SACHS CASE POSES PUZZLER FOR SOUTH AFRICAN JURISTS
South Africa's legal experts: are debating a fine point of law: Does a person detained under Section 17 of Act 37 of 1963, commonly : known as the "90-day detention clause" [under which anyone can be arrested and held indefinitely without being brought to court], have any legal rights whatsoever?
This curious question arose over the case of Albert Louis Sachs, a Cape Town lawyer, imprisoned. under this measure. The Cape Town Supreme Court ruled that Sachs is entitled to reasonable periods of daily exercise and a reasonable. supply of reading matter and writing materials.
Capt. D. Je Rossouw of the Cape Town Security Police, appealed this ruling February 26 to the Appeal Court. He contends that a person detained under Section 17 is undergoing. imprisonment and has no rights. "The facilities granted him in gaol" were at the discretion of his detainer, . a
"The only limitation on this disoretion was that at the end of the detention, the detainee must be unimpaired in his mental and physical health," ; .
Capt... Rossouw claimed that he allowed detainees. half-an-hour exercise every morning and afternoon, which, in his opinion, was adequate,
"He had, however," reports the Cape Times, "decided that. Sachs ought not to be supplied with reading and writing facilities,"