Human Rights Violation Hearings — Venda — 1996-10-04

RANGOEZI TSHIKALANGE: Okay, fine, I am not going to read them, I am just going to read one.  I am just going to read one.  Mr Chairman, forgive me because I just said that the case took about thirty years, I think thirty minutes is going to be very limited, so I think we are still going to go further, but it means that, you are well aware that in South Africa people depose you, you are only given 300 years to return, that means there is conflict.
 The first letter, listen to this, the letter is dated the 12th March 1965.  I am writing this letter to you to notify you that where it has worsen.
 Since I read that letter it had increased, it is my view to announce that into the point that I am, we have heard about I wipe tears from your eyes.  Now that I realised that you gained opulence, you have turned against me, I am on my way to go to the people in authority, who are going to look into this.
 If you knew that the stool that is on top of the mountain, is of less importance than the one on the platform, I made you sit where you are.  Now when you have a family, you know how much you have at the bank, one of the people, or young brothers or, who could not know how much it hurt.
 If you know opulence can just disappear any minute, 
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thank you.
 After that, the Commission, now that I come before the Commission, I knew that I would get some help.  I said it is 30 years without saying this.  Now what really worried me was after I had travelled a great deal, there was a time, one day on the 9th of August of 1965, when the Commission of Enquiry who was led by a Chief Commissioner, VNP Leibrandt together with Mr JJSP Stassen and Oliver, Chief of Conventional, that day it was propelled that I was going to be killed.
 And I got people who alerted me on that aspect, I didn't go home to sleep, I went to Sebasa.  This is confirmed by the letter that was written by the (indistinct) that I was going to be killed.  It is right here in the letter, I got this from Pretoria.
 It was on the 9th of August 1965 when they wanted to kill me, but then they could not succeed.  I ran away from where I was, I went to Dopede, because I kept on moving from one place to another.
 When I was at Dopede, I had to go into Pietersburg because the (indistinct) wife had been arrested.  When I arrived at Mogewa's place, while I was on the (indistinct), two traffic officers came with Mr Ravela.  They had gone through the bus, they asked me as to where I was going.
 I told them I was going to Pietersburg, and they asked me to leave so that they shall give me a lift and then I got out of the bus, I alighted and then they gave me a lift.
 When I reached Louis Trichardt, I was so surprised it was something to six.  This police was driving on the way, said are you (indistinct) Tshikalange, I said yes.
 Are you not the one who is being looked for, and then
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I kept quiet and I realised that he had some news.  Then he went to the police station, he then opened the door, the back door, then got hold of me, then he grabbed me, so I was made to sleep in a cell before I could consult my lawyer.
 The lawyer, whose name was Ritswalda, I told him that I was getting to the cell.  Then I slept there.  They came early in the morning, something to six, they took me back to Sebasa, that was when I had already been arrested and I was being returned to the cell.
 When they told me that, they made me to write down a statement and there was some other people who had been bribed by somebody who knew that the people had taken my file.
 Those people said we were asked to kill you, they gave me the names of those people.  They said we were told that we should kill you, but we are not going to kill you.
 As I was seated there in the cell, somebody arrived.  A policeman who is now in the security services (indistinct).  He opened the door and said to the people, listen you people, this is Mr Tshikalange, he is the Chief.
 And those people said to me look Mr Tshikalange, that person is saying you don't have to make a noise, he is saying we don't know you.  Can you now realise that we were told to kill you?
 Those people were M.C. Botha, Mabasa, Josef Machari, William Tsesikure, Thomas Raninal.  Those are the people who really saved me that day.
 Now, when I had been taken from Louis Trichardt by this, the ones I mentioned earlier, I was just been taken back again to the police station.  I resisted to be locked into the cell, I wanted du Preez.  I told Mr du Preez that VENDA HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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I wanted to tell him something, because we want him, I want to see him, because I hear of him.
 When I approached, he told me, oh, you are so young and I said, yes, I was very young then.  I said, it was me.  They said okay take him to the Station Commander.  When I went to Visah, Visah said we've got something for you.  We understand they want to kill you.
 Then he said okay take him and lock him in the cell.  If he dies, then we will accountable for his corpse.  Then I realised that it was in line with what was said and those people was from the Station Commander.
 That is what I want from the Commission to investigate.  In saying that about the Act which says the Governor General has power to put somebody in power and remove and I did say I wrote to the (indistinct) in 1964.  In so saying that only led me to jail, that is what I want the Commission to investigate, because I was innocent.
 As I am saying in accordance to the Act which says we want people to sit down and talk, we want them to sit down and talk and discuss.  There are a lot of things that one could say.
 The Black Administration Act in 1947 says if we look at the way how homelands were created, there are certain areas especially when they are creating towns, where Black people who are six in one area, when six people can stay very normal.  If you look at how we're living around, we are so crowded, three this side, three the other side.
 The living itself is not so big.  It is equal to what the White man has.  We want to talk before the (indistinct) were removed from here, we want equality in land.
 That is one big issue that I was facing with the 
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Government at that time, besides the (indistinct).  If there are some questions, I would require you as Commissioners to ask, thank you.

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you.  Before I ask Commissioner Lyster maybe to go through some of your testimony.  I just want to reassure you Mr Tshikalange, that we have all those documents, you did give us copies and we are looking at them and that your documents do help us to put, to have a broader picture and a broader context in which gross human rights violations were taking place.
 The issues that you speak about of deposing traditional leaders and hand picking and putting people who were more sympathetic through the apartheid Government then, but as the Commissioner has said, what we really want to focus on, is the consequences of that policy.
 We will be writing about those policies in our report, but in this hearings we really want to bring out so that people can actually see the harm that those policies did and how they ruined peoples' lives and in your statement you go through some of those things particularly with your wife and your child, but I will now hand over to the Commissioner to go through those issues.

MR LYSTER: Mr Tshikalange, the area in which you lived, in which you were a Chief, was this area here where we are presently and I understand from your statement that you were deported to Kuruman in the Northern Cape is that correct?