Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pretoria — 1996-08-12

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Boikhutso, welcome to you.  If you would like to make use of the headphones, I am not sure in which language you would want to give your testimony to us.  Can you hear me if I speak or can you hear the translator?  Please check the channel there.  Thank you very much.  Just before you start with your evidence which Dr Ally will assist you in leading, will you please stand up and just take the oath?  Will you please stand up.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: (Duly sworn in, states).

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.  You may sit down.  Dr Ally will assist you.

RUSSELL ALLY: Good morning to you Mrs Boikhutso.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: Good morning Sir.

RUSSELL ALLY: You are coming to speak about your husband Festus who went into exile in 1963.  I will just ask you to give us your story.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: My husband left in 1963 on the 22nd of October.  He left home and that time and he left the children behind and I have never heard from him before.  I was nine months pregnant when he left and I was being harassed by Boers by that time.  I was also evicted from my house.  I struggled to bring up my children and I sent them to the Roman Catholic Church so that they can take care of them.  Thereafter, before that ...
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RUSSELL ALLY: Excuse me Mrs Boikhutso, sorry to interrupt you, but the translation is not coming through.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: Okay, okay.

RUSSELL ALLY: Could you, just for one minute while I try and sort this out.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: Okay.

RUSSELL ALLY: Sorry about that.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: They took me out of the house and I struggled with the children since then.  From there I stayed with my sister and she also had a small house and she evicted me also.  I fled to Pretoria where I, from Pretoria and I met Nagope and Nagope said to me I have brought the ANC to Mabopane.  He took me from my home in 1990 and sent me to jail and they would fetch me with a Hippo from my yard.  I was very scared by then.  I did not know whether I was going to be killed or not and they hit me with a gun butt on the head, forcing me into the Hippo, and I did not want to and they forced me to get in.  They took me to Zone Five and I stayed there for about six weeks and three days and thereafter they came to fetch me.  Patrick Hooma came and he fetched me from jail.
 From there my right ear does not function well.  They injured my right ear and I am still attending treatment.  I want my house back at Joemeka.  I put a claim in for my house, but I do not know when the people are going to call me back because they put me, they took me out of the house whilst I was still, I was not having any debt on it.

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you Mrs Boikhutso.  If I could just, are you done or would you like to continue?

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: I will ask the Government to give us our house back because since my father died or my husband died
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we do not know where he is.  Could they please bring us his remains so that we can bury him and the children also want to know where there father is sleeping.  One of the children does not know who his father is because he died in exile.  They do not know even where his grave is.  I am a very ill person presently.  I do not write anymore, I am only staying at home.  There is no one working for me.  Therefore I have not received any help from the Government.

RUSSELL ALLY: Mrs Boikhutso, if I could just, if you do not mine, if I could just ask you just a few questions to just assist us to try and clarify some things.  I may have missed some of the things you said.

THOKOZILE CHRISTINA BOIKHUTSO: Yes, you can ask me questions.

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you.  I may have missed some of the things you said earlier because I was not getting the translation so please forgive me if I am going to get you to repeat things, but you are speaking about two issues.