Special Hearings — Mandela United Football Club Hearings — 1997-11-24

BISHOP STOREY: Mr Naidoo was, very, very strongly, asked to explain how it was that he dared to come here with a member of the football team.  Now, we later discovered, although he didn't acknowledge it then at all, that he had attempted to get Mrs Mandela to attend this meeting, but she had refused.  The evidence then continued and focused now on Stompie, who they said had been badly assaulted and taken away early on in their detention.  His whereabouts were unknown.  Then Katiza was brought in and he gave evidence, and he admitted that he had participated in the beatings that took place once the youths had arrived at the Mandela house, and when he was asked why, he said, well, they were being beaten and I also felt like beating them.   
 He alleged that Paul Verryn had lain on top of him on one occasion, and that was the only allegation during the night of any kind of misconduct by Mr Verryn.  He was also asked to describe Stompie's injuries, and he said he was soft on one side of the head, and had been beaten so that he could not see out of his eyes, and had been picked up and dropped on the floor, and that he couldn't walk.  Asked where Stompie went, he said he didn't know.  Quote,
"When I came back to the house, Stompie was missing."
Unquote.  Asked whether he thought Stompie was dead he answered "yes".  
 Then Paul Verryn was asked to respond to the allegations of sexual, the allegation of sexual misconduct, and he denied the allegation.  Then members of the Crisis Committee indicated that the only other youth to make such allegations when they met them in Mrs Mandela's house was Thabiso.  He was then asked if he stood by that allegation against Mr Verryn, and he indicated that he withdrew it unconditionally, because he had been forced to say it.  I then indicated to the meeting that, if there was any credible evidence of homosexual activity by Mr Verryn, I would have to institute proceedings against him, and I invited Thabiso and Gabriel or Pelo, and the nine other residents of the Verryn house to offer any allegations of any conduct, any conduct unbecoming of a Minister.  
 No such allegations were made.  Instead a youth by the name of Thomas stood up, and he indicated that he had been in the house since 1987. He'd often shared a bed with Paul Verryn, but no hint of any misconduct had ever taken place.  He asked the other nine whether they supported him in this statement, and they agreed.  I then asked the meeting at large whether any of them had any such evidence, and their answer was in the negative.  There followed a unanimous vote of confidence in Mr Verryn and a commitment to ensure that he return safely to his work.  The Chairperson of the meeting, Mr Ngwenya, indicated anger that the integrity of one of our Ministers should have been brought into question in this way.  I then said that I was unwilling to proceed with any action against Mr Verryn on the basis of the evidence of only one person who had actually participated in the assaults on the other youths, and, in my view, was a totally unreliable witness.  The meeting decided that Mrs Mandela was using these allegations as a smokescreen.  
 Then another youth gave evidence.  He had once belonged to the soccer team and had left.  He related a long story about the team harassing him until they finally caught him and cut his throat with a pair of garden shears, and he indicated the recently stitched wound and said that he had been left for dead before managing to get assistance at a nearby hostel.

MR VALLY: I'm sorry, Bishop Storey.

BISHOP STOREY: Yes.

MR VALLY: Do you know the name of this youth?

BISHOP STOREY: No, I'ven't got a record of it and I wouldn't like to, any longer, rely on my memory.

MR VALLY: Please continue.

BISHOP STOREY: I didn't write his name down.

MR VALLY: That's fine.

BISHOP STOREY: The meeting decided to confront Mrs Mandela as soon as possible about Stompie, while the trade unionists in the meeting said they were planning to march on her house on Tuesday, but they were persuaded not to do this and to allow the Crisis Team to continue to deal with the matter, and the Crisis Team agreed to see her first thing in the morning.
 Then one of the Youth Congress members made a speech to Mr Verryn, affirming him as one who was trusted by the community and indicating to him that he should forgive and let bygones be bygones, because, quote,
"We have been in detention and we know how easy it is to say hurtful things under torture".
He said,
"I may even denounce you tomorrow if I'm taken tonight".
 At the close of the meeting, which was after midnight, I lifted the restrictions on Paul Verryn seeing these youths, and he took them to the home of Dr and Mrs Connell where they stayed until the 21st of January, after which they were moved to the homes of other people. And during this period Paul continued to seek information about Stompie and contacted the Temahole Civic, and we wanted to see Stompie's parents.  Thank you.

MR VALLY: Bishop, could you go on ... (intervention).

BISHOP STOREY: Please tell me what you want, sir?

MR VALLY: Sure.  Could you go on to Friday the 18th, please?

BISHOP STOREY: Friday, was it the 18th or the 20th?  I'm not very good with figures and, but anyway.  I believe on the Friday of that week three churchmen, Father Mkhatswa, Reverend Otto Mbangula and Bishop Manas Buthulezi, visited Mrs Mandela.  She insisted on Krish Naidoo being present, and Zinzi was there, and they questioned her concerning Stompie, and she answered, "He escaped, I don't know where he is".  Zinzi then insisted that the full background be given rather a one sentence answer, whereupon the sexual assault allegations were once more made.  Mr Mbangula asked her why she didn't approach him, he was the Superintendent Minister of Mr Verryn, or myself, as Verryn's Bishop, when she first heard of this behaviour, and there was no answer to this question, and then Mrs Mandela said she would prepared to meet the community after her exams.

MR VALLY: Bishop Storey, if you could just leave your statement for a minute there.  Move on to the 25th of January, please.

BISHOP STOREY: To the?

MR VALLY: 25th of January.

BISHOP STOREY: Yes.  Well, on the 25th we had a meeting with our lawyer, Mr Haysom, and we were wrestling with our responsibilities towards Stompie and the advice that was given us at that time.  The legal advice was to keep the community leaders on the case, to get hold of Stompie's parents and the civic where he came from, something that Paul Verryn was already trying to do, and to continue trying to find out where he is.  It was also agreed, at that time, that Paul should ask the church officially to enquire into the allegations made against him, but this is for his own, sake of his own reputation.  So, then that was Wednesday, and then the next day I received a letter from Mr Verryn requesting that the church institute an inquiry into the allegations that were being made about his sexual behaviour. And then it was around this time that, in fact, it was the next day that the Weekly Mail was going to break the story of the abduction, which so far had not been in the press at all.   And they approached me, fairly close to deadline, and asked me to make a, to comment, because they were breaking the story, and I did give them a statement.  I've records of those statements if they are relevant or of any interest to the Commission.  And I only did so after it was clear that Mrs Mandela had attacked the church in the report that they would be publishing the next day.  That day Mr Verryn also got a telephoned death threat, anonymous.
 Do you wish me to go on to the next day, sir, or...

MR VALLY: Please go on to the 29th of January.