APARTHEIDIN CRISIS
tions; unofficial estimates ran as high as 29,000. On March 2, 1987, Vlok
also admitted
that 43 people had died in police custody and that 263
people detained since the beginning of the state of emergency had been
hospitalized.
In 1988, a study by doctors of the National
Medical and
Dental Association revealed that about 78 percent of a test group of 131
detainees had been mentally abused through
interrogation,
threats, or
humiliation.
During that year the government banned more than thirty
organizations,
including the UDF and AZAPO, and severely curtailed the
activities of COSATU,
the largest and most militant
black trade union
federation.v'
These events were largely unreported
because of draconian restrictions
on the communications
media.V
In 1987, however, the International
Commission of Jurists sent four Western European lawyers to South Af-
rica. In May 1988, they reported that "an undemocratic
government has
extended the executive power of the state so as to undermine the rule of law
and destroy basic human rights ....
We have found that the government
has allowed intimidation of suspects and accused persons, and interference
with legal processes by the security forces ...
to take place on a large scale
and in a variety of ways....