Fenuel Mogatusi

Mr Fenuel Mogatusi, aged 22, a Soweto school student,was detained in July 1976 and died in detention on 28 September 1976.The Act under which he was held was undisclosed but he was reportedly arrested on charges of theft after the Soweto unrest. He was held at the Johannesburg Fort.Bail was est at R500 but his family could not raise the money. The police said that he died from an epileptic fit,but his family denied that he had ever suffered from epilepsy.His sister had visited him on the day before his death.Although the prisons department terms him as an awaiting-trial prisoner, the South Africa Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) kept him on their lists as a security detainee since he was held with other such detainees and since he was detained during Soweto unrest.

It is not known whether an inquest or post-mortem was held into Mr Mogatusi's death.In reply to a question in parliament on 29 March 1983 regarding Mr Mogatusi's death in detention the minister of law and order said that 'there was no record that such a person had been detained in terms of security legislation,and unless further information is made available it is impossible to ascertain from all the police stations and border posts in the Republic whether such a person has been detained'.