Special Hearings — Armed Forces Hearings — 1997-10-07

MR MENDANA: Can I just add to that, Mr Chairman?  We, because of the length of the struggle, the amount of time that it took, we had people who joined the struggle at age 13, 14 and upwards and those people have never had the opportunity to go to school. Some of them are today in their 30s and some of them may be in their early 40s.  Now, they did not have the (indistinct) to look after themselves or any families that they might want to build.  Now, they are left destitute and there is no provision in this country for bursaries to assist people who want to go to school who are  in that kind of position.  So, I think the best form of rehabilitation, therefore, would be to make education accessible to these people.
 It does not matter what age they are.  They must make that choice, education and training. So, that now they can be empowered to join the economy and talking about economy, there is also a need for people who have got entrepreneurial skills or if they do not have entrepreneurial skills this can be developed maybe because it is too late for them to go to school or they do not have the motivation or the energy to sit behind a desk.  Provision must be made, therefore, a fund must be made.  I think, in fact, I must praise comrade Phosa in Mpumalanga.  I think he has a fund like that that he is establishing or has established, but this thing must not be a provincial issue, it must be a national issue where people, as a matter of fact or as a matter of procedure, I nearly said entitlement, but it should be entitlement, they should be given the opportunity, therefore, to have access to the economy through training entrepreneurship or if they have got the entrepreneur skills, be allowed to establish their businesses, whatever, of whatever nature and whatever they want.  
 In that way, therefore, we, the country shall have (indistinct) the suffering that they have gone through and these people can be empowered to build up their homes and then also there are people who have lost touch with their families.  They came back here, went to number three Skokani Street or something like that and found that there was no one and they are still looking for those people.  Maybe they should also be assisted, because looking for your people needs funds and it needs a lot of communication and they must also be assisted in that direction. 
 Some people do not even have housing.  I know of one or two people who do not have homes at all and they were in the liberation struggle and it is unfair that these people should continue suffering in this way.  
 I had a case, just recently, three days ago, Zinisa from Kumga called me in desperation. His application for a special pension was turned down and the man cannot walk, he is on a wheelchair.  He is only about 32 years of age, he has got a family and he does get assistance from the welfare department, but the money that he receives is hardly enough for him to fend for his family.  When he called me he was somewhere in Queenstown.  I think there is an institution there in Queenstown that is attached to the Defence Department and there he had received a letter inviting him to come and join in that kind of core there of people who are disabled in one way or another and he was turned down.  He even gave me the telephone number of the person that actually turned him down and these are the people and there are many other people who were in Apla who are disabled today.
 Now, to seek for qualifications from them is unfair and also not to try, you know, studiously, to assist them in the direction of fending for themselves so that they can become independent economically, if we do not do that we shall have done these people a great, the greatest disfavour, because we are here enjoying the freedom and democracy that they gave their lives for.  They are still alive and I think we can still reach out to them and assist them in whatever way they desire to be assisted.  Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Comrade Mendana.  I am sure that your remarks and all that input by all of you has been taken note of in particular by Mrs Mkhize who you might or might not know, is the Chairperson of the TRC's Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee and, in that capacity, is the one who drives policy formulation and recommendations that  ought to be made to the President as to what form reparation should take and I am sure in the immediate sense of those people you have mentioned, who are desperate, and in the long term sense of what the overall picture is going to look like in terms of what we are capable of recommending by way of reparations, Mrs Mkhize has taken very particular note of those issues and any other issues that you might have.
 Let me say, you are not restricted by what we have said here or by what you have said here by way of making submissions.  I think any aspects which are very urgent, as far as that goes, which you ought and you want to bring to the attention, especially the R & R Committee, as we call it, you should feel at liberty to do so in writing and very urgently.  
 We are about to close and before we do so I would like to make a few remarks about some of the things that came up during the course of the proceedings.