Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-10-25

WITNESS:   Yes, we were staying a distance but not that much of a distance, because whenever they wanted to attack us, they would come to attack us. On the 21st of July in 1987 what happened at your  place between you and Teleweni?   ---   It was at night, but I had just slept, because I was a dressmaker.   On that particular day I felt down, and I slept quite late and I couldn't fall after sleep.   When they came to knock, I was the one who heard them, and I told my mother that there was a knock at the door.   My mother woke up from her sleep and we went to the diningroom to try and open.   Even before we opened they knocked for the second time and they told us that we had to open the door because if we didn't they were going to burn the house down.  And my mother opened up.  They told us - and they pushed us into my mother's bedroom, that's where we went in and they were asking themselves as to what they should do with us, should they burn the house down or what should they do.  They took me into the kitchen and they took my sister into another bedroom.  In that bedroom, the main bedroom, there was my sister as well as my mother.   At that time that they had taken me into the kitchen, I did not hear what they were saying to my mother, and they started raping me.

MS T MAYER: How many were they?

WITNESS:   It was quite a group of people, but I can't say how many they were, but there were more than ten, the ones who raped me were more than three.

MS T MAYER: When they got in your house, what did they say they wanted?

WITNESS:   They never explained to me, because even one member of the UDF whom we though they were going to ask for, they never even asked for him, and they told another lady who was staying next door to us they asked her as to where Lucky was.

MS T MAYER: During that time they were doing all this, they didn't say anything to you?

WITNESS:   No, they were not saying anything at that time they raped me, they were standing, some were watching and others were telling others to be quick because they wanted to take their turns with me.

MS T MAYER: You said there were children in the house, whose kids were these?

WITNESS:   I was with my son, I have got three children and I was with my youngest child, and when they got into the bedroom they were looking and they looted certain things from the house possessions, as well as some clothing.   And my youngest child took the purse, thinking that there was money in there, only to find that they had already stolen the money.  And the other children were with my mother in her bedroom.   The children did not see anything because there is nobody who knows that I was raped.   Because I never told anybody, I did not even tell my sister.  I think my sister was also raped, because I remember that at that time we went to the police station.  We got into the van together with her when we were taken to the doctor, and I don't know how many raped her.

MS T MAYER: Did you ever speak about this with your sister or your mother?

WITNESS:   At that time when I was in the kitchen and my other sister was in the bedroom, and as soon as they finished raping me, they went out the door, all of the gang that came to rape us.   And I went into my mother's bedroom.   I discovered that my mother had been stabbed.  She had two stab wounds and Busi was sitting on the bed and she thought she had actually hidden herself, but it was very apparent that she was there.   I went into my mother's bedroom, and I saw my mother sleeping on the bed.   I did not realise that at that time she was dead.  And they had already burn the outer building.   And I saw my mother.  I told myself because she had high blood pressure, I thought maybe she has just lost consciousness.  Then I went into the bedroom.   Before I opened the water, I could see the petrol where they had spilt it, before setting the house alight.   I did not care, I went around trying to extinguish the fire, because I thought the worse had happened so I had nothing more to fear.   When I went to the outside room, I found that my child had hidden.  He got in the dustbin and when they set the house alight they realised that there was nobody inside and all the time he had hidden himself in the dustbin.   When I opened I realised that I could not open the door.   When they kicked the door, probably the key fell down and the child was inside the house.   And I ran, trying to extinguish the fire, I kept on fetching the water.   And I tried to wake my sisters up so that they could come and help me but there was a lot of confusion, nobody wanted to go out, everybody was just scared by the whole incident.   And they ran away.   As well as my brother ran away, because he was quite scared.   We tried to get a car, taking her to the hospital, not realising that she was dead already.  We took her to the hospital, but they said they could not help her, and they said they were going to transfer her to King Edward.   Then I said I was going to accompany my mother.  I was still very confused because I was also bleeding and I was wearing a nightdress.  At that time, it didn't really strike my mind I was not dressed, because I was very confused at that stage.   And the following day we thought that maybe she had had a heart attack and we took some clothes thinking that when we get to the hospital she would have regained consciousness.  At the hospital they were scared to tell us that my mother had died.   We tried looking for her in all the hospitals and we were told that we should go to the hospital mortuary and see if we could identify my mother's body.   We discovered her body in the mortuary and we identified her.  And we went back home.

MS T MAYER: How old were you when this happened?

WITNESS:   I was born in 1952, Busi was born in 1957.

MS T MAYER: And what about your children as well as your younger siblings?

WITNESS:   My first born was born in 1969, the second one in 1972 and the last one in 1977.

MS T MAYER: How did this incident affect them psychologically, is there any change that you notice?

WITNESS:   Busi's child was terribly disturbed.   She can't stay in the house.  If you are in the sitting room and say you ask him to get you some water, she's always get to stay all by himself in the house, whenever there is anybody in the house he chooses to stay with that person that he can't be alone in the house, he can't even go to the toilet all by himself.  We were all traumatized and we were disturbed.   Ever since then I lost my appetite, I never eat normally any more.  I eat little pieces of food in small amounts.

MS T MAYER: Besides not being able to eat, in what way were you disturbed?

WITNESS:   I was a dressmaker and when my mother died we were staying at other people's houses and whenever they wanted to sleep we had to go out.  At time we would cook, even before we finish cooking we would be told that these people were coming and they were coming to attack us.   Then we would get scared and we would pack our things and tried to get some alternative refuge.

MS T MAYER: Amongst those people who raped you, did you recognise or identify any?

WITNESS:   I did not know them, but there is one who had another one saying he was present at the time when this took place, but during that time even if you could know the person, there was absolutely nothing that you were going to do, so were not listening to any stories.

MS T MAYER: Did you hear the name?

WITNESS:   No, I did not keep any names because I knew there was absolutely nothing I was going to do.

MS T MAYER: Were you able to go back to your home and live like a normal family?