South Africa has made considerable progress in overcoming the legacy of decades of official denial of the widespread practice of torture by state security forces. However incidents of these human rights violations do continue to occur, primarily in the context of ordinary criminal investigations, during the arrest and detention of suspected illegal immigrants or “terrorism” suspects, in the police response to public demonstrations and in prisons. The current government’s challenges in combating high crime levels mean they must make it clear to law enforcement officials and the public that there can be no justification for torture and other ill-treatment.
