(writing as ANC Kumalo)

Justice Minister Vorster
with a thread of smile
between ghostly lips
says he visits his prisons
regularly
– like a doctor at the patient’s bed –
and has nothing to hide.
Journalists and MP’s are welcome
to tour.
They may touch the pulse
squint at the mercury
talk no doubt to the healthiest
generally spend an hour where men spend their lives
and publish anything.
Libel actions, perjury charges and
charges for offences
under the Prisons’ Act
need not worry them.
All the Act says
is that you may not publish
untrue stories.
That way you end up
like the three Afrikaans warders
who spoke to the press:
one under house arrest
the other two in lock-up.
The Justice Minister is fond
of that type of assurance.