Human Rights Violation Hearings — Krugersdorp — 1996-11-14

V C LEVUNO: It was during the 1976 riots.  We were fighting against the white men because they had killed some of our friends like Malase and we were against Afrikaans because it was an apartheid language.  I was still a student.

THOMAS MANTHATA: How did it happen that you were not arrested with the people that were in Bethal, but you were arrested after you would be a state witness.

V C LEVUNO: They didn't say that I had to be a state witness.  They said that I should be a defence for those who were arrested within RSA.  When I was arrested in Bethal it was a different case, it had nothing to do with their arrest.

THOMAS MANTHATA: How did this Bethal case come about?

V C LEVUNO: I was implicated in some of the statements of the people in Bethal and the things that they were questioned about, I was also mentioned there.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Were those people in the Bethal case, were they also people active in PAC politics?

V C LEVUNO: None of them.  As I have just said, I only joined PAC in 1977 in Swaziland in Manzini.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You said who was your defence lawyer when you appeared in Bethal?

V C LEVUNO: It was Chetty and thereafter Priscilla Jana and it was Eric (indistinct), the advocate that Priscilla sent.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You denied being a state witness in Bethal?

V C LEVUNO: In Pretoria, in David Tharashima's case.

THOMAS MANTHATA: What did David Tharshima do?

V C LEVUNO: He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and Recruiting.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Since when have you known this man?

V C LEVUNO: Since 1977 when I was busy recruiting as well.
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THOMAS MANTHATA: Do you know where he is now?

V C LEVUNO: He is at the University of Cape Town.

THOMAS MANTHATA: When you were arrested for the Bethal case, did they want you to be one of the accused or what?

V C LEVUNO: I was a defence witness but they said that I gave false information and they asked me about the case in Pretoria as well.

THOMAS MANTHATA: When they said false evidence, did you write a statement first or did they compare the Bethal case and Tharashima's case?

V C LEVUNO: No, they just linked the two cases.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You got ill during the Bethal case.

V C LEVUNO: Yes, in prison after the white policemen harrassed and tortured me.

THOMAS MANTHATA: When you were in Robben Island, you didn't have proper care?

V C LEVUNO: Yes, I was still sick there and I was in a hospital cell in Robben Island.

THOMAS MANTHATA: From that time are you still going to doctors?

V C LEVUNO: I get monthly treatment, I get injections, 60 mg Magnisol and a few pills. At the moment I am still receiving further treatment.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Are you working?

THOMAS MANTHATA: No, I am not, I am getting a disability grant.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Let me stop there and hand over to the Chairperson.

DR RANDERA: Mr Levuno, first of all I just want to say that what you have told us is a reflection of so many people who were in prison for their political beliefs and either kept in detention or tortured and then suffered mentally afterwards.  It ended up in a complete mental breakdown,
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depression and then there is something that we call post-traumatic stress disorder.  It can be with us for years and years.  You have already told Mr Manthata that you are still undergoing treatment. Is that right?

V C LEVUNO: Yes, that is true.

DR RANDERA: I want to come back to when you joined the PAC, you said you were in Swaziland in Manzini.

V C LEVUNO: That is correct.

DR RANDERA: Had you left the country already at that time or were you staying in Swaziland for some reason?

V C LEVUNO: We were recruiting illegally without passports. We would go in and out of South Africa.

DR RANDERA: Taking young people in and out of South Africa?

V C LEVUNO: Yes.

DR RANDERA: I see you still wear the PAC badge, you are still an active member of the PAC.

V C LEVUNO: Yes, that's true.

DR RANDERA: Can I just understand why you went to Bethal. You were not involved in that trial yourself. What was the reason for you going to Bethal?

V C LEVUNO: One person came and said they wanted to be defended.  That is why I went to Bethal, who was in the PAC case.  Some of them were together at school, at Mutsipela High School, they were students at the time.  So I was going to defend them tehre.

DR RANDERA: You were going to defend them or you were going to give evidence in their support?

V C LEVUNO: I was going to give defence evidence.

DR RANDERA: Now during your first detention, were you tortured?

V C LEVUNO: For the first time at Sunnyside, we were called
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Solomon Mahlangus. We were made to sleep with dirty blankets and were not given food.  When they take out the blanket they say you are still alive.  They say you are still alive, and then this white man will point with his gun and say these people told me behind the flats - there were flats behind - the Sunnyside flats that I should not give evidence.  Then he said he will shoot me with his gun.

DR RANDERA: Just something that you said in your statement, and I want to read out what you said.  You said
"During the whole period of my being harrassed and detained by the police, they tried to totally destroy my reputation both in and out of the country.  They tried to recruit me as a spy and they also tried to sabotage me by taking photographs which they claimed they will use to blackmail me for accepting a bribe to implicate my comrades."
Can you just tell us a little more about that?

V C LEVUNO: I explained that they were harrassing me time and again and Nkosi and Modisani detained me at home.  We went to the fourth floor here in Krugersdorp. They showed me a stack of money and they took a photograph, an instant photograph.  It was Zara Moody, it is Ben Zara who is a counsellor at the moment. He can even give evidence in that regard because we were detained together. He also knew David Tharashima before he joined the ANC.  The photo that they took they said they are going to destroy my image inside and outside the country with that photo.  I don't know what happened, I just saw the photo and nothing else.
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DR RANDERA: Yesterday we heard from somebody else how, after his imprisonment, disinformation got around to say that he was a spy and the community almost went against him.  Did you find that yourself in your own community with people looking upon you as a spy or as an informer?

V C LEVUNO: There was such a rumour because people wanted to know why was I released in Bethanie, how did I manage to win the appeal, but I did not worry myself about these rumours, because they were not involved, they were not aware of anything.  There was a rumour that I testified as a state witness somewhere.

DR RANDERA: My last question is, over the last few days we have heard of political strife between Azapo, ANC, IFP and the ANC. I know there has been some between the PAC and the ANC as well.  How is the situation in Kagiso now between those two political organisations?  Your political organisation and the ANC?

V C LEVUNO: At the moment there is peace in Kagiso and I am not so involved with activities in the township.  So people didn't help me with anything. Why should I worry helping them?

CHAIRPERSON: Piet Meiring?

PROF MEIRING: Levuno, just a couple of questions about your own personal circumstances at the moment. You told us that you were released in your mother's guardianship. Is that correct?

V C LEVUNO: Yes, it is so.

V C LEVUNO: Are you married or have you never married?