OVER 50 foreign prisoners have begun a hunger strike in Johannesburg's Medium prison, in protest at their detention pending trial.
The prisoners 48 from Pakistan, two Somalis and one from Mali were arrested last year following a massive telephone fraud which cost the national Telkom company more than 375 million rand (£67 million).
"They indicated that they are dissatisfied with the fact that they have to remain in prison pending their trial," a statement by the prison service said. It added that an official would meet the prisoners today.
Meanwhile, South African intelligence services have spied on the country's top police officers, including the police chief, Gen George Fivaz, the Johannesburg Daily Star newspaper reported yesterday, quoting Gen Fivaz.
The affair came to light after it emerged that the telephone of a senior officer who headed an organisation for developing communication with the population to fight crime had been bugged.
"I can confirm that the secretary of the management forum was bugged... I can also confirm that wires indicating the presence of an electronic bugging device were found in the office of (the Gauteng province) commissioner," Gen Fivaz told the Star.
"The whole issue is a mystery to us. It is difficult to believe that any South African intelligence agency would try to get at the structure of the new and legitimate police service," he added.
According to the newspaper, Mr Dirk Coetzee, a former commander in the Vlakplaas, a special police unit, which during the apartheid regime was reportedly a breeding ground for "death squads", was placed in charge of the spy operation.