Human Rights Violation Hearings — Bloemfontein — UNKNOWN

MR LYSTER: I say most of the people who have lost the eyes they do getthe artificial eyes put in them. You have never thought about that yourself?--- I would love to have that sort of eye, an artificial eye.

MR LAX: Mrs Phole, what is your age please, just forthe record?

WITNESS: I am 21 years old.

MR LAX: I just want to follow up on where your march was going. Yousay you were marching to the Bloemfontein Court. What was happening at the court?--- They were going to stage a coup against Mopeli.

MR LYSTER: Mrs Phole, thank you very much for comingin today. What's tragic about your case is that you are sitting here in frontof us having been injured, lost an eye, for taking part in a protest that wouldhave been perfectly legal today. And only six years ago it was regarded as soillegal, the State was so threatened by such an action, that they set armedsoldiers against people making a legitimate protest. It seems that you wereprobably only 15 or 16 at the time of this incident, and it's a tragic thingthat the Government should have seen fit to unleash armed soldiers against childrenlike that.
You will have heard me say earlier on that the Commission doesnot have the power to award compensation to people like yourselves, but certainlyit will be part of our recommendations to the State President to ensure thatpeople like yourself are properly taken care of, the injuries are properly takencare of. So thank you again for coming to us today and sharing yourstory with us, and we wish you strength. Thank you very much.

MR LYSTER: Thank you, Mrs Gyeswe, for coming in. Pleaseput the earphones on and tell me whether you can hear me. Are you able to hearme talking now?

MRS GYESWE: Yes, I can hear you.

MR LYSTER: Thank you. Like so many other people youhave come to tell about the death of a child, of your child, who died in 1992in Bloemfontein in very, very sad and tragic circumstances. Before I ask youto tell that story please will you stand up and take the oath.

MRS GYESWE: (Sworn, States)

MR LYSTER: Thank you. I am going to ask my colleague,Mr Ilan Lax, to help you in giving your evidence today. Mr Lax.

MR LAX: Good afternoon, Mrs Gyeswe. Welcome.

WITNESS: Goodafternoon, Sir.

MR LAX: Before I ask you to tell us about this terrible story thatyou have to tell us can you tell us a little bit about your family. How manychildren do you have, are you married?

WITNESS: I am staying at Selosesha, RapulaniStreet. I don't have a husband. I separated with my husband. I have four children.He was working at Smart Centre. He was 28 years old.

MR LAX: Was your - your son, was he married at all, did he have anychildren?

WITNESS: He wasn't married, he didn't have any children.

MR LAX: Can you then tell us about the tragic events that happenedon the 10th of July 1992?

WITNESS: On the 10th in 1992 my son had gone to work. Itwas on a Friday. He was working at Smart Centre. It was on a Friday. I am notsure about the date. When he knocked off he didn't go straight home until sunset. We slept without him arriving home.The following morning it was on a Saturday. In the morning his friend came toask me whether I had seen Thoboko. I told him I hadn't seen Thoboko. I was shocked,because I thought he had been to his friends and he would come back, and thenI told him that he told me that he would go away with work. His friend's surnameis ... (incomplete) (Pause)

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... time. We do understand. His friend surnameis Thapedi, but I have forgotten his name, but the surname is Thapedi.

MR LAX: Thank you.

WITNESS: Yes, that's Mogetsi Thapedi. Mogetsi left becausehe was schooling in Durban. He was just on holidays. He left me, he didn't sayanything. It was now a Saturday just toward sunset. At about 5 o'clock I wentto my next-door neighbour's. I said, "Can we please call the hospital and findout. He might be in the hospital." We called the hospital and they couldn'tfind him, and then we called the police station and we were told he is not there.It was a Saturday. On Sunday morning - on Monday, still puzzled about his whereabouts,I went to another boy called Spaceman Moroka. I asked him, "Spaceman, what happenedto Thoboko? I haven't seen him." Spaceman was also puzzled. He said, "What havethe whites done to Thoboko?" We searched for him for a few days. He disappearedon the 10th of July. We continually searched for him, and a friend of mine said,"Let us call Botshabelo Hospital." We called the police station at Botshabelo.They said, "We have a corpse here in our mortuary. We don't know the identityof this person, we just picked him up." We said to them, "Tell us his

MR LAX: /"clothes."

MR LAX: clothes." We searched his belongings and we discovered thathis shirt was not there, and then his pair of trousers was not there. We toldthe police at Botshabelo the clothes that were missing, and they said - theykept quiet for a minute, and I said to my brother's wife she should go to Botshabeloand find out what happened. They didn't want to tell me on the telephone. Whenshe got to Botshabelo they discovered that it was Thoboko, he was in the mortuary.His head was disfigured, he didn't have an eye. They came back to me and theywanted to tell me the news. Even if they could tell me the story they were alreadycrying, and they told me that Thoboko was dead and they found him at BotshabeloMortuary. Immediately I was taken to the hospital to be admitted. We found himon the 27th of July. We buried him on the 27th of July. I wanted to find outwill I be released to attend his funeral. The doctor said, "No, no problem,we'll give you a permission to go and bury him, and then after the funeral youcome back to the hospital." On the 27th it was a Saturday. We went to bury him.It wasn't a smooth funeral. The Bophutatswana Police were shooting at the oldpeople with tear gas, people were running, and they said the corpse should goback. We were on our way to the cemetery. We didn't go back, we forced out waythrough to the cemetery. Then we were told that the minister should conductthe ceremony very fast so that we can disperse. We buried him and we went backhome. And I asked, "Who actually did this?" and then I was told, "Three white- three policeman, white of them, did this." Seemingly Thoboko and his friendswere looking for a place where there was a party, and they couldn't find theplace.  Unfortunately they knocked at the white man's house. It wasPiet Buys, Hendrick Myburgh and Johnny Grant. They took him in to the truck,they took him to Botshabelo, and that's where they assaulted him and killedhim. They even burnt his bank book.

MR LAX: (Inaudible)

WITNESS: Yes, that's the part I remember. I can't rememberthe rest because I was at the hospital. After the funeral the police came andthey said to me I should go to Botshabelo, there was going to be a court hearing.They didn't come to fetch me. Then when we arrived in Botshabelo there was nocase and I went back to Thaba Nchu. I've forgotten the date, but other policemencame to me and they told me that I should go to the Thaba Nchu Police Station.I will find a kombi there, and then they will drive me to Bloemfontein, therewas going to be a court hearing. They said it was going to be at the SupremeCourt. We came to Bloemfontein. Nothing took place. We went back home. And theykept on picking me up for court cases for the hearings, but nothing would takeplace and I would be taken back home. I only read in the newspaper that thecase was finalised, and I have been in that kind of a situation not knowinganything until today.