Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-08-30

COMMISSIONER: We welcome you here today.  You are Mr Nundlall Rabilall, is that correct?

NUNDLALL RABILALL: Yes.

COMMISSIONER: And who do you have with you on stage?

NUNDLALL RABILALL: On my left is my mother, and my elder brother is on her left.

COMMISSIONER: Your mother and your elder brother.  We welcome you today.

NUNDLALL RABILALL: Thank you.

COMMISSIONER: You have come to tell us about the death of your brother, Krish, who died in Mozambique in a cross-border raid in 1981, is that correct?

NUNDLALL RABILALL: That's correct.

COMMISSIONER: Are you going to be giving evidence yourself?

NUNDLALL RABILALL: Okay.

COMMISSIONER: Before you give your evidence an you stand to take the oath please.

NUNDLALL RABILALL: (Sworn, States)

COMMISSIONER: Mr Rabilall, before we begin, briefly - you've explained you have your mother with you and your brother.  How else is your family made up?  Your father's died, I understand.

WITNESS:   Yes.  Actually there are 10 children in the family.

COMMISSIONER: 10 children.

WITNESS:   Yes.  Seven brothers - that's including my brother who died - and three sisters.

COMMISSIONER: You mentioned that your father died prematurely, you believe.

WITNESS:   Yes.

COMMISSIONER: Not too long after the death of your brother.  Is that right?

WITNESS:   That's right. And do you think the death of your brother had something to do with your father's death?   ---   Yes, it definitely contributed to his premature death.

COMMISSIONER: Did he change very much after the death of his son?

WITNESS:   Yes.  Yes, very much so.

COMMISSIONER: Now, Krish Rabilall, your brother, how old was he at the time of his death?

WITNESS:   He was 27 years old.

COMMISSIONER: Can you just tell us who he was, something about him, so we have an idea of who he was?

WITNESS:   Yes.  Actually I've prepared a document which, if I read through, probably will answer most of the questions that you want to ask me.

COMMISSIONER: Okay, can I just ask you to - I am not sure how long the document is.  We're trying to give each witness about 20, 25, 30 minutes.  Some witnesses unfortunately have had to take much longer than that to give their evidence.  If you could - if you feel happier talking from a document that's fine.  I would just request you to - if it's going to take a long time, to edit it and just give us the main features of it.

WITNESS:   Okay.  My brother, Krishna Rabilall, was born on the 6th of November 1952.  He was a brilliant student at school, excelling in mathematics and physical science.  He had a level of maturity far beyond his age.  Very early in his life he saw the injustices in South African society, and the degree to which all black people, including coloureds and Indians, were oppressed by the white Afrikaner minority.  So strongly did he feel about this issue that he refused to study Afrikaans, knowing full well that if he failed Afrikaans he would fail the entire examination and be forced to repeat standard 10.  He referred to Afrikaans as the language of the oppressor.  It was not surprising then to find that he received a conditional merit pass, failing Afrikaans outright with a G symbol.

COMMISSIONER: Despite his good pass my brother refused to study further, thus ending his ambition to become a doctor, but became fully involved in community issues.  This inevitably involved politics.  He fully identified with the black students protests against the teaching in the medium of Afrikaans which culminated in the 1976 student uprising.  He saw that attempts to get the white government to change were futile.  He often told me that a nation that continued year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programmes of social uplift was fast approaching spiritual death.  He now began to talk in terms of a just war, and he was now inextricably involved in politics.  He would bring banned books home, books on Karl Marx, Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King, Chekhova, and so on.  In fact my own political enlightenment came from reading these books.   (Inaudible) ... Merewent Ratepayers Association, Merewent Ex-Students Society, Merewent Community Centre, Merewent Bus Passengers Association, the Natal Indian Congress, and also in the production of a community newspaper called The Sentinel, which had a strong political slant, evoking community consciousness on issues such as the bread price, workers' problems, etcetera.  He also did a great deal of social work with families of exiles and detainees.

COMMISSIONER: His deep involvement in politics led to constant harassment by the Security Police.  They would often raid homes of his friends to find copies of The Sentinel.  It came to a stage when I was entrusted with the task of hiding the duplicating machine, which I did.  The Security Police then began harassing him at work.  They raided Dayglow Stationers in Durban, where he worked, and also the premises of Bargain Furniture in Beatrice Street, where he also later worked.  They kept a very close check on him, and even began monitoring his movements from home.  Due to the intensity of harassment he, together with a fellow activist, Vis Pillay, fled South Africa in August 1977.  Both of them entered Botswana illegally, but were arrested by the Botswana Police and detained.  When they proved that they were genuine refugees they were released after one night into the custody of the Refugee Committee in Botswana.  Later we learned that they had joined the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

COMMISSIONER: On the day he disappeared, which we incidentally knew nothing about, two Security Branch officers came home, one white and one Indian.  The Indian man was called Chris.  It was a school holiday and I was at home in the outbuilding.  The white man asked me if I knew where my brother Krishna was.  I told them that I didn't know.  He told me in a very sarcastic tone that we would never see him again.  When I asked him what he meant he replied that my brother had fled the country.  It was a great shock to me.  The Indian Security Branch policeman asked me if I too was involved in politics.  I replied in the negative.  He told the white officer that it would be a good idea to put the entire Rabilall along the front wall to face the firing squad.  They both laughed.  Then they took details of each and every member of my family.  Before leaving they reminded me that they would be visiting the family again.

COMMISSIONER: In the evening, when I broke the news to my parents, and told them that they would never see my brother again, they wept openly.  It was as if a funeral was taking place at home.  My parents, who were not highly educated - in fact my mother is totally illiterate - and therefore largely conservative as far as politics were concerned  were stunned with disbelief.  They had an inherent fear of white people, and to a very large extent I was conditioned by this fear myself.  My parents became depressed and began to age visibly.  I could see that they would never be the same jovial people that they once were.  My mother would often cry, especially in the evenings, because that was the time my brother would return from work, have his bath, and then my mother would bandage his arthritic knee.