Human Rights Violation Hearings — Alexandra — 1996-10-30

MS SEROKE: Mrs Phahle, take a glass of water and compose yourself, take your time.  We understand that this is terrible.

HILDA PHAHLE: Yes, those are the words, that if he did not come back he was going to die a "baie gevaarlike dood" (a very terrible death) and so he died.
 In May 1985 security police visited my sister, Mrs Marilyn Sipamla in Wadeville.  Mind you, this is not the first visit, this was, I suppose the ultimate one. They told her that they had reliable information that she grew up with George and were very fond of each other.  She agreed.  They further wanted to know if she knows his thereabouts. She said only recently. They wanted to know if he had ever visited her and she replied no.  Why, they asked, because she did not know his thereabouts, was her reply.  Asked whether she would now do so as she knows where he is, she 
ALEXANDRA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
8 H PHAHLE
replied yes, when they asked.  
 Being a teacher, she told them she would do so when the schools closed.  Answering to their question she said the schools closed on the 14th of June.  At this point she says they looked at each other and one said "dit sal te laat wees" (that will be too late).  True enough, they knew what they were saying, because in the early hours of June the 14th, the radio was announcing a very successful raid into Botswana by the South African Defence Force.  They destroyed ANC bases and came back safely.  
 Later on in the same programme, but in Pedi, I was disgusted, because I heard the announcer saying (... not translated ...) and they were proudly announcing these things.
 I took the phone and tried to phone George in Lindi, but drew a blank. I phoned a friend in Botswana, who got a shock when she heard my voice, but had to tell me that they were both dead.
 How does a parent receive such horrible news?  How does a parent react to such devastating news?  All I said is, My God, My God, have You forsaken me?  
 I put on courage and phoned Lindi's mother.  Later in the day Levi phoned to break the news, telling us that Joseph was also killed and that he had survived because he was hiding. He survived because he was hiding.  They killed Joseph, thinking that it was Levi. 
 The pride of the South African government was backed by the media, the radio, the Press, the TV.  We had horribly distorted stories about George. We heard terrible things about him from the radio.  We saw pictures of his house on TV and all the damages, the car, the clothing, the
ALEXANDRA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
9 H PHAHLE
furniture.  His picture appeared on TV, showing the world the terrible man, that was so dangerous to South Africa.
 Surely, we were tortured beyond discretion. We were turned into polecats.  We got to Botswana and found a different atmosphere.  People were lamenting the loss of life with dignity and honour.  A Christian spirit prevailed throughout, but what we found was most horrifying.  The Defence Force had acted like uncivilised hooligans. They acted the way no Christian would.  They were barbarians. If our children were guilty of any crime, they should have been brought back for trial. Why kill them?  The helper was saved by the fact that she did not sleep in her room that night, but all her belongings were destroyed. We even had to buy her a wardrobe and compensate her for her clothes. 
 The death of her son and his wife left us sleepless.  To this day I cannot forget or sleep properly. My husband died three and a half years later.  I had to see to George's daughter, whose name is Gaberone, through school and university, and this is my only consolation.
 Our children fled this oppression of this country.  They went into exile, fighting for their rights, for the land of their birth, the land of their forefathers.  They were tortured beyond reason and fled.  The enemy followed them and brutally massacred them, "morsdood", (dead, dead), yes, "morsdood, (dead, dead).
 It is now time and it is their right to rest in peace on the soil where they were born, the soil they died for.  It is time they were brought home to be buried where we can visit them at our convenience.  "Hulle is dood, morsdood" - they are dead, dead, dead).  Words by the South African Defence Force on that fateful night of June 13/14 1985, on 
ALEXANDRA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
10 H PHAHLE
lot 15717 Gaberone, Botswana, by the South African Defence Force.  The victims, George Phahle, our son, who tried to make ends meet by running a transport business on a hired permit in Botswana; Lindi, BA Social Sciences, his wife, employed as a social worker by the Botswana Government; Joseph Malaza, Lindi's cousin who was just visiting there for the night.  Survivor: Levi, our younger son who lived to tell the story and was adversely affected. 
 He tells the gruesome story of how the South African Defence Force arrived swearing and behaving like people well-drugged and drunk, ordering George to open the door. The door was blown open. Instead of opening George and Lindi ran into his bedroom, locked the door, and pushed his portable piano against it. Lindi through herself face down in a corner.  George fell over her as a sign of protection.  There was nothing impossible with these murderers.  They blew the door open, pushed it and the piano fell against Levi's bed under which he was hiding. God spared him to tell the story.  
 He watched from under the bed as they pumped bullets ...

MS SEROKE: Take your time, Mrs Phahle.  We understand.

HILDA PHAHLE: He watched from under the bed as they pumped bullets into his brother and his wife, bullets penetrating them simultaneously.  They turned them over face upwards and one asked "is hulle dood?" - (are they dead)?  "Morsdood" - stone dead) was their reply.
 Levi broke down as bullets were pumped into Joseph who was hiding in a wall unit in the main bedroom.  On killing Joseph they were convinced they had killed Levi. In other words, I would have lost two sons on that day.  
ALEXANDRA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
11
 The house was damaged beyond repair. It was proclaimed uninhabitable. All the furniture was bullet-damaged, nothing in the wardrobe was spared by the police. The helper, Flora who survived because she slept out, found her room in shambles.  In front of the house, in the street, stood a damaged bus. In the yard they found a Ballade - a new one, mind you - which belonged to Lindi, which was burnt out.  A bakkie had bullet holes right round.  The Beetle had bullets pumped into the engine.  
 It is not compensation that is important, what is important is the loss of life.  Life which we cannot bring back.  "Ja, hulle is morsdood" - (yes, they are stone dead).  Who are they who said these words?  Why don't they come forward?  Thank you.

MS SEROKE: Thank you, Mrs Phahle, for that very sad account of what happened to George, Lindi and Joseph.  From what you were telling us, you didn't only suffer this loss, you and your husband were also terribly harassed during the time they were looking for George.  I will not ask you questions at this juncture, I will proceed to Mrs Malaza, to give her own account about what happened to her daughter, who was your daughter-in-law, Mrs Phahle.

MS SEROKE: Although this news is very painful, but I will just ask you to add on the words that were mentioned by Mrs Phahle, as she was telling us about George and your daughter Lindi.
 I will ask you to tell us in your own words, just to add, if there is anything to add about Lindi.