Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-19

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: There were so many policemen here, I didn't know their names, but they used to call each other - there was a certain Taylor, names like Naude and Madigizela and other many policemen.  There were so many.
 In the afternoon they still went on.  They gave me another paper and they said I must write.  They took the
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 ... throw them into the dust-bin and they would do it again.  Put my head into this canvass bag.  They said this one is very stubborn.
 During the time that I was handcuffed, I was handcuffed at the back. Now they changed and I was handcuffed in front.  They took a broomstick and they put it under my arms. They took two tables, one this side and one on the other side and they lifted me up just like a sack, and I was made to hang between these two tables.  My head was hanging downwards.

CHAIRPERSON: Do you know what they used to call that form of torture?

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: They used to call it Boeing 747.  It was named after what they were doing.
 The others were standing in front of me, the others were behind me, kicking me, front and back.  I would, I used to sway like a pendulum. They would kick me from the back and they would kick me from the front.  If I run away from the front they will kick me from the back, and I would sway like a pendulum.  There was blood dripping from my wrists because of the handcuffs.  
 They used to ask me specifically where were you at a certain time. They would say were you at Lesotho at a certain time. If I say no, they would start beating me again.  This went on until four or five in the morning.  Then I was taken back to the Fleet Street police station.  That was now the first day only.
 The following day, the morning they came again.  They started with that suffocating sack. They did that again to me.  The whole morning session they would suffocate me in the sack and mix that with the beatings.  The same thing 
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happened in the afternoon and again I was down in this Boeing 747.
 The second day then I was taken from that table where I was hung. the handcuffs were put on again from the back. Now they took the same sac, but it was empty this time.  They put it over my head so that I couldn't see.  There was something that I felt was clamped on my thumb, on my right thumb.  Then the whole right side was shivering, it was shaking. Now I could see that this is electrical shocks.  They did this repeatedly, and after that they would take the sack off my face and then ask me what more do you have to say.  If I didn't say anything that would satisfy them, then they would do this again.  They repeated this for several times and then again they put me back into the cell.
 On the third day they brought me back again.  Then I was started with that same sack again, to be suffocated.

YASMINE SOOKA: In your statement you also talked about them beating you on your private parts.  Do you want to tell us about that as well.

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: I am coming to that, yes.
 On the third day they started with putting me into the suffocating sack again.  They did the same thing as the previous days.  They hung me again between these two tables. Now after that there was another hook that was hanging from the roof.  They took this rope and I was hung by the handcuffs.  Then I was hanging from this rope, clipped onto my handcuffs.  Then I was hanging.  Now they punched me so much with their fists.  They took a litre bottle and they hit me with this empty litre bottle, while I was hanging.  They said to me you must never again give birth to terrorists.  They this again several times.  They would
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punch me again with their fists and with this bottle, and then at last they took me off from the hanging position.
 They took one table and put it on this side and another table on the other side.  They took two sacks. Then I was told to strip my clothes off from the upper body.  So I did.  They took ice water and they poured that water over my head.  It was so cold.  The rubber (indistinct) I have forgotten that they used to use.  I was visibly shaking, it was very cold, because the water was icy.
 At that time they were laughing.  They were not hitting me this time, they were just laughing, having a good time.  They switched on the fan so that I could just be very, very cold.  They would do this several times, each time I give them a negative answer.  This went on for a long time.
 Now after that there was another colleague of mine that came there at that time.  He was also arrested.  He found me like that. I was red with blood and I was swollen. I was also wet because of this ice water that was poured over me. He asked me a couple of questions.  
 They took me and they said they were going to search my place.  They went to another home of mine, that belonged to my grandfather.    They found some of the things at my grandfather's place and from there they took me back to East London. 
 When we got to East London they went straight to the electric shocks.   They clipped me again.  First they covered me with that sack and then they clipped me again. I couldn't see this because I was covered by the sack.  They clipped me on my thumb and my arm, and this would make my whole arm to be lame.  I would feel numb.  Then after that they unclipped it from the legs.  Now they put it in the 
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ears. I felt like my whole brain was boiling.  Then I got unconscious until the following day. That time I was now in the prison, in the East London prison.  I stayed there for three days. They were not taking me any longer to Cambridge.
 Then I was taken to the Transkei again. I was with Junior Salewa, he was also telling the same story. As a result his ear-drum burst.  
 I want to also concentrate on the torture that happened. It is apparent that all the prisoners went through what I went through, this torture.  All this torture was done by the South African Police and the Transkeian Police.

YASMINE SOOKA: You said that you thought you were picked up and detained the first time because you were studying political science. But the second time when you were detained, why did they pick you up and when they questioned you, what information did they want from you?

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: When I was detained for the second time, they already had their black list, and they already knew that if anything had happened, they are going to arrest those people on that list.  This whole group that was arrested, I was one of them. It was a group that was involved in what was happening in the K Group.  I think that is how I was arrested.
 The questions were about my going to Lesotho and the banned literature that I had and where the weapons were kept.

YASMINE SOOKA: Because you were a member of the African National Congress?

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: Yes, I was a member of the ANC.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did you receive military training?

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: No, I never received any military training.
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The only training that I got was just to work within the organisation, not military training.

YASMINE SOOKA: Why were they so sure that you knew about where there were arms and guerillas, because the questions that they constantly threw at you during the torture, was about that.

MKHANGELI MATOMELA: Well, it is obvious that they already had their information.  So they were basing their information on the documentation that they were looking at. It is obvious that they already had pre-information about this.

YASMINE SOOKA: At any time during the different times when you were tortured, did a doctor, did you ever ask for a doctor to come and examine you?