Human Rights Violation Hearings — Alexandra — 1996-10-29

KENNETH MANANA: Yes, according to the reports which we had from the papers because we were sort of different groups and then (indistinct) this machine and all this.

YASMINE SOOKA: What were the charges that were brought against you when you appeared in court?

KENNETH MANANA: Yes, it was the robbery and then the ammunition that I have just explained to you.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were you defended by an attorney?

KENNETH MANANA: Yes, I had a lawyer but it was just from the Legal Aid because when I was arrested then I didn't have any
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contact for contacting about going on with lawyers and all this, I was just separated.

YASMINE SOOKA: Was it part of your defence that you were a member of APLA and that the robbery had been in pursuance of a political aim?  Was that evidence ever led by you in the court case?

KENNETH MANANA: No, the case was just rooted in a criminal act.  There was no - any political involvement in the court.

YASMINE SOOKA: Was that your choice or your lawyer's choice?

KENNETH MANANA: For the case to be  held in that way?
No, it was not my choice but the way the police were presenting the matter then which means that they didn't find any political evidence in representing the case but the only evidence was only in the criminal act where I could be charged.

YASMINE SOOKA: And you say that you served four years in jail.  Was that because you were paroled early or were you given an indemnity?

KENNETH MANANA: It was in 1991 when there was amnesty for all prisoners.  Then I was also involved in that amnesty.

YASMINE SOOKA: So you actually got the amnesty for political offences then?

KENNETH MANANA: No, during that time it was just general, even the political were released.

YASMINE SOOKA: Oh, okay.  I remember that. Ja.   Who were the other people who were in that vehicle with you?

KENNETH MANANA: Their names?  It was Barnard, Sepho and Nel.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were you one cell?

KENNETH MANANA: I beg your pardon?

YASMINE SOOKA: Were you one group together?

KENNETH MANANA: Yes, we were in one group.
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YASMINE SOOKA: You see this committee deals basically with human rights violations cases.  And I think one of the things that we would like to know is what is the human rights violation that you are complaining about to this committee.

KENNETH MANANA: Okay.  To this committee I am complaining about that while I was in hospital then in a queue for taking out the bullet in an operation and then I was taken as if I am transferred to another hospital, yet I was not transferred to another hospital.  Then I was also sent to the Brixton police station to be tortured on top of the pain of the bullet.  And the bullet is still in me. Even while I was in prison I tried to ask them, they say no for the sentence that I am doing is very long and then when they take me out to an outside hospital I will escape.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were the Brixton police aware of the fact that you were a member of APLA?

KENNETH MANANA: Yes, they were aware.  After they found the guns and all of these things, the ammunition.

YASMINE SOOKA: How old were you at the time when you were in fact imprisoned?

KENNETH MANANA: Okay, when I was sentenced I was at the age of 18.

YASMINE SOOKA: Also what were the other kind of activities that you were involved in here in Alexandra as APLA?

KENNETH MANANA: I think the one that I have mentioned are the only activities.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.  I don't have further questions.

MS MKHIZE: I have one question for you.  You talked about Scorpion gang.  Which gang is it, is it a known gang here in Alexandra?  How did it function?

KENNETH MANANA: The police were looking for the particular gun
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that was used in some incidents reported in this area.  I would say that even many people in Alexandra they happen to know about this issue because it was distributed on papers saying that they were looking for someone with the Scorpio scars.

MS MKHIZE: A small question.  I don't remember well if you have clarified that before.  Can you briefly explain to us that when you say you were an APLA member things like criminal acts were then allowed by APLA policies.

KENNETH MANANA: I will say no because our policies were on the line of the struggle against the government at the time.  At that time the only thing we could do was just to get to help, was to use criminal acts.  We used it as a discretion.

MS MKHIZE: From the beginning you said you a person you have changed or repented.  When you say that why do you think it is necessary to mention that?

KENNETH MANANA: This was mentioned to show that in all that had happened I now realise that some of those things were mistakes and that those people who do something bad to me at the present moment that think I do have a heart to receive them and forgive them.   Just to show before the Commission that I do have that heart to forgive.

MS MKHIZE: That repentant heart of yours, if there other things that you have done while you were an APLA member, something that was against the law, will you be prepared as a changed person to go before the amnesty committee to ask for forgiveness?

KENNETH MANANA: I will say since I was charged for the criminal act that I have committed the case is over.

MS MKHIZE: I am saying this because as you are sitting here there are some people who wants to know about the truth as
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to what has happened to their relatives saying that they will never be able to forgive unless they find out the truth.  That is why when we find people like you who have changed, we like to encourage them to come before the amnesty committee to give the whole truth as to what they know and also as to things that they have done to make sure that people who were affected by these criminal acts could find a chance to forgive because it is so difficult for them to forgive if they haven't got the truth.

KENNETH MANANA: As I have already stated, we were in group formations. In my own group the only thing that I have done which was wrong was the robbery, for which I was arrested and convicted and sentenced.  But if there are some other people who might have done something bad I might go to them and tell them to come before the amnesty committee.

MS MKHIZE: We would like to thank you for having been able to come.  We also thank you for having started a new life.  Also being ready to reconcile and forgive.  As you have already said that you are a new man, you have repented.  We pity you for having suffered under the hands of the police. We also believe that you work with us to add any information that we might need in your statement.  Thank you very much.