Human Rights Violation Hearings — Grahamstown — 1997-04-07

REV XUNDU: Zimasile Joseph Bota, please stand up.

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: (Duly sworn in, states).

REV XUNDU: Thank you, you may sit down.

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome you Mr Zimasile Bota.  We will
hand over to Tiny Maya who will lead you with questions on behalf of the Commission.

MS MAYA: Thank you, Mr Chairperson.  I greet you Mr Bota. This afternoon you are going to tell us about yourself.  The police tortured you in 1986.  Is that correct?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, that is correct.

MS MAYA: We have a statement in front of us.  We have two dates, March 1986, we also have tenth and 11th of April 1985.  Are you going to talk about two separate incidents?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, I am going to talk about two separate incidents.

MS MAYA: From 1985?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, from 1985.

MS MAYA: Before you can do that, we saw that you were arrested, you were accused of killing a white farmer.  What year was this?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: It was in 1986.

MS MAYA: Can you please start in 1985.  What was happening in the community?  What happened when you were arrested by the police?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Firstly, I was a Vice-Chairperson of Adelaide Youth Congress.  We were affiliated to the UDF.  We gave our constitution to the detectives, at that time Wessels and Ghani and Makline, because we wanted them to know that there is an affiliation of UDF in Adelaide and we were members of that organisation.  There was also a student organisation, COSAS, in Adelaide.  One of the students was arrested.  It was on a Monday when the student was arrested.  He was taken to the police station.  The police were arresting him because he was one of the people who attended a meeting. When the students went to ask the police why the student was arrested, the police said that they found drugs, dagga, in him.
 In 1985, on the tenth, the youth were toy-toying and singing freedom songs in the streets.  At about 20 past seven up to eight o' clock the two policemen who stayed in our same street, three gunshots, we heard three gunshots.  One of the students by the name of Themba Letu Tikane was killed.  At that time I was not aware that there were people who were injured.  I went home, I had dinner, my friend came at about 12, after 12 at night.  There were three policemen. I was together with Mondi Nkonki.  They were beating us. They took me out of the room.  When I was out of the room I saw that there were soldiers outside and there were two police vans.  There were cars and an ambulance.  They were beating me and assaulting me all the time.

MS MAYA: During all this time were they asking you any questions

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: No, they were just assaulting me.

MS MAYA: Do you know the people who were assaulting you?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I managed to see three of them.  It was Fezekile Springbok, Mantewu and Mbulelo Tom.

MS MAYA: What happened?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: They took me to the police van, they separated us in the vans.  They assaulted me until I arrived at the police station.  As a result of that I got injured in my head.  They took us to the police station together with my friend.  I was stitched in the head and I was bandaged and they took me back to the police station.

MS MAYA: What hospital is this?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: It was a provincial hospital in Adelaide.  I saw that there were two boys sleeping there.  One of them was beaten in the head and one of them in the stomach.  They were shot, they were the ones who were injured at the time  of the shooting.  What happened is that they took us back to the police station. They told us that one of them was dead.

MS MAYA: Did you know the two people who were shot?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I knew them after we were released from prison.

MS MAYA: Do you know their names?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, it was Themba Letu Dikana and Mufisle Misilele.

MS MAYA: Please continue.

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: It was on a Wednesday night.  On Thursday we did not appear in court.  On Friday we did not appear in court. We appeared in court on Tuesday, the following week.  Mr Enkanon was our lawyer.  We were taken back to prison.  The following week on Thursday we were released on R30,00 bail.

MS MAYA: Were you charged of anything?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, it was public violence.

MS MAYA: What happened to that case?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: They would suspend the case and we would go back to court.  On the 16th of June 1985 I was detained.

MS MAYA: On the June 16th, is it after you were released on the case of public violence?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I was released on bail, 25 of us were released on bail.  We use to go to court.  If something happened in the township, they would come and pick us up.  I was arrested for burning down a police house and damaging property.

MS MAYA: What happened to the two cases?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: The cases were dropped in Adelaide, but I was not there at the time.

MS MAYA: In other words, you ran away from Adelaide?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes.

MS MAYA: What happened to you?  When did you come back?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I came back in 1987, in December 1987.

MS MAYA: What was happening when you came back?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I was told that the cases were dropped.  Nobody was found guilty.

MS MAYA: You said that you were arrested in 1986.  Where were you at this time?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: In 1986, as we were appearing in court, I was at, at home in 1986.  The reason why I left home is that I saw that everything that was happening in the township, we were seen as responsible for it.  We were taken on a Wednesday, because we were accused of killing white farmers.  The police said that I was responsible for that.  I told them that I did not kill them.

MS MAYA: Where did these farmers, where were they killed?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: They were killed near the farms in Adelaide.

MS MAYA: Were there any people arrested or charged due to this?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Some people lost their memory, because they were beaten up by the police.

MS MAYA: What happened to the case?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I do not know what happened to this case, because I stayed for six days, I was detained for six days.  I went to Louis le Grange and they transferred me to Algoa and to Adelaide.

MS MAYA: You were released?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, I was released.

MS MAYA: At the time you were arrested, what was the conditions in the cells?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: What happened in the first night, they took me to the police station in Adelaide.  There were three of them, Mbulelo, Twalo and one guy by the name of Nyakanyaka.  He was from Murder and Robbery Squad.  When he came to our home he said that he was a member of AZAPO.  He said that they were looking for guns.  He told me, after that he told me that these two farmers were killed.  They took me to the police station, they assaulted me.  They said that I must tell the truth.  I told them I know nothing about this killing, because I was at home at that time.  I was hand-cuffed and they placed a wet bag on my head and they strangled me.  They switch off the light before they torture you.  You would not see who was torturing you because it was dark. They took this bag to, they placed it in water and they came back and this bag was wet and they repeated this thing.  They put this bag over my face.  I was unconscious.  When I woke up I was lying down.  After that they allowed me to regain consciousness.

MS MAYA: When were you released?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: It was on Monday night.

MS MAYA: You stayed for six days there?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes.

MS MAYA: You were tortured all these days?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes.

MS MAYA: What happened to the accusations?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: I do not know.  They were dismissed.

MS MAYA: All of the accusations?

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes.

MS MAYA: But they tortured you.

ZIMASILE JOSEPH BOTA: Yes, they tortured me.