Human Rights Violation Hearings — Winelands — 1996-10-15

ADV POTGIETER: Can I just clarify a few of the issues here, when you were arrested and detained in 1986 you were - you referred to your daughter so you were married at that stage and you had a family, is that correct?

MR MALUNDA: Yes, I was married, I had children.

ADV POTGIETER: And how old were you them?

MR MALUNDA: I was 48 years old.

ADV POTGIETER: And now were you involved in - in politics, were you involved in the political structures which existed at  that stage?

MR MALUNDA: Yes, I was involved in politics.

ADV POTGIETER: And in which structures were you involved?

MR MALUNDA: I was a member of the UDF.

ADV POTGIETER: Were you an active member?

MR MALUNDA: Yes, I was representing the block that I was staying in, I was a committee member.  I was a committee member of  a plan - a plan Mandela.

ADV POTGIETER: Now, when these police arrested you what were they questioning you about, what information did they want to get from you?

MR MALUNDA: They wanted to know whether I - did I have any information about UDF by the time.  I denied anything -  I denied anything concerning UDF at the time.

ADV POTGIETER: And eventually it appears as if they charged you for attempted murder on this Nodobeco Konquso but nothing came of that case - it seemed as if you were - you were never convicted - you won that case?

MR MALUNDA: That's correct sir.

ADV POTGIETER: The police who arrested you, were they from the Security Branch - Security Police?

MR MALUNDA: Mr Swanepoel and  Gasi were investigators who were in charge of that State of Emergency at the time.

ADV POTGIETER: Now you've referred to them and you've referred to a policeman with the name of   Kaas it seems.  Could - could you it have been his name.  Was there a policeman with the name of Victor involved in your arrest and interrogation and these - these assaults that you've referred to?

MR MALUNDA: Victor was there - he was present.

ADV POTGIETER: And whilst we're talking about Victor from our own inquires it appears as if this policeman Victor that you referred to is still a policeman in Paarl and he used to be with the old Security Branch and seems to be presently with the unit of the Police that took over the work of the old Security Branch  -  it's just by way 
of information.
 Now ...[intervention]

MR MALUNDA: Yes, I once saw him this year.

ADV POTGIETER: It is - it is quite an amazing experience that you have - that you have related to us.  This snake that the - these police produced  and that they wrapped around your body and around your neck would you like to describe it to us - what did it look like?

MR MALUNDA: This snake was the kind of snake which looked harmful but maybe they tamed the snake that is why maybe it was not dangerous to me because I could see that it was one of the dangerous snakes.  Maybe it was tamed.

ADV POTGIETER: What did it look like?

MR MALUNDA: It was longer - it was about 2 m long - it was thicker - it was thicker this size - it was thicker.

ADV POTGIETER: And the thickness seems to be about 3 cm - a radius of about 3 cm that you have indicated but that's by the way.  How did you feel when they wrapped this thing around you - around your neck and around your body and you were naked it seems them...END OF TAPE 1, SIDE B...

MR MALUNDA: It was bad - I was not happy at all.  I was not expecting this - I was not expecting, among al the other things I was not expecting a snake especially from police.  Since after that my health deteriorated - I took time to recover - I took time to be in my own condition.

ADV POTGIETER: Have you recovered fully from - from all of this.  The experience, the injuries and so on?

MR MALUNDA: After all that I recovered and I felt better because I went back to work - I was working since then but at leased I felt better.  I recovered meaning that I - I recovered and I went back to my normal condition.

ADV POTGIETER: You said also that when those policemen realized that this snake wasn't harming you - wasn't doing anything to you they brought back the - the dog.  What did that dog do?

MR MALUNDA: That dog was biting me - he was biting on my thighs, I had some wounds - I had some wounds on my thighs.  They wanted me to cry, they had just playing with me - the police were playing with me.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] biting you, were you still naked?

MR MALUNDA: Yes, I was still naked.

ADV POTGIETER: When you were detained with Mr Benn Konene and appears as if Mr Konene was also assaulted.  Now - now where is Mr Konene at this stage?

MR MALUNDA: Benn Konene - we were together but he is in - he went to Cape Town.  He was working in Cape Town and he's actually living there.

ADV POTGIETER: The - you also referred to a doctor that you were taken to in Wellington if I'm not mistaken.  Did that doctor give you any medical treatment apart from telling you about what happens to people who belong to the UDF?

MR MALUNDA: The only help that I got from this doctor was not the one that I was satisfied with because it was a white doctor and he was showing me that he was a racist and it was a doctor - a white doctor who used to hate UDF.

ADV POTGIETER: And just finally Mr Malunda you said that you were in custody - Police custody from the time that you were arrested in June until the 25th of September of that same year, 1986.  Were you denied bail or what happened to you?

MR MALUNDA: I - I asked for bail, they refused me - they said that - there was money that my friends could bail me but they refused.

ADV POTGIETER: And why did they say why should you not get bail?

MR MALUNDA: Their reasons was that I'm a member of UDF and I'm also a leader - among the leadership of UDF, that was their reason.

ADV POTGIETER: And this charge - the so-called charge that they had against you, just nothing came of it eventually?

MR MALUNDA: They just released me, there was nothing else after that.

ADV POTGIETER: And how did you feel about that experience - a court denying you bail, you're a person on 48 years, you've got a family,  you are from Paarl.  You've seemed to have a permanent place to live and they deny you bail and nothing comes of this case.  How did you feel about that experience?

MR MALUNDA: It was very painful because I was always thinking about my children because by that time there was nobody who was buying food for them.  There was no money to buy food.  Secondly there was no way of paying my accounts, there was no way at all of paying my accounts.
 I felt very bad because instead of going forward I was going backwards.

ADV POTGIETER: One must assume that when you were eventually released on the 25th of September it must have been very difficult to get going again?

MR MALUNDA: Yes, I was working very hard to pay my accounts, it was very difficult - it was 
very difficult.  I was in a very difficult situation.

ADV POTGIETER: I thank you very much Mr Malunda, thank you Chairperson.

MS GOBODO: Thank you Denzil, anyone, Brenda?

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: Mr Malunda we apart from the other information that Adv Potgieter gave you with regard to the Investigation Report we would like to also just point out that according to your investigators all the police records at the police station here were destroyed up to 1990.  So all the information with regard to your arrest and you interrogation is not available to us because the records are destroyed.