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

CHAIRPERSON: This Commission has been organised by the Johannesburg office and they are part of the Human Rights Violations Hearings.  We will be having witnesses from many parts of the West Rand during the next four days.  Today all the witnesses come from Carletonville and Khutsong and we would like to extend a warm welcome to them and their families.  Before I go on any further, I just want to introduce the rest of my colleagues on the panel here today.  On my right-hand side there is Ms Joyce Seroke who is a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and on the left-hand side I have Dr Russel Ally who is also a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and my name is Dr Fazel Randera.  We all come from the Johannesburg office of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and today all the members on the panel are members of the Human Rights Violations Committee.  There will be changes over the next three days and we will introduce the new members of the panel as they come along.
 I want to also thank the Principal of this Nursing College for allowing us to use these premises and also all the other people both from the Commission and many of the communities that we have spoken to who have participated and helped us over the last ten week period as we have collected statements.  I know there are some people who have come here KRUGERSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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today from Bekkersdal and I want to extend a warm welcome to you.  Your statements will be heard on another day and it seems like there has been some confusion in terms of us communicating with you, but we hope that you will stay with us and listen to the statements from the people of Khutsong, Carletonville.  
 I want to just spend a few minutes explaining the process of how we have got to these hearings and any Human Rights Violations Hearing, because there are, again, a number of people within the audience who have come along thinking that they will also be speaking today.  Whenever we decide on a hearing in a particular area, we make links with community structures within those areas, with other role players and through that process we start collecting statements from those people.  Once the statements come into our office they are processed through our system and there is a big information gathering process that takes place within our system.  Let me say that in this area we have taken approximately 200 statements.  Unless we are going to have hearings that go on for ten or 15 days, it will be impossible for every person who has made a statement and we hope our statement takers, when they are taking the statements, have explained this to people.  That not every person who makes a statement comes to a hearing, to a public hearing.  Every statement that comes into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission office will be considered and given the same weight in terms of investigation and acknowledgement so that where you have asked for information relating to a loved one, we will try our utmost to give that information to you.  The hearings, we have always said, provide a window on what happened in our country and we as 
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Commissioners decide who will appear at a particular hearing.  So, if there are people within the audience today who felt that they were going to appear at this hearing, we apologise and any of us will be very happy to speak to you afterwards and take any queries and questions that you may have.  
 I would like us to start our programme and today we have 11 statements.  There is one person who has decided, for his own reasons, not to come today and that is Ms M J J Engakila who is not going to be coming.  There is a change in the programme.  Dr Russel Ally will be starting with the first witness and I will call that witness in a minute.
 I just want to make a few more announcements.  As far as the interpretation service goes, if you want to use these boxes you are most welcome to use them.  There are members of the Commission and of the interpretation unit handing these boxes out at the back.  The numbers on your right-hand side are for the different languages.  Number one is for Afrikaans, number two is for English, number three is for Zulu or Xhosa and number four is for Swana or Soetho.  My appeal on these boxes is please at the end of the day leave them behind as you go out.  They are very sensitive units so just put them on the chairs very carefully please.  
 Alright, thank you very much.  Ms Joyce Seroke will be taking the oath as people come to the table and, as I said earlier on, every morning as witnesses arrive we will stand and as we break for tea or lunch we allow the witnesses to go out first before we go out ourselves.  So if we can just respect that procedure.  Thank you very much.
 I would like to first of all call W S Goliath.  Good morning Mr Goliath.  Welcome.  
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MR GOLIATH: Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you please introduce the young lady who has come with you this morning.

MR GOLIATH: Next to me?  This is my sister, the last born at home.  Her name is Bella Goliath.

CHAIRPERSON: Welcome, Bella as well.  Mr Goliath, Dr Russel Ally who is sitting here on my left-hand side is going to help you in your telling of your story, but before I do that will you please take the oath and I would just like to hand over to Joyce Seroke.

MR GOLIATH: (Duly sworn in, states).

CHAIRPERSON: Dr Ally.

RUSSELL ALLY: Good morning to you Mr Goliath and welcome to your sister.  You are following me clearly enough?  The translation is coming through.

MR GOLIATH: Yes, I can hear clearly.

RUSSELL ALLY: Mr Goliath, you are coming to speak to us about many events that happened to your family, to yourself, in your community and, in particular, about your brother, events that happened in the mid-1980's.  In fact from January 1986 onwards.  I am going to ask you now if you will actually take us through those events in your own words and tell us what happened.

MR GOLIATH: It was on the 7th January 1986.  The police arrived and took my brother, his name was Moozie.  Moozie was a youth member in the ANC.  They took him on the 7th.  He was taken by the police.  On the 8th I got a call at work.  My manager, Mr Nel, told me that I am needed at the police station.  I got to the police station and when I got there my siblings were there waiting for me.  They then took us to the mortuary.  My brother had been shot on his neck.  KRUGERSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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They told us that they are going dedicate a day that they were going to bury him.  He was in the mortuary for three weeks.  They transferred him from Avbob to Saffers, from Saffers to the Government mortuary.  Eventually we found him after three weeks.  They told us that my brother would be buried the following week on the Monday.  We tried to talk to them.  They said they would bring the corpse on the Sunday and on the Monday we would bury my brother.  We buried my brother.  When we got to the graveyard they told us they would give us 15 minutes and after 15 minutes we must be through with the ritual.  After 15 minutes indeed the police came.  They beat people up.  A lot of people were injured.  They did not eat the food that was prepared for the funeral.  My mother was ill from that day onwards to this day.  We have a lawyer, Priscilla Jana.  He wanted to see the wound.  They wanted to take him out of the grave to see the wound, to examine him.  My mother refused.

RUSSELL ALLY: Are you okay to go on, Sir.  Take a break maybe and then if you ...

MR GOLIATH: If my sister could talk as well, please.  I cannot carry on.  Is it possible for my sister to carry on for me?