Human Rights Violation Hearings — Ladybrand — 1997-06-26

WITNESS:   Yes, and Swanepoel too.  And others do not know, I only heard that they were from Bloemfontein.  They would come at night, open the cell, took out their firearms, point them at me, and they said to me, "You are an APLA member, you killed white people.  We are also going to kill you."  And I said to them, "Please do not kill me.  Rather take me to prison."  They would pick me up in the morning and take me to their offices and torture me, together with the others.  But they were looking for me and Themba Linyatso, claiming that we were the leaders of our organisation.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... treatment continue for?

WITNESS:   This sent on for about two months.  We were taken to court.  12 midnight we were taken to court here in Ficksburg.  When we arrived in court the police ordered us to tell them what we told them in Bloemfontein, to confess to our acts.  We told the Magistrate, Swanepoel, that we did not commit that act.  They were torturing us, that is why we confessed.  We were then taken back to Bloemfontein.  The torture went on.  They said, "All right, you were lying to us."  We went for the final case, and the advocate from the PAC, Mr Mavundla, came and the case was just dropped.  I spent a week outside and I was fetched alone.  It was at night.  They were driving two private cars and two kombis.  Our house has two doors, the kitchen door and the dining-room door.  They first rounded the house.  These were the policemen from Bloemfontein and the local policemen.  They broke down the front door.  The others were keeping watch at the windows.  And the back door they kicked and it broke.  My grandmother is very old and she asked them what the problem was.  Now, my room is at the front, so you can see in the street.  Now, in my bedroom there was a bath full of clothes.  I went into the bath and hid  myself.  They got into the house, they searched, and this white man called Koen pulled this bath and he said, "No ways, the clothes can't be this heavy.  There must be something in this bath."  He pulled it and he saw me lying there.  I was holding my body, and he grabbed me and they put me in the van.  They took me to their offices.  They tortured me.  After that they showed me a briefcase full of money.  They said they were only going to give me that money if I told them the truth.  They were doing all this.  The Chairperson of the PAC was in prison.  Now, there was an ANC branch in Ficksburg.  Now, for Molefe to provide those names I think he had a little support, and the PAC had a lot of support.  I think he wanted to destroy the support we had.  He wanted to hand us over to the settlers.

MR LAX: Now, after you were questioned and tortured in this way what then happened to you?  You were questioned at their offices no doubt.

WITNESS:   These policemen were not just asking questions.  They just tortured me.  They took me to that farm and they alleged that I had a hand grenade, and they gave me a hand grenade.  I do not know whether it was a real one or not.  They wanted me to demonstrate as if I was throwing it so that they can take pictures of me, and I refused.  I said no, I am not going to do that.  They called my grandmother, that is my father's mother.  I did not even know the farm that was destroyed.  They took me to that farm, they showed it to me, and they asked my grandmother to convince me to go with them to the farm.  Because she was an old lady, scared of people, she said, "My son, tell them the truth."  They even went to my house and they alleged that I had hand grenades.  We had wood at home packed outside.  When I arrived at home they said to me, "Take out your hand grenades."  They referred to me as APLA man.  After I was released my grandmother talked to me.  She said, "Thabang, please take them out."  Because she was so scared the police said to her, "If he doesn't produce those hand grenades they are going to injure you," and I said to her, "Granny, they took them away.  I do not know where they are."  They left with me and they tortured me.  I was still handcuffed.  They suffocated me with a tube and they left me.  I was all by myself.  I went to the doctor because my left hand was now injured.  I think these people were so fond of trees.  You know, they used to tie people to the trees.  Now, at the time when they took me to the tree I tried to break the car so that I can escape because my hand was badly injured, and the windscreen injured me.  They were hitting me with their gun butts all over the body, and they left me.  I went home.  I showed my mother the hand, and the next day I went to the State doctor.  I told him that, "This hand of mine is numb, I cannot do anything."  He gave me a medical certificate and I took it to the hospital, and the Ficksburg Hospital referred me to Bethlehem Hospital, and they operated me.  They operated my hand at Bethlehem.  I could not use my hand at all.

MR LAX: In your statement you spoke about escaping from the police.  You haven't told us about that just yet.  Do you remember that?

WITNESS:   How do I elaborate?

MR LAX: You spoke about jumping out of the vehicle near the river, the Nelspruit River you said.

WITNESS:   Yes, they lied to me.  They said to me they were throwing me into the river, and I ran from that river until I got home.  It was late at night.  They were shooting in the air. Now, this hand of yours that has been damaged, how is it now after the operation?   ---   This left hand doesn't function properly as the right hand.  I do not know what they did.  I don't know whether they put in some bolts.  I cannot bend my hand, but I can clutch some few things with this hand.  But it's a very weak hand.

MR LAX: Did you ever speak to lawyers or did you lay a case against the police for these injuries?

WITNESS:   No.  We had an advocate, Ditekho.  We gave him this statement.  I do not know what happened.  We don't know whether Ditekho was bribed by the police.  We do not know anything.

MR LAX: Sorry, I couldn't - please if you can give us a chance to hear this evidence.  I am sorry, because of the crowd noise I couldn't hear the translation properly.  If you just repeat the translation.

WITNESS:   We did not open a case, we left everything in the hands of our advocate, Ditekho.  Now we suspect that Ditekho was bribed by the police to destroy the papers.

MR LAX: Where is this Advocate Ditekho from?

WITNESS:   He is an attorney, but he belongs to the PAC.  He has an office in Botshabelo, but he resides in Thaba Nchu.

MR LAX: And you've never heard from him about the case after that?

WITNESS:   Nothing, Sir, until today.

MR LAX: But he was paid to get the job done?

WITNESS:   I believe he was paid because this happened in 1992, and until today we haven't heard anything.  Some of the members of the PAC have given up and they are soldiers.  I am left behind at home because of the torture.  I could have been a soldier.  Now, because my hand is weak, I cannot work.  This really troubles me, because all the people I was tortured with are soldiers. (Inaudible)   ---   These are the people I was struggling with.

MR LAX: Do you know whether at that time it was the PAC's policy to attack farmers and farms?

WITNESS:   It was during the time where APLA was hitting.  Now, the police thought we were members of APLA.  They never thought that we were members of the PAC, they referred to us as APLA.

MR LAX: And were you members of APLA?

WITNESS:   I can explain it this way.  The military wing of PAC is APLA.

MR LAX: We understand that.  We're quite familiar with those issues.  I am asking you a question.  Were you a member of APLA?

WITNESS:   No, I was a member of the PAC.

MR LAX: I understand about PASO and the PAC.  That's fine.  Do you know whether those attacks were actually APLA attacks, the one that you were arrested for?

WITNESS:   I do not know.  They just picked us.