Human Rights Violation Hearings — King William's Town — 1997-05-13

WAYILESE PETER: They arrested me on the 20th of February at about 2 am.  I had been sleeping.  I was sleeping at my friend's place because I heard that the police were looking for me.
 They got there, I don't know how they got into the house.  They woke me up, they said that this is the person.  There were a whole lot of people.  Somebody identified me.  I got up, they had a sjambok.
 Dion Oates was beating me up with the sjambok.  They handcuffed me, there were a whole lot of people and my mother was amongst these people.  
 My grandmother was there as well, she did not even have shoes on.  They were looking for other people as well, youngsters.  They had an entire list.
 My mother was told to go home because I had been found.  Then she went home.  I went with my grandmother and we went to look for Datini Bhevu.  We went to his house and he was not found there. 
 He was found in another house at Bongweni.  We were both handcuffed.  They had walked down the township.  We were put into a police van, they took us to the police station.
 I was called.  Dion Oates, Sipho Ntebe, Swanepoel was not there at the time.  I went with these two police to an office.  The others were taken to the charge office.  I was interrogated about a man that was burnt to death.
 I said that I was not part of this.  They said that I was one of the people that are guilty.  Dion Oates beat me up.

ADV SANDI: Could you give us details as to how Dion Oates hit you?

WAYILESE PETER: He slapped me, kicked me, punched me.  There is a drawer where he kept his documents.  He said I must go under this drawer.
 He said I must go under this drawer.  I said that I could not go in.  Swanepoel then came.  He said - Dion then said I must lie on my back, he had his box, he stood on me and jumped up and down, standing on me.
 He said he demanded the truth, I said I don't know anything about this.  They both started beating me up.  Dion then pointed a gun on me, he said he would kill me any time.  I said, well I don't know anything, you can kill me.
 Swanepoel then said I must go to a cell.  Sipho Ntebe then said this is the dog.  He was saying this to Mkhululi.
 He said that I was part of the group.  Sipho Ntebe then slapped me.  This Betwald Febe was also a policeman.  He tried to ask Sipho why he had beat me up as he had seen that I was swelling up and had already been beaten up.
 They took my fingerprints, I was taken into a rubbish truck, I sat in the truck.  The other guy also had been beaten up.  We were then taken into the back of this rubbish truck.
 We stayed there until three o'clock.  We were then taken to Kei Road prison.  From there we were taken to court.  The case was postponed, we were then taken to King William's Town.
 My co-accused were there.  I was sentenced to three years imprisonment.  Two years was suspended, I served one year in jail.  The trial lasted 12 months.

ADV SANDI: When were you released?

WAYILESE PETER: I cannot remember whether that was in 1988 or 1989.

ADV SANDI: Is that all sir?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes, but I am still thinking if I have more evidence.

ADV SANDI: There was a state of emergency in the entire country at the time?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes.  In Stutterheim - were there boycotts or anything like that in Stutterheim at that time, for example the consumer boycott?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes, there was.

ADV SANDI: Were there any problems in connection with the Councillors for example?  What was happening?

WAYILESE PETER: In our region, Stutterheim, I can't remember well, this happened a long time ago.  The Councillors - there was a dispute between the community and the Councillors.   When we had meetings, they would come and even beat us up.

ADV SANDI: Are there a lot of people with similar incidents in Stutterheim?

WAYILESE PETER: Blakey Maki was shot, we were shot all together.

ADV SANDI: Was this the general state of affairs in Stutterheim?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes.

ADV SANDI: This is how people lived?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes, it is so.

ADV SANDI: Thank you.  I will hand you over to the Chairperson.  Thank you Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: June Crichton would like to raise a question.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mr Peter, can you hear me?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes, Ma'am, I can hear you.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mr Peter, in your statement you mentioned that you suffered from depression.  Have you had any treatment for that at all?

WAYILESE PETER: No, not at all.

JUNE CRICHTON: The other thing I wanted to ask you is that you mention too in your statement, that you would be pleased to meet the perpetrators.  How do you feel about the perpetrators?

WAYILESE PETER: It is very painful.  What they did to me was very hurtful.

JUNE CRICHTON: But yet you would still like to meet them?

WAYILESE PETER: Yes, I would like to meet them but it is not significant.

JUNE CRICHTON: Thank you Mr Peter.  Thank you Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Neliswa, your story was very sad about the atrocities you experienced in prison.  In your statement did you give us the names of the warders that were in charge at the time in the prison?

NELISWA NONHUNHA DYANTYI BUSIKA: I did not.

CHAIRPERSON: Would you give us the names please?

NELISWA NONHUNHA DYANTYI BUSIKA: Yes sir.

CHAIRPERSON: Somebody is going to come to you from the Investigative Unit to take down the names when we have finished.
 We thank all of you for your evidence from the battles of Stutterheim.  The evidence that you have given before us, touches us a great deal.  However, the story about the bringing up of your baby Nomzamo, Mrs Busika, touched us most gravely.  I think that the person who led evidence already gave a picture of how we all feel about this, we are going to give Mr Redpath the chance, who is representing some of the people that you have mentioned in your evidence, saying that they are perpetrators.
 Mr Redpath will give us a  statement that we have to take into our records.  Won't you please step down and we will give him a chance now.
 Mr Redpath, you are not going to be leading any evidence from your clients at this stage, but you would like to make a statement to us.

MR REDPATH: Please if I may Mr Chairperson.  At this stage, there will be no statement or no evidence led by my clients.

CHAIRPERSON: Let's have order.  Mr Redpath, we apologise to you very sincerely for this interruption.  As you could see it took us all by surprise, but I am hoping that the police officers who are here, are going to ensure that we will not have a repetition of the same occurrence.  The proceedings of our hearings are supposed to be done in an orderly fashion and we specifically require from the Safety and Security Ministery that specific security measures are taken to ensure that things like this do not happen.
 We are hoping that the person who is in charge of the police and of the security of his hearing, will ensure that this doesn't happen again.