Human Rights Violation Hearings — Port Elizabeth — 1996-06-26

MRS MTIMKHULU: Thank you very much, I am glad that you've corrected me.  What I mean is the political involvement.  Siphiwo was very much involved, he was a staunch member of the organisation, we realised that we couldn't do anything, he seemed to be addicted.
 And seemingly he was regarded as influential and being an instigator.  The other thing that he was against was the Bantu Education.  He came to Port Elizabeth and he attended school at Carwant, was expelled.  He went to Louingso, he was also expelled.  We tried at means to make him continue with his education because we were worried about his behaviour.
 Unfortunately we couldn't get anywhere that we could take him.  Let me go further - he was amongst the children 
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who were at St Stephens at the time.  I think there was a very big meeting during that time, they were arrested at the time.  I think they were about 500.  They were detained at Algoa.  They spent a long time there.  Mr Haiwa and Revd Swoga gave us support and they were trying to make means 
that the children should be released.
 After a short period they were released, I think it was about three days after they had been detained, I am not 
quite sure.  So they were detained without trial.
 This made him more involved.  He continued with the struggle.  I would like to explain that he went along with his comrades and they were taking other children out of the school and they were objecting to the type of education that they were receiving at the time.  He was detained, I think it was in Humansdorp.  During that year, I think he had something on which was not acceptable to the authorities.
 I think he had a T-shirt on which SASO was printed.  I think I will have to give a brief report about his arrests.  He was detained after this, he was sentenced.  He served his sentence in Grahamstown prison, he spent six months in that prison.
 He was under the solitary confinement, we used to visit, communicate with him.  We tried to persuade him but we could realise that he was still healthy.  After six months he was released.  He continued with politics, he never turned his back.
 Each time he was detained, he would come out and be stronger than before.  There are - some of the colleagues and comrades with whom he was working is just next to me, the others are not here.  You can remember then, I said there was not much that he could talk about when he was 
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detained in Grahamstown, he was just in solitary confinement and nothing further that he could say.  He was just given a Bible, but he was not interested in it.

MR NTSEBEZA: Can we go back to the statement where you said he continued with the others, was he a member of COSAS?

MRS MTIMKHULU: Yes, he was a member of the COSAS, so I think the other gentlemen who are next to are going to say much about the COSAS because they were together with my son.

MR NTSEBEZA: When he was a member of the COSAS, did he ever clashed with the law?

MRS MTIMKHULU: This happened quite a lot.  He was always harassed to the extend that he didn't like to spend much time among the family members, he was always among the friends and his colleagues because we were not involved in the politics and we didn't like the political involvement.
 He was always amongst the colleagues, that is why I say I did not know much about the membership with COSAS.  But what I can mention is that he always informed us when he was going to be away for quite a long time and to inform us when he would come back.
 At times he would just go to a small house which he built for himself, it looked like a dog's kennel.  You would stay in this house, but you would realise that you would be unable to be comfortable.  It was furnished according to his likings.
 I think this was his hide out so that he cannot be easily discovered by the police.  Everybody who would approach our premises, would think that it was the dog's kennel, that is why he could avoid the police.  He was a diligent, working very hard, he was committed and he was determined.
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 You can still understand that he had respect.  His friends were Mrs Fazi, Miss Misuwa, those were his friends and Mrs Xinga also.  I think I can mention a few of them, but we are not here to talk about those people.
 The only thing that I can state is that those were the people who had much influence in my son.  He was very happy and you could see that nothing could divide him, or separate him from the struggle.  But I can mention that he was still having respect and he would give an impression that he was a very humble person, but you would see that as he would go past one of the rivers, he was giving an impression that he was very humble, but he knew that he was going to take other children out of the school.

MR NTSEBEZA: Let's go to 1981, I don't want to make things difficult for you, but I would like you to give us a short briefing about what happened in 1981.

MRS MTIMKHULU: In 1981, it was on the 31st of May, I was in (indistinct).  I received a telephone call from Mrs Mtongana, princess, she informed me that Siphiwo has come back and he has returned to my place and that I should come back home.
 I packed my belongings and I came back to Port Elizabeth.  When I got here, I found him in one of our houses which we used as a dining room.  He had covered his feet with the eiderdown, probably it is something that we would call a duvet nowadays.  You could feel that he had cold feet.
 And you could see that he was not the usual spirit that we know.  You could see that something was not right.  I greeted him and I was very happy to meet him, I used all the nicknames that I used to call him.
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 I was glad that he came back from jail.  He spent five months.

MR NTSEBEZA: When you say he had returned, when was he arrested?

MRS MTIMKHULU: I would like to mention that Siphiwo was shot previously and then he was detained.  As he was detained,
you could see that he was injured on the arm.  He was taken to hospital.  The police who shot and arrested him were the same people who took him to the hospital, at Livingstone Hospital.
 He was not admitted for quite a long time, because when we tried to visit him, we were informed that he had already been discharged.  We were just informed that he was here and there.  We went to each ward, but we couldn't find him and then we gave up and went back home.
 It was a long time that he was admitted, I think it was five months.  In the middle of the 6th month, he was then discharged, it was on the 20th of October 1981, when he was discharged from hospital.

MR NTSEBEZA: During the time that he was admitted, could you visit him?

MRS MTIMKHULU: During that period Commissioner, we were unable to visit him, in other words we didn't make any contact with him.  We didn't even change clothes for him.  The only thing that used to happen was there were people who used to come to my place and collect some of the items, father Mobele is one of them.  He was a member of the security police' special branch and Mr Tsongatha.
 I would like to apologise to you gentlemen Tsongatha.  He was Masheka Tsongatha, he came to collect Siphiwo's belongings.
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MR NTSEBEZA: Did they tell you where Siphiwo was detained?

MRS MTIMKHULU: No, they didn't say anything to me.  We used to ask them but they never responded positively to inform about the whereabouts of our son.
 At times they would just say they did not know where he was detained.  The only thing that they have come to take 
was his belongings so that we can exchange the dirty linen with the clean ones.