Special Hearings — Children's Hearings — 1997-05-14

CHAIRPERSON: "My family and I were from the ANC, and in the area             that we stayed there, an area called Nkothaneni, an area under Nkuzi             Magabe, my father one evening was shot by Inkatha members. The reason             that was given was that my father did not want to attend an IFP camp.             It was normal during those days that on Friday afternoons that males             in that area would go to an IFP camp, and it was known that my father             wasn't an Inkatha member and he refused. So that fateful evening a             group of men came to our house. And then they knocked at the door             demanding to see my father. On realising that he was not there they             started shooting in the air. My father was a few metres away from             our place at my granny's funeral. He then came home and then these             people ran away. Later on that evening we heard disturbances outside.             When my father went out to investigate he was shot, and then my father             laid in our yard all night because we were afraid to go out. We could             not go out out of fear. The next morning we found my father in the             yard. We found his body in the yard with insects sprawling

CHAIRPERSON: /all over

CHAIRPERSON: all over him. To this day I still can remember this             incident clearly, and this has been portrayed in my drawings to the             Truth Commission."

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, this was the last story of those stories that we got from   places around Port Shepstone, given to us by kids that experienced these violations.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you for those stories. If we can then move on to the   next overview.

WITNESS: I would relate a story about the violence in Port Shepstone.   It started in 1990 to 1994. What happened to the communities in Port Shepstone   because of the violence, people could not stay in one place for a long period   or for a longer time, and as they were moving up and down they will take their   children with. And children were tortured because they were not in their areas.   Families got scattered. Up until today there are children who don't know where   their parents are. They don't even know where to look for their parents. What's   even sad is that they don't even know whether they are still alive or they are   dead. What they've lost it's enormous. They lost their parents who were taking   care of them, their parents whom they were depending on. They have lost their   security, they have lost trust. They have lost trust in the elderly because   during the violations adults were the ones who were attacking. Now these children   are scared of adults. Up until today they don't have trust. They don't even   have trust on themselves. They have low self-esteem. They have suffered trauma.   In schools they have experienced depression, and because they have been moving   up and down, and because they have settled in areas where they are not used   to, and now they

CHAIRPERSON: /have to

CHAIRPERSON: have to attend schools where they don't know anyone, and they   are not accepted by other children or by community or teachers. And sometimes   some of the teachers themselves they belong to other organisations, so therefore   it's difficult for them to accept children like those. And sometimes other schools   are built by people who belong to other organisations, therefore the children   have no choice if they go to those schools they won't be accepted as children.   Maybe if I can just show you a picture where a child has drawn, and they are   trying to show how she has suffered. In this picture the house is set alight,   and parents and children are carrying bags and they don't know where they are   going. Some of them are going to sleep under the trees, some of them are going   to relatives. I am trying to explain how the children had suffered. Even today   if you ask them to relate those stories you can tell that they lose concentration.   Some of them left schools, they didn't go back to school up until today. Some   of them did go back to school, and some of them didn't because they didn't have   money to go back to school, and parents who were responsible for taking them   to school, or buying them food, they died in this violence. And some of these   children ended up taking glue, smoking dagga, to forget about their bitterness.   Children are supposed to be free. Children are supposed to play soccer or whatever   sport with each other, but here our children they are scared because of they   are stigmatised as to what group their parents belong. And again I would like   to highlight some facts on the health of the children. In their drawings you   can actually see the sadness and the bitterness. They are scared, they are afraid,   and they do

CHAIRPERSON: /say that

CHAIRPERSON: say that they don't feel accepted by their friends or other   children. They laugh at them, and some of them they call them names. And this   shows us that these children have been traumatised, and they are still traumatised   today. I will show you a picture. I'll take one story of one child whom his   or her house was attacked late at night, and the child was asleep together with   her sister. At the time the child was five years old, and then now she said   this one was her mum, and then her sister, and then her father. They are being   shot, and this child said when they were shot she was asleep. They saw her in   a pool of blood. They thought she was also dead, but she wasn't, because when   this shooting occurred she was fast asleep. The next day she went to a neighbour,   and then she went to an induna, and the induna helped. I would like you to listen   to the tape.

CHAIRPERSON: "In 1991 in August, it was about 12.00 pm, IFP came             to my house. They killed my mother, my father, and my sister and my             younger sister. When I woke up in the morning everyone was dead. Only             me and my younger sister, who was shot at her knee, was alive. We             went to induna's house and induna called the police. Police came in             the morning. We went and stayed with my grandmother at Bhoboyi, and             my grandmother is getting pension. That's how she is maintaining us.             And she is getting this pension and she is sick, and we would like             to request from the President that

CHAIRPERSON: /he must

CHAIRPERSON: he must build us a house, and help us about building             a school where we can go and study."

CHAIRPERSON: As we have heard this child has been traumatised, and this   child is staying with her grandmother, and the grandmother is sickly, very sick,   and the younger sister who also survived is also sick. And this child is scared.   She doesn't know who is going to pay for her education if the grandmother dies.   Again I would also relate to you a story of a young girl who was tortured, and   who also saw her uncle being killed or shot dead, and also she ... (incomplete   - end of Side A, Tape 4) ... watched while they are raping her aunt. This is   how the children had been tortured. Another picture which I have here from an   eight-year-old girl. She drew her father as a small or young man, and the mother   being short, and when I asked the child why she is drawing the father short   she said the reason she drew her father short it's because the father was helpless,   and they surrounded her father and they poured petrol on him and burnt him.   What is very sad about this is that these children, most of them they know the   people who did this, and those people are still alive and they see them every   day. And another child said - who is eight years old said, "I am just waiting   for my revenge."