Status Complete Completed 1968 Floors 13 | Type Police Station Floor count 13 Opened 1968 | |
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Architect Harris Fels Jankes and Nussbaum Similar Workers Museum, Astor Mansions, Pretoria Central Prison, Nelson Mandela Bridge, Sci‑Bono Discovery Centre | ||
The Johannesburg Central Police Station is a South African Police Service police station based in Johannesburg, South African. Until 1997, it was called John Vorster Square.
Contents
History
John Vorster Square was officially opened on the 23 August 1968 by John Vorster the then current prime minister of the Republic of South Africa. It was a 10 storey, blue coloured cement building. Floors nine and ten were occupied by the police Security Branch while the detainees cells were on the lower floors of the building. During the apartheid era, the police station in downtown Johannesburg was a notorious site of interrogation, torture and abuse by the South African Security Police of apartheid resistance fighters. During September 1997, John Vorster Square was renamed Johannesburg Central Police Station and with that the removal of the bust of John Vorster.
Under apartheid
John Vorster Square was also used as a detention centre mostly for political activists; those sent into "detention" were not allowed to have any contact with family members, lawyers or any outside help; they were cut off from the world. Detention could last for a few hours to a few months, depending on the police.
More than 70 political activists were recorded dead in John Vorster Square; the South African Security Police often used excuses to cover up the deaths in order to protect themselves from the media. Many victims died due to torture and murder in the station; there is understandable doubt and distrust about some of the official reasons given for these deaths. Many of the deaths were recorded as "the victim died due to hunger strike" or "the victim fell out of the 10th floor window" even though all the windows had bars on them.
Victims of the excuses the police used to cover up were as follows: Political activist, Aaron Khoza, died 1977, police reported that his death was due to "suicide by hanging".
Political activist, Solomon Modipane, died 1969; according to the police he "slipped on a piece of soap and fatally injured himself".
Political activist, Ahmed Timol, died 1971, who "fell from the 10th floor window" at the John Vorster Square police station.
Political Activist, Imam Abdullah Haron, died 1969, who "slipped down the stairs".
Chris van Wyk wrote a protest poem called IN DETENTION that is based on the excuses the police gave the political activists when they died due to torture and severe beatings.