housebreaker, Luyanda Malebo, who was tortured to death by police using 15th century museum pieces, after they had reportedly misunderstood a government call to get medieval on criminal asses.
The 21 year old was arrested outside his home in Mkhaza, Cape Town and taken to the Khayelitsha police station where officers applied thumb screws, forced him to wear a hair shirt, stretched him on the rack for five hours and finally closed him up in an iron maiden, a sarcophagus-like device studded with spikes. He later died of his wounds in hospital.
The torture methods were believed to have been inspired by a speech Zuma gave at a recent SAPS press conference defending Bheki Cele’s controversial “shoot to kill” policy that has resulted in several civilian deaths over the last three months, including, most recently, the fatal shooting of a toddler.
At the meeting, Zuma expressed his continued support for the amendment to section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act and added, “Criminals don’t fire warning shots. If they take out their guns, their intent is clear.
“If they take out their guns, then they’ve got to ask themselves one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punks? To the criminals, I say, They’re the disease, we’re the cure. And we’re going to get medieval on their asses. Hasta la vista, baby!”
Zuma’s spokesperson, Pinkie Pologetic said the speech was never intended to be taken literally. “It is unfortunate that this phrase ‘get medieval’ had been distorted by some in the media. Its use in the press has been very unfair and misleading and this irresponsible reporting may have unduly influenced some overenthusiastic officers.”
Pologetic denied that breaking wheels and thumb screws had been issued to police stations across the country and added that the iron maiden is, in fact, not a medieval device at all. “There goes the media again, getting their facts wrong. Everyone knows the iron maiden was only invented in the 18th Century.”
An SAPS spokesperson refused to comment on the investigation into Malebo’s death, saying only, “The first rule about police club is you don’t talk about police club.”
