Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-20

MR SIGWELA: His name was Lawrence Pokanogo from Pietersburg.  After that it, apparently, was that his head was swollen, totally swollen.  He said at the end what helped him was he hid under the bunk, but at the beginning they really did beat him up quite severely.  This happened a few days after the Warder arrived who said to us, I have been sent by the Commissioner of Prisons, he is Warder, the number of the, the name of the Warder was van der Westhuizen.  He was quite tall.  He said, I am sent by the Commissioner of Prisons to look at the ten prisoners.  So we said, yes, that is us, but we were not sentenced to death.  Then he said, but I found out now you are not given food, you are starving, I heard the story.  So he said the Law is going to take its course.  Then van der Westhuizen tried to make a follow-up so that we can get food only for a few days.  During the time that he was still with us and, yes, that did happen.  In fact, on the very day that he arrived this man confronted him.  He said give these men some food.  He said, Warder, give these dogs some food.  Then he said, I heard that you are giving food to these dogs.  Then van der Westhuizen said who are these dogs you are talking
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about?  I said these communist dogs.  He said these communist dogs, he said.  No, van der Westhuizen said, no, but these are prisoners, I am not looking at dogs.  These are prisoners and then the Warder said, no, there is no food for these dogs.  At that time he was showing those fiery eyes.  Then he said, what does the Law say.  Then he said, so are you their lawyer.  So it is obvious that you are their lawyer.  After a few days, now the, because van der Westhuizen did not have a wreck he was now transferred into the Post Office.  Now, because he was in charge of the prison he was just in, he transferred van der Westhuizen and after that he was on our heads.  
 The starvation became worse.  We were told that we were dirty.  Then we were not given food again.  The starvation kept on and on.  I am sorry, Brigadier Oukamp, that is late, but Brigadier Oukamp was the Chief of Security.  He was looking after the political prions.  He use to say to Brigadier, these are liars.  They have been trained by the communists, they are not going to get anything to eat.  Not even that two and a half spoons that they use to get.  Now, they are not going to get anything.  Not even that drop that came from a teaspoon of gravy.  I am just trying to show you how all this affected our personality.  We were not even ashamed of trying to clean up the bowl and clean up the bowl with your own finger.  We would wipe the bowl totally clean.  Clean, you would wipe it clean with your finger.  There would not even be anything left on the ground because you wanted every droplet of food in this bowl.  Now during this whole period I tried to find out cannot we even try to eat floor polish and when I did try to eat it I discovered that it was tasteless.  So I spat it in the toilet.  
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MS GOBODO: So is that how desperate you were to eat this floor polish?

MR SIGWELA: Yes, that is correct, but there is one thing
that was good about this whole thing.  We felt like we were eating salads when we were eating toothpaste.  He said, this guy, I am the one measures all this rations.  He said to us he does not know anything that was happening in the kitchen.  We never even had time to brush our teeth.  We use to eat the toothpaste and then you would go to the water-well and try to swallow that toothpaste with that water and that peppermint filling of the toothpaste, it use to taste so good.  Then you would feel that, yes, you have eaten something.  Now that was toothpaste and water.

MS GOBODO: How did this starvation take place?  How long did it take place?