Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-22

DAN MONTSISI: Ja I was subjected to torture.  I was not the only one.  It was quite a number of us and I have spoken to some of the officials about that issue.  I mean like I said about the detention we got detained on the 10th in 1977.  They started quite early.  Probably they were eager on the 13th June we were taken to Protea Police Station where the torture actually started, and the type of questions they asked obviously they wanted to know if we are working for the ANC, and they wanted Paul Langa.  They arrested Paul before me, so what they wanted to do was that I must testify and say that Paul did all these things and so on and so on.  At that time I didn't know Paul, I mean that's what I said to them.  So they were quite angry.  They asked about Winnie Mandela, whether I have been to Winnie Mandela's place.  And they asked also about activities in the demonstration, where I participated.  I tried to cooperate with them concerning student activities because I was a student and even those demonstrations where I did not go I said I did, those meetings where students were, where I was not even there, I said I did, simply because I did not want them to press me
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on other issues.  I was not a member of the suicide squad.  I knew about the suicide squad but I denied it.  So well they got fed up with me and they actually began in a sense, so there was this trolley and Van Roy, those who fetched me from John Vorster Square and we drove down to Protea Police Station, and they used the rubber truncheon to beat you all over the head and it was quite difficult because I was blindfolded and I couldn't see the direction from which the truncheon was coming from, so it was quite easy for them.  It went on for quite some time.  And then you could also be kicked and beaten with fists, stomach and so on.  And there was also one other method they used, the rifle.  They used the rifle to stamp on your toes.  So every time you talk what they do not agree with they use the rifle on your toes.  And one method they referred to as an airplane, I didn't know what they were talking about, but I was grabbed and they swung me and they threw me right into the air but when you land, fortunately it was a wooden floor so they did that several times.  All along I mean they were like laughing and so on and so on, ridicule you and so on.  And they were pulling the muscles on the back to put a strain on you so they come from behind and they pull the muscles with their own hands.  And so they also forced me to squat.  That time I was quite weak and I didn't have much power left in me.  I could have collapsed any time but they still continued, so I had to squat against the wall and a brick was placed on my hands as I squatted against the wall.  I don't know what happened because I think the brick fell and it hit me on the head and when I regained consciousness they had poured water all over me.  So the first person I saw looking down at me was Visser, Captain Visser from Protea Police Station.  So 
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all I said to him when I saw him was that "Baas they are killing me", that is what I said to him.  And I never thought I would say "baas" but I did.  So they explained to him that - they used very strong language, "hardegat", so they were going to continue.  That time they had removed the blindfold and he left the room, and then as soon as he left I could see the people who were instrumental in the torture.  Although there were something like eight policemen inside there were two others Trollip and Van Rooyen, those were the ones who were the leaders and the senior was this Lieutenant van Rooyen.  So they blindfolded me again and this time they took off my pants and my underpants and they used what we referred to later as we were taken about it as a USO, an unidentified squeezing object, but probably it was a plier to actually press my testes.  They did that twice or thrice and when they do that it becomes very difficult for you to scream because you like choke.  When they leave you then you are able to scream.  So they did that twice, thrice.  I don't know what happened and again they poured water all over me.  And I was taken to John Vorster and ja I was dumped there.  Later I saw a doctor, a district surgeon Williamson, so he was able to treat me.  He wasn't supposed to see me, it was just a mistake on the part of the police, because in the cells in John Vorster Square when they were opening the cells they opened my own cell by mistake.  Those who were tortured must not be seen by the doctor because they will be ...(indistinct), so this policeman opened my door unaware and then I couldn't go on my own so I used the wall to walk towards the part of the cells was a surgery where the doctor saw us, so I crawled and so on and so on.  When the security police saw me they wanted to take me back 
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to the cells so I screamed, so fortunately the doctor came out and he saw me, then he said I want to see that man.  So our own political activists, the students who were tortured were there to see the doctor but fortunately if he doesn't ...(indistinct)  allow you.  My whole body was swollen, there were stripes all over the body and so on.  So the doctor was able to see me and he made a profile of a human being to indicate all areas of injury.  My medical record was subsequently submitted in court so it's properly recorded. When I recovered this was some time in September they took me again.  This time it was on the 10th Floor of John Vorster Square and there it was De Meyer, Sergeant de Meyer, Captain  ...(tape ends)
...they didn't touch the face and Stroewig was just concentrating on the head.  He didn't hit anything except the head.  So he just focused on the head and so on and so forth.  For the whole day he did not hit anything except the head and I think I collapsed and again I was taken to hospital.  So this time they took me to the Florence Nightingale Clinic in Hillbrow.  It was a White hospital so no Africans can see one of the student activist casualties, unlike if you had to take him to an African clinic, quite a number of people could have seen him.  So I was smuggled into an exclusive White clinic.  There they did brain scanning and well they checked me and they wanted to do a lumbar puncture.  At that time I didn't understand what a lumbar puncture was so they explained that they are going to stick a needle in my spine and extract the liquid.  I refused because I wasn't quite sure whether I could trust them to do that to me.  I knew the spine to be quite sensitive so I refused.  So the security cops came again to 
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try and talk to me to do the lumbar puncture, I refused.  They promised that they would take me back to prison and beat me up and bring me ...(indistinct) and so on and so on, but once I was with the doctor I was able to tell the doctor that he shouldn't, so fortunately the doctor did not do it.  I recovered after some time.  I was taken back to the cells.   Later well we were tried I was sentenced to Robben Island and Mandela wanted a report about June 16 including Mr Sisulu there and Govan Mbeki.  So together with ...(indistinct) we had liked to write a comprehensive report about the events.  They also saw the truth, I mean the Cilliers Commission report and we were able in fact to get a copy of that and actually criticise it.  
 But having said all this that I have said, I want to say that the students at that time they had a support base and members of the community whom even up to this point in time we hold very, very dear.  People for instance like Fanyana Mazibuko, Tom Manthata and Ligau Matabata, those were teachers during that period with whom we worked very, very closely.  And there was Dr Abu Asfad, Dr Massari and Dr Motlana, most of the casualties, those that we did not want to take to hospital we took to them and student activists who no longer had parents, who no longer had their homes were just wandering around, whenever they are sick these are the doctors who used to attend to them.  There is one other doctor whom I have actually forgotten the name but somewhere in Molapo, those were some of the kind people who used to treat us when we are ill, whether it's flu, cold or that.  And you had people like Beyers Naude for instance.  From Beyers we could be able to like I said print pamphlets, get vehicles and also get financial resources from him.  Beyers 
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was banned that time but he was amongst some of the Whites who were able to come into the township of Soweto in the evening to be with the students.  I remember at one stage when we were in town and we had seen him he had to drive all the way from town to actually bring us into the township.
 When I started to read the Freedom Charter very early in the 70's and so on, later in the 80's I didn't understand what the ANC meant when they said South Africa belonged to all those who live in it, both Black and White, but immediately I saw practically a White man like Beyers Naude risking his own life to come into the township I knew that there were White South Africans in South Africa who were quite prepared to lend a hand and be part of this lovely country.  So it took a person like Beyers ...(intervention)