Human Rights Violation Hearings — Klerksdorp — 1996-09-24

DR RANDERA: If I can ask Mrs Morake now to stand to take the oath, please.

EVELYN M MORAKE: (Duly sworn, states).

DR RANDERA: Thank you, Mrs Morake.  Are you all right, Mrs Morake?

MRS MORAKE: I am okay, thank you.

DR RANDERA: You seem to be in a lot of pain.  Mrs Morake, would you prefer if Cynthia was the only person who spoke and you just listened?

MRS MORAKE: She can carry on with the speech, because she witnessed everything, she is actually the complainant, she was not present when I gave the statement.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Morake, will you please put the mike in front of Cynthia then.
 Cynthia Kedibone Morake, Commissioner Yasmin Sooka will be helping you in telling your statement, and I hand you over to her.  Thank you.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.  Cynthia, I would like to welcome you to our proceedings today.  Before you begin to tell us about what happened on that day, tell us how old you were, whether you were at school, whether you were working at the time, please.  If you could give us a few details about yourself.

MS MORAKE: I was not schooling, I was staying with my
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mother.

YASMINE SOOKA: How old were you at the time?

MS MORAKE: I was 18 years old.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were you a member of a political organisation, were you a comrade?

MS MORAKE: There were no organisations, therefore I didn't belong to any organisation.

YASMINE SOOKA: Do you want to tell us about what happened to you?

MS MORAKE: On that day in 1986 there was a song, then after the song, I was not there, these children who were singing passed through our gate.  They were passing at our gate with my sister.  I was standing at the gate with my mother and my sister.  Then after the lights were off, then we went into the house, then we slept.  There was no  problem.
 At about three o'clock in the morning one man entered the house with a White policeman.  When he entered he said he wants Kedibone.  My mother said here she is.  Then she lighted with a torch.  Then he told me that what did I do.  I said I did not do anything.  Then he said were you there when the youth were singing.  Then I said no, I was not there.  Then he said come, you will talk at the office.  Then they took me, they put me in the police car.  I didn't know who hit me on the head.  After I was hit they took me to the police off.  Thereafter they locked me up.  We were five ladies.  Thereafter they took us to the police station at Makwassie.  That is where we were interrogated.  They were hitting us with open hands.  
 What is painful is that we were beaten by Whites with balaclavas.  They were tall, they were hefty, we didn't know them.  
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YASMINE SOOKA: Take your time.

MS MORAKE: Just a second, please.

YASMINE SOOKA: It is all right, she can take her time.   Cynthia, take your time, don't worry.

MS MORAKE: Our mothers came to look for us.  They brought us food.  In the afternoon at about three o'clock to Stilfontein.  When we arrived there they threw tear-gas at us. Then we went to Stilfontein. We arrived there at about six o'clock.  Then they took our names down.  They asked us our age.  Thereafter they beat us.  Then they took us to the cells.  We didn't know the Stilfontein town.  I didn't know which cell did we go to, but it was the open one which was open.  It had no lights.  All of us went in there.  Then they were beating us in the dark.  Then they said what do you want to do in a dark cell.  But we didn't know where to go.
 They took us out and then they separated us.  They took the boys to another room and us to the other room.  The other day they poured water over us.  Then they made us to sleep on the floor.  They poured water over us.  From there they made us stand and poured water over us.  They made a circle with cars and then they were beating us with plastic batons.  
 On Saturday they released us.  They were beating us again.  They told us to go home on foot.  Then we met a certain man who took us.  That is the end.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you, Cynthia.  I am just going to ask you a few questions so that we can make sure that we have got your story down clearly. If I hear you correctly, you say that you, your sister and your mother were standing by the gate when the young people came past singing freedom songs.
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Is that correct?

MS MORAKE: Yes, it is true, they were singing freedom songs.

YASMINE SOOKA: You yourself were not part of that group?

MS MORAKE: To tell you the truth, I was not even part of that group.

YASMINE SOOKA: The name of the policeman who came to fetch you at night, who was that?

MS MORAKE: That's Scheepers.

YASMINE SOOKA: And he took you to a police station before he took you to Stilfontein.  What was the name of that station?

MS MORAKE: They put us on an open ground at Lebaleng.

YASMINE SOOKA: How many of you were there?

MS MORAKE: We were ten girls, I don't remember how many boys were there, it was a group, there were many.

YASMINE SOOKA: How long were you kept there before they took you away?

MS MORAKE: At the Stilfontein police station?

YASMINE SOOKA: Yes.

MS MORAKE: We were taken on Thursday in the morning, at about three o'clock in the afternoon we were taken to Stilfontein.  At Stilfontein we stayed for three days there.

YASMINE SOOKA: During that time did they allow you to make any telephone calls to your mother or any other person?

MS MORAKE: Since I left my mother, when she came to see us on Thursday morning.

YASMINE SOOKA: In your statement you say that you were tortured at the Stilfontein police station.  Could you tell us exactly what that torture was?

MS MORAKE: I have continuous headaches, I still have a mark here on my head, because they hit me with something, I do
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not know what it was.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did they hit you with their hands or did they hit you with this plastic baton on your head?

MS MORAKE: They used that plastic baton, I think on my head and then they were using their hands and feet to assault us.

YASMINE SOOKA: How many of them were there?

MS MORAKE: Where?

YASMINE SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on).

MS MORAKE: I don't know where those policemen came from, they were in large numbers, they were heavily built, very tall.

YASMINE SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on).  When they poured water over you, is this outside of the cell, because you mention that they formed a circle with cars?

MS MORAKE: It was behind the cells on the lawn.  We were made to lie on the lawn.  They took us out of the cells, in the back yard of the police station. We were lying on the lawn.

YASMINE SOOKA: With your face down?

MS MORAKE: Yes, we were lying face down and they were pouring water on our backs.

YASMINE SOOKA: What did they use to pour the water?

MS MORAKE: They used a hose pipe.

YASMINE SOOKA: And afterwards they beat you with these plastic batons or the plastic sjambok or a plastic baton?

MS MORAKE: Those were plastic sjamboks.

YASMINE SOOKA: How long were you at Stilfontein?

MS MORAKE: I stayed three days at Stilfontein.

YASMINE SOOKA: Once you were released, did you report this to the police or did you go and see an attorney or did you have a doctor examine you? Can you tell us?
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MS MORAKE: Later on my mother took me to the doctor because of these terrible headaches.  We were so scared of policemen we wouldn't even dare go to them.

YASMINE SOOKA: What did the doctor say?

MS MORAKE: He said I have a terrible headache. He said my head got cold.

YASMINE SOOKA: Do you receive treatment now for your headaches?

MS MORAKE: I have this continuous headache and every time I have this headache I have to go to the doctor, isn't it?  And it is a terrible headache, I must say.