Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-22

DAN MONTSISI: Well Tom, talking about 1976 you find a situation in which young people abandoning children's games, sacrificing their youth to take up an adult responsibility.  Now we ended up in a situation in which our lives rotated around meetings and running away from police.  Now we are saying that any self-respecting country which has to be proud of its own youth should not, and must not even in future, treat its youth in the manner in which the Nationalist Party government treated the young people in the seventies.
 When we organised the demonstration for instance a number of meetings started quite earlier because as members then of the then existing student organisations we were aware of problems which were taking place, in one school in particular, this was Phuti Secondary School.  Now what happened was the students there, obviously Afrikaans was something quite difficult and we couldn't conceive of Afrikaans being taught as a medium of instruction in the township of Soweto, because most publications and magazines are English and most people around, I mean we were more acquainted with English rather than Afrikaans.  We do speak Afrikaans (...indistinct) and we do Afrikaans as a language, but now for maths for instance to be taught in the medium of SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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Afrikaans, Science and Economics and all those subjects to be taught in the medium of Afrikaans that was highly unthinkable.  
 So we met with, firstly it was in May 1976 at the general council of Sosem in Welgespruit.  One of the issues came up about what we are going to do on the issue of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.  Some time in April, May 1976 the students through out, actually voiced out their concerns.  Now the announcement was actually made some time in 1975 in December by the then existing Minister of Education.  Now the spiral went on of this concern within the school community and also within the teachers because some of them were quite aware of the fact that they were not competent enough to teach in the medium of instruction which they actually designed to do.  
 A number of meetings were held.  Firstly with the circuit inspector, De Beer.   When De Beer was also supposed to meet with the Phuti Junior Secondary School Board it was not something like the PTC that you have now which is quite representative, it was just one of the school boards which  was appointed.  Nevertheless the same school board in Meadowlands refused to acknowledge and accept that their own schools and the teachers should actually teach in Afrikaans.  They tried to talk to the Department and even explained to the district officials of education that there is no way in which you can introduce Afrikaans as a medium.  The Department refused to listen.  The circuit inspector refused to listen.
 Now there was no way in which the parents and the teachers could have been able to do anything because the powers that be had actually refused, in a period of about 
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five months, to negotiate and actually resolve the issue of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.  Treurnicht later said that where the government actually funds the government will decide the policy regarding education.
 Now in a way it was a challenge to the young people of Soweto, and the young people of South Africa because he was saying you are going to take Afrikaans whether you like it or not and you are going to do it.  Now subsequent to that there was a meeting that was called in DOCC, this was on the 13th of June.
 On the 13th of June, it was a Sunday, we convened at the DOCC and we spoke about the same problem.  Initially we had distributed pamphlets throughout the schools of Soweto, although not all schools to actually invite schools to come and talk about this problem.  Now Tsietsi Mashinini was presiding and he was later chosen as the chairperson of the action committee that we formed at that meeting.  The resolutions that we took was that we have got to explore the possibility of coming up with demonstrations in order to indicate and display our displeasure regarding the enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. But by then we had requested most, in particular the high schools, backed up by the secondary schools to come up, in the streets, make placards and so on, but because not all schools were represented we still had to go back on Monday and Tuesday to get to some of the schools so that everybody should be involved.  I was fortunate at my school because we still had a semblance of what was remaining of the past student organisation that was operational, so we had quite a number of student activists in my school who were able to participate quite actively in informing the students in the 
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vicinity where our school was situated, that is Nawane.  And then the junior secondary school for instance was informed including a few other secondary schools.  People like for instance Ronnie Matabata, Joseph Mutsogi, Isaac Kekane, Datlas Ramaphosa, Patrick Sebuku and Joseph Sitetsi were some of the student activists in my school with whom we were involved together in informing the students about the demonstration.  
 When we met finally on the 15th of June in order to inform the students about the day there was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement among students because the government was reluctant to actually withdraw Afrikaans as a medium and the students were prepared that they are not going to let Afrikaans ruin their future, because already the type of education system that we were receiving left quite a lot to be desired.  So on the placards, as we reported to them, firstly they had to condemn Afrikaans as a medium and secondly while they had a lot to say about the Nationalist Party leadership, Verwoerd for instance and Vorster, BJ Vorster.  And then the student leadership at the same time made known their displeasure about apartheid government in general so that the placards that came on June 16 were a reflection of what the students were up against in addition to Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.  The major issue as it is was Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
 Now on the 16th we met in my school immediately after the assembly.  The teachers were not informed.  Only a few teachers knew about this and immediately after the assembly the official prayer meeting in the morning, we took up the rostrum.  So I had, together with my colleagues explained the route that we were going to take and once more 
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emphasised the issue of time because we had to meet at Morris Isaacson and move down together with the Morris Isaacson students and all those were in Naledi and so on, move towards Orlando West Secondary School, that is Phuti Secondary School, because the intention also was to pledge solidarity with the students who had gone out, because the Phuti Secondary students actually began to leave and picket somewhere in April, May, that is when they started to show their displeasure.  The intention was to actually support that whole initiative and fight Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, as a block.  So we had to organise most of the other secondary schools and high schools for that purpose.
 We moved out of our own school, Skanentwana High School, obviously when we marched we were not aware that this was a chapter actually in the history of South Africa.  We had not gone out to really bring about the transformation and change that took place.  We only went out into the demonstration hoping that tomorrow we will come back to our classes, sit down and begin with our lessons.  That is what we thought.  So we moved out of our school. We went to Junior Secondary School.  The throng of students remained outside.  As the leadership of the students we went inside the yard, we spoke to the principal and teachers and explained to them what was happening.  They heard that for the first time but they allowed us to move together with the students.  
 We moved from there to Ngongunyane Secondary School in Showele.  Again the same procedure was followed.  The students waited outside and then we spoke to the principal, teachers, then we left.  And then there was another school as well, Mapita Secondary, we did the same thing.  All along SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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there was a car which was following us.  It was a security car.  It's a Chevrolet 1.4.  
 All along when we began to march, I mean the contingent was gaining its momentum and it was becoming stronger.  So already while we were heading towards Morris Isaacson there was something like four to six thousand students and people in general who were on the march, because those parents were not at work, you know the unemployed and the young people who were out there in the township, actually joined the march, but nevertheless the march was peaceful.  No single stone was thrown up to that moment.
 When we arrived at Morris Isaacson in White City it was quite clear that the students had left, that is all the students had actually moved to Phuti.  So this other contingent of students was running a little bit late.  Now we moved past Morris Isaacson.  On the right was the Municipality office.  There was a White man standing outside.  We passed and went past right up to Mafulo Park.  Now at Mafulo Park we met quite a number of students who were actually coming from Orlando West.  Tsietsi was actually leading them together with Murphy and some of the other student activists.  
 Now we were still en route to Orlando West when they were actually coming back from Orlando West after the shooting had taken place.  So Tsietsi explained to the students what had actually happened. 
 Now if one has to comment about the condition in which those students were, you had girls for instance who were clad in gym dress but now those gyms were actually cut into two by the fence and they were just exposed, and some of them were actually bleeding. There is one particular girl 
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whom I saw who had a gash on the head and all the time they had been trying to stop the blood that was flowing profusely and a number of them did not even have their shoes on.  It was terrible.  It was almost as if these people had come from a battlefield, not a demonstration.
 Now the students we were leading, who had come from the western part of Soweto demanded from us that they also wanted to go to Orlando.  We had to try to restrain them, talk to them in order to convince them that at least we could go to Morris Isaacson and sort out this problem.  Fortunately we succeeded to talk to them and then we were going now back to Morris Isaacson.  
 Now we have two contingents of students, those who were angry who were not yet shot at, who wanted to meet the police head-on, and those who were injured, some of whom were limping, some of whom were bleeding, who were now merged together going back to Morris Isaacson.  
 Now on our way to Morris Isaacson we met a van, it was a green bakkie, one of these Municipality vans, it was driven by a White man.  That is when violence started with our group.   Mostly the girls were in the forefront.  I have never seen so many stones in my life raining on a car or on a target.  I don't know where most of the stones came from.  In no time the bakkie had no windows.  And the student girls themselves actually struggled and fought amongst each other to get hold of the White man who was inside the car.  They dragged him out. They pelted him with stones, with bottles, with their shoes as they were screaming.  There was a young boy who was also looking for a way through to the White man.  Finally when they made space for him he produced a knife and he stabbed a number of times in the chest of the White man.  SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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I turned and we went back to Morris Isaacson.  I am not quite sure what happened to the White man.  He was left down there.
 Now we moved and as we passed the Municipal office the students remembered that there was a White man when they passed at the door of the office.  Now unfortunately this was Dr Edelstein and the students went for him.  They stoned him and so on and they burnt the office and they threw him inside the office, burning.  I only heard later about what happened to him.
 I remember four, five days later, and let me explain this very, very clearly, that when we say initially the demonstration was peaceful and the intention was peaceful we meant it.  But the fact that the police actually met us head on with violence, violence broke out and throughout from Morris Isaacson after we had spoken to the students, we had students for instance from as far as Shawela, students from as far as Phiri, Mapetla, Moletsane, and students as far as Dameng, now it's a distance moving from Morris Isaacson back to their schools or back to their homes and any Municipality office and any government structure that was met along the way, it's unfortunate because any other White man who could have been found in Soweto on that particular day could not have survived the anger of the students.
 So the Commission should note that when we passed the Municipal office with the White man standing outside, he was an ordinary person to us, but when we came back he was an enemy.  
 So four, five days later I was in my township, Diepkloof, I was no longer staying at home because the police had begun hunting for the student leaders.  They 
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arrived at my place on the 17th in the evening, I was no longer there.  So I was together with a fellow called Raymond Carla and the patrol van was actually passing, behind the patrol van the police were actually pointing their rifles at passers by.  Now when they passed me and Raymond for instance, they pointed at us and then we ducked out of their way.  Then about ten metres away there were two young boys, they were coming from the direction of the shops in Zone 4, they pointed at the two young fellows.  The young boys did not even see the police you know, so the police shot and one of them fell, and the other one ran away.   So I asked Raymond to actually intervene and check.  So I had to leave the scene very quickly because I wasn't quite sure if the police came I would be recognised or not.
 Now on 2nd or 4th of August we organised a demonstration heading towards town.  There had been a number of demonstrations inside the township.  Now this time we wanted to organise a demonstration that would actually end in town.  Along the way the police stopped us under the guise that they wanted to talk to us, they wanted to negotiate, so through their sound system they actually requested the leadership of the students to come forward.  The students refused and said we are all leaders so nobody went in front.  Then they were quite angry so what happened is they first started with tear gas and then later they shot.  
 Now there was one young student who was shot on the leg and as we struggled, running away together with him, we were a bit confused because the manner in which he was shot the triceps were no longer there, what you call the ...(indistinct).  It was as though it was a dog that bit him SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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or even a shark, but I only learnt later that the bullets that were used were referred to as dum-dum bullets.  It is the type of bullet that explodes when it hits a target, so it left a gaping hole at the back of his triceps.  In fact there was no triceps.  The bone was actually protruding. So as we fled from the scene we actually ran away with this fellow.
 Now we organised a demonstration, this was in September in 1976.  Kissinger came to the country from America, I don't know, to talk to Vorster, the government and so on and then as young people we felt that it was not right for Kissinger just to come in like that.  Firstly we thought South Africa would be isolated for the atrocities it was perpetuating against its people, and we thought it was giving also credibility to the apartheid government.  So we staged a demonstration.  But in this particular demonstration we wanted students to stay inside the school premises, not to move out of the school premises, so we locked the gates, and this was the message that went throughout the schools, through the representatives of the students, lock the gates, let the students have a picket inside the school.  We locked the gate in Sekamantwana but the police came.  They first shot the lock open then the hippo drove through the gate, and as they were driving in they were actually shooting from the windows. 
 Now at the end of that activity some of the teachers were around.  They got teachers and they beat them up, and then most of the students obviously got shot at.  Again we had to get transport for those who were injured and get them to Baragwanath Hospital.  To see blood I mean during that period, blood was something that you see most of the time.  SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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Some of your own clothes could actually be soiled, your shoes, your trousers, your shirts and so on, so it was almost like as if every time we organised a demonstration, no matter how peaceful the intention, there would be blood.  Gradually, I mean young people of that time got used to seeing blood, quite a number of times.
 So in Baragwanath Hospital I was with my principal there, Mr Philip Tabane and we were called upon to identify some of the bodies.  There were terrible wounds in most of these bodies because some were shot on the head and it was just wounds, some on the chest, and it was just wounds and some of the primary schools which had also come to pledge solidarity at my school, we found two of the children were also shot by police.  There was no restraint on the side of the police in dealing with students.
 In October in 1976 we attended a funeral in ...(indistinct).  It was a funeral of a student called Jacky Mashobane or Malebane, I am not quite sure about the surname.  He died in Turfloop.  They were also organising a demonstration in support of the students in Soweto, and when the police actually attacked them they fled to their rooms and Jacky was tossed from the third floor I think, of his room, and he died when he hit the ground.  
 So when we arrived in the Doringkop Cemetery to bury Jacky the police came, this was the riot squad, they drove past us and they disembarked right inside the cemetery, but unsuspectingly we just marched on singing.  Now they went out of their vans and deployed themselves ready to shoot, but we thought perhaps what they would do is to give us some minutes to disperse or to leave us to bury, after burying they would escort us back to make sure that perhaps we are 
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not coming in there to cause problems or violence, although it was a funeral and our intention was to get one of those students buried.  
 So without any warning they started to shoot.  I mean there were thousands of people packed inside the cemetery, but the police opened fire.  There was a young girl who was standing in front of me clad in a school uniform, she was hit directly on the chest.  She fell right in front of my feet, and as I looked at her she was struggling and gasping for breath.  There was blood oozing from her mouth, from her ears as she was kicking.  For a moment I was spellbound and when they began to shoot again I realised where I was and I turned and fled.
 Most of the time when the SRC meets it becomes a forum of representative schools, because every school had its own core of leaders, now in the meetings of the SRC we began to get reports about police atrocities, but of a different nature this time.  The reports that we got were of the extent that there was a helicopter that came in the evening in Doringkop and after the helicopter had left, when the community, people in the neighbourhood go to investigate they find that there are graves which were opened, but those graves had since been filled.  
 So what it meant in essence was that the community could not understand what was happening because most of all funerals were conducted during weekends and there would not be a funeral during the week, but you would find that the following day, after the helicopter had departed, there are quite a number of graves which had actually been filled in a very careless manner.
 Now it came to our realisation that there is possibly 
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a helicopter that comes in the evening to bury some students or to bury some dead corpses which the police would not wish to account for.  There are students who disappeared who were neither in exile or in prison or even in their homes.  We do not know what has happened to those children.  If the Commission would be able to assist we can be most grateful, because that is one investigation that has got to be seen to be undertaken by the Commission.  
 We had a core of student activists within the SRC.  We formed what we called a Shadow Committee.  Now in this Shadow Committee we actually commissioned four activists, student activists, this was Paul Langa, Paul Langa by the way was not a student, he was an elderly fellow, Meffi Marobe, Titi Mtinjane and Billy Maseza.  We requested them to investigate the issue of the helicopter.  What they came up with is that they themselves actually went into the cemetery.  They were able to mark certain graves which were opened.  A day later, after the helicopter had been the graves were filled.  
 They did not have any equipment but that they had to organise to be able to capture the police in the act of burying bodies.  What they did was also to get the watchman in the cemetery, the watchman was prepared to cooperate with this unit of activists who were given the responsibility to investigate what the helicopter is doing most of the evenings at Doringkop.  The day the appointment was set with the nightwatchman so that he could be able to lead them to the areas where the helicopter usually comes to the old man was nowhere to be found.  He disappeared.  Nobody was able to account for that nightwatchman.  As a result the investigation was aborted and we were not able to produce 
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concrete proof that the police were in essence burying bodies in Doringkop.
 The student activists at that time we formed what we called a suicide squad.  It was very difficult for us to accept that we will continue to be fugitives, run away from our homes, get shot at, get arrested without the police tasting a little bit of their medicine.  So Paul Langa was one of these underground ANC personnel.  We got hold of him and we spoke to him about training us and so on and so on, well he refused to do that.  He said he doesn't have permission from the ANC to do that, but however he wanted us to give him two young fellows with whom he will be able to operate.  So from the Shadow Committee we were able to give him student activists with whom he would be able to operate.   After the suicide squad was set up - I think I need to explain this, you have the SRC which was a Students Representative Council in Soweto, it had nothing to do with the suicide squad, and you had the mass of students who were supportive of the SRC.  They also had nothing to do with the suicide squad.  And you also had the executive of the SRC.  It also had nothing to do with the suicide squad.  The suicide squad was formed by activists within the Shadow Committee and some of those activists were given the responsibility to be part and parcel of the suicide squad. So the suicide squad in essence was consisting of something like three to four people.  That was their responsibility, that every time the police shoot at the students the police should be able to taste a little bit of their own medicine.   So what happened as a result was that quite a number of operations were carried out.  I remember one in particular in Jabulani Police Station.  Paul went along there and he 
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was able to put a device and as soon as it exploded the topmost part of the police station actually collapsed and most of the police in the barracks were upstairs.  Some of them died because they tried to jump into the dark you know, from the third floor, from the second floor, and from the first floor, but the police were not prepared to concede that they also had some losses.  And we were able for instance to get more information about what happened there because one of the student activists was arrested and was also in that particular police station when the bomb exploded.  But fortunately it was not placed in the cells but in the barracks where the police sleep.  So Ronnie Matabata was able to capture, more-or-less what he heard and what he saw of the explosion that occurred that time.  It was not the intention of the students, I mean at this point of time, to embark on violence, but however, you are pushed too far and you cannot go back.
 When I became President of the SSRC in 1977 we also came up with a structure of the suicide squad.  Paul Langa was arrested and he was sentenced in prison in Robben Island for all these SS squad activities.  
 The other structure that came up, there was a gentleman, he was also not a student, Oupa from Alexandra township, and there was George Twala and Yster Modimo who were also the core group of the suicide squad in 1977.  Now we sent George outside again to meet with the ANC in order to negotiate on our behalf so that we would be able to get some arms.  Well the ANC refused.  It was understandable because at that point in time we didn't have properly trained cadres who could have been able to handle those type of things.  And secondly the ANC was reluctant to give very 
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lethal weapons to angry young militants who might shoot at the slightest provocation at anything that was White and moving. And moreover there were also talks within the township and our schools that certain schools within the White community should actually be attacked.  It's only after some time I came to see that the ANC was right in refusing to give us arms at that particular point in time, because you are actually going to end up with a racial bloodbath in South Africa.  We wouldn't have flinched to get into some of these private and government White schools and actually shoot the children.  We wouldn't have flinched.  We would have done it, given the weapons.  The ANC was right, they refused.  At a later stage we respected the decision that the ANC took regarding that matter.
 I got detained on the 10th of June 1977.  It was just six days before we celebrated the first anniversary of June 16.  Throughout the week we have been working in order to make preparations for the anniversary.  I have been meeting all along with Beyers Naude in town and Cedric Mason because we were using their facilities including the facility of their attorney, Ishmail Ayob, to try and print pamphlets and prepare them for the anniversary.  And before the anniversary it was unfortunate that quite a number of us got detained.  Members of the Shadow Committee, all of them were actually rounded up.  This was in a house in Diepkloof, Zone 6 where we used to eat, where we used to drink and where we used to get a change of clean clothes.