Why South Africa's infamous Women's Jail has an underwear on display
It’s one of many stories about the strife of South African women during the apartheid period. The Women’s Jail in Johannesburg was established some eight years after the men’s prison was established in 1902 in South Africa.
Here, women who were arrested for petty crimes were kept under very harsh and inhumane conditions.
Afrikaans who took over South African governance in 1948 introduced racial separation where the blacks (bantu), coloureds (mixed race) and whites were treated differently.
Women, especially blacks and ‘coloureds’ were arrested for operating businesses like beer brewing without permission, moving around without passes, and dressing lusciously among other things.
The prison served as a home of abuse and indignity for its inmates. Women were made to wear prison clothes without any underwear or panties as part of efforts to humiliate them.
Speaking to this reporter, Wonder Hagan about the history of the place, Historian Tour Guide, Ntsika Gqomfa explained that women in the jail were made to strip naked at points and sometimes their private parts were inspected.
After the Soweto Uprising of 1976, when women and teenage girls were held in jail without trial for what was termed as ‘indefinite preventative detention’, the first panty worn by a woman was recorded.
It was black underwear which today has been displayed in the prison with a story told and retold.
“Women here were not given any panties, it was part of the humiliation. The first ever panty that was worn has been preserved and is on display now,” Ntsika said.
In the Women’s Jail lies not only the panty but also a frame with accounts of some ex-prisoners who experienced some of these brutalities.
“As the prisoners were polishing the floor, we saw that they didn’t have panties. Somebody would be kneeling down to polish and the sanitary pad would just drop,” Joyce Piliso Seroke, a political prisoner in 1976 said in her account.
Another, Vesta Smith, said, “We were outraged. It was so undignified. These women were also very uncomfortable. They kept putting their hands between their legs and walking funny”.
Sally Motlana in her account said, “Winnie [Mandela] confronted the lieutenant herself, saying that these people were not animals, they were human beings and even if they were in jail, they still needed their dignity.”
Nikiwe Debora Matshoba, another political prisoner also said, “We told the wardress that we would not allow it. Every day, she gave us some excuse that they were waiting at the factory for elastic and that they didn’t have the right shoes. Eventually, they gave them panties and shoes”.
Today, the Women’s Jail exists in Constitution Hill, a former prison complex in the city of Johannesburg which serves as a testament to South Africa’s past. It has become a museum and heritage site where tourists from all over the world visit to learn about the country’s history.
