Human Rights Violation Hearings — Ladybrand — 1997-06-25

WITNESS:   I do not know, but I suspect he is insane because the Hillbrow authority wrote a letter statement.

MR LYSTER: Mrs Mokhothu, is he able to communicate with you?  Is he able to talk to you in a coherent way sometimes, or are you out of touch with him, are you not able to communicate with him properly?

WITNESS:   At times he communicates with me.  Sometimes when I speak to him he just keeps quiet.

MR LYSTER: Did he tell you what happened to him during those three months that he spent in detention?  Has he been able to tell you that, what happened to him?

WITNESS:   He does not tell me, but those who were with him told me that they were assaulted.  So the people that he was accused with, his co-accused who were with him in detention, have they spoken to you?  Is that what you are saying?   ---   That is correct.  Even when he was inside they informed us that Elliot seems to be sick.  The police, white and black policemen, never came up to tell us that they took him to the doctor, nothing.  After having been discharged until this day I am struggling on my own to take him to doctors.

MR LYSTER:   So his friends that he was in detention with told you that Elliot and they had been assaulted in prison, is that right?

WITNESS:   That is correct.  We went to court, and when they got out of the police van the police were all around their vans.  In their hands one would see their sjamboks, their batons and their guns, beating them up.

MR LYSTER: Thank you.

WITNESS:   At that time Sterkman was the head of the office.  It was Sterkman, and the other one was Hothule, who was a sergeant at that time, and Lenthoro.  He was among the policemen who were present.

MR LYSTER: Mrs Mokhothu, other than - did you say Hillbrow Hospital, what other hospitals did he go to?

WITNESS:   He was also admitted at the Bothaville Hospital.  That was at the beginning of this whole incident, and there was no change.  I took him to Klerksdorp and he was given just a little tablet.  That is when I decided to send him to Hillbrow Hospital.  He spent a month at Hillbrow Hospital and he was discharged.  They said he was much better.  Until today he is still in that ... (inaudible - end of Side A, Tape 5) ... they have written in the card that he should come back on the 10th.  And they gave him those tablets.

MR LYSTER: Mrs Mokhothu, we will look at the records from those hospitals which you have mentioned, and we will study those records and see what the nature is of his illness or disorder, and see if we can find out whether it was linked to what happened to him in detention.  I am going to now pass you back to Dr Magwaza, the Chairman, to see whether there are any other questions which need to be asked.

CHAIRPERSON: My colleague does not have a question.  I would like to just ask two more questions, because you are here today because you are concerned about the mental state of your son.  Do you take him regularly to the clinic?  Is he always having treatment and tablets all the time?

WITNESS:   Please show the lady this card.

CHAIRPERSON: I just want to know if you don't have times where you can't take him to the clinic, or when he doesn't have tablets?

WITNESS:   They normally write down the next date of appointment.  He goes to the clinic once in a month, and they will give him the date for the next month.

CHAIRPERSON: What things can he do?  Can he do some work at home, like cleaning, making up his bead, or cleaning the yard?  What things can he do?

WITNESS:   He does not do the gardening.  He cannot make his bed, but just once - I do not know when what is happening - he will make his bed.  But for the rest of the days he just leaves it.

CHAIRPERSON: (Inaudible) ... himself?

WITNESS:   Sometimes.

MR LYSTER: Please show respect for the witness.   -- When it comes to eating you will put the food on the table, sometimes he will eat, sometimes he just looks at the food and get out of the house and leave.  I could have brought him with, but I was afraid that during the sitting he will go out, and where would I go to look for him.  He goes away even at home, and unexpectedly he will arrive and sleep.  Or he will leave the house and sit all by himself outside.  Sometimes he will take the books, trying to read.  Reading is something that does not exist.

MR LYSTER: The condition of your son is serious enough perhaps to have affected your life.  Can you tell us how did it change your life?

WITNESS:   My life has changed because this child does not eat properly.  He is a useless person.  I was even affected by the stroke.  That is why you hear my voice shaking like this.

MR LYSTER: Thank you very much, Mama Mokhothu.  I think you are a very brave person, and, as Mr Lyster has stated, irrespective of your difficulties you have been able to give us such a good picture of your son's condition.  It must be very painful for any parent to sit helplessly and watch the condition of her child deteriorating.  We have with us here people who work in psychiatric hospitals.  They are helping here.  I would like you to see them afterwards.  They will look at the tablets you have there and they will advise you whether there is some other or better type of help that you might need to get for your son.  We have also arranged with the Department of Health here in Free State that for all the people who were violated there should be free treatment.  Thank you very much again, Mrs Mokhothu.

MR LYSTER: /CHAIRPERSON

CHAIRPERSON: This brings us to the end of our hearings today.  Some of our witnesses whom we were expecting did not come.  We thank you very much for your support.  This is a sign, an indication of how united the community is here.  Thank you very much again.  We will adjourn now and meet tomorrow at 9 o'clock for our last day of hearings.  Thank you.
PROCEEDINGS  ADJOURNED  TO  1997/06/26
/PROCEEDINGS