Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-24

YASMINE SOOKA: And then they took her outside.

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes.  They crossed the street with her.

YASMINE SOOKA: What did they do with Madira?  Was she also inside the wardrobe?

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes, Madira was inside the wardrobe, and they dragged her out of the wardrobe and they took her, they crossed the street and they took her into the hostel.

YASMINE SOOKA: Which hostel did they take her to?

ROSSY MOLOI: Sputnik Hostel.

YASMINE SOOKA: What happened then?

ROSSY MOLOI: What actually happened there was, because as I look my opinion at that time, people who were staying in the hostel at the time, actually raped her.  That is exactly what they did to my daughter-in-law.  You could not even look at her, because they had stabbed her face so brutally, you could not tell who she was.  She was bleeding. It looked like they had actually shot her through the mouth.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also say in your statement that your husband went to the police station.  Could you tell us what the police did?

ROSSY MOLOI: He went to the police station and when he got to the police station, he found Nini, Nini was a policeman and Nini wrote the statement.  From there they disappeared.  They came again.  They found me cleaning up in the dining room and in the kitchen. They asked me what had happened. I told them it is none of your business, because you know, and you know why you came here, and they left and I never saw them again.
 When we went to the police station, to follow up what 
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was happening, whether they were still investigating the case or not, but up to now they haven't investigated that case further.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also said in your statement that they found Rebecca's body on the eastern side of the hostel, in Imsindusa. How many days or hours later was that?

ROSSY MOLOI: We found her the same day, around 11 o'clock.

YASMINE SOOKA: What, when you found the body, what did it look like?

ROSSY MOLOI: The corpse was scary.  There were so many wounds on the face and she was bleeding, even through her ears.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did the police ever have a post-mortem, was there an inquest into the reason or the causes for her death?

ROSSY MOLOI: No, they never did any post-mortem. We asked the policeman, we asked the doctor at Baraghwanath, for the post-mortem.  The doctor said he could not do that by law.  We wanted the bullet that actually killed her and they said by law they were not allowed to do that.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also say in your statement that when you went to the police they had refused to go in the hostel to rescue her.  Could you tell us why they refused to assist you, did they tell you?

ROSSY MOLOI: I don't know why.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also say, you said earlier, when you spoke about your story, that you don't know if it was police in the Hippo who came to attack the house or whether it was other people.  Why are you saying that?

ROSSY MOLOI: I say this because it was at night.  Therefore they were actually in a Hippo.

YASMINE SOOKA: The hostel where your daughter-in-law was dragged into and later thrown out of, was that an Inkatha - was that SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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a hostel where Inkatha people stayed?

ROSSY MOLOI: It was an Inkatha hostel.

YASMINE SOOKA: Have you ever been able to find out from the police afterwards, why this attack took place?

ROSSY MOLOI: No, we never asked them, because we are supposed to go and give a statement and go to the court and find out what was happening, because we did go to ask to find out if they have already got the people and they said no.  They said they never opened any case.

YASMINE SOOKA: At any time did you and your family have any lawyer to help you find out what happened to your son and your daughter-in-law?

ROSSY MOLOI: My son, my son had a lawyer and the lawyer was involved in a car accident and that was the end.

YASMINE SOOKA: From what you have said, your son died in this attack as well.

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes.

YASMINE SOOKA: What happened to Madira?

ROSSY MOLOI: Madira was there.  I took Madira to my place.  She was with me now, because she was shaking, she could not even talk.  She was also short of breath.  That very same night, I mean the Friday night, I took her to Baraghwanath Hospital.  When we got to the hospital she stayed there.  The following day I went to get her. Each time she thought about this she would shiver and I had to keep taking her back to hospital.

YASMINE SOOKA: This attack took place on the 25th of April 1992. Is that right?

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes, the attack on my son's place only, not at my house.

YASMINE SOOKA: Tell us about the attack on your house?
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ROSSY MOLOI: At my house they actually never attacked us. It was only Sunday night when they came.  A Kombi came and stopped at the gate and they started hooting.  No, we didn't even open the gate.  We told ourselves that we would see the following day. If they visted from Botswana, they will have to wait there until tomorrow morning.  We kept peeping to see if the car was still there.  We could see the car. Around half-past three the Kombi started reversing and went the other way.  There was only one person, there was one other person with a hat. He used to keep trying to open the gate and go back to the car and he tried to go back to the gate to open and go back to the car, but we never opened the door.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were any members of your family, either you, your husband, your son - who is deceased now - were you members of any political party?

ROSSY MOLOI: No, we are not political, we were never involved in any politics whatsoever.

YASMINE SOOKA: At that time when this attack took place, was there any trouble in your particular area or where your son lived, between the people in the hostel and the community themselves?

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes, there was violence taking place between Inkatha people, Inkatha hostel dwellers and the community.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did the community also retaliate by attacking the people in the hostel?

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes, they used to try, they used to attack the hostel dwellers as well, the community.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.  Is there anything that you would like to tell the Truth Commission about what you would like it to do, in respect of what happened?
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ROSSY MOLOI: I would like the Truth Commission to search for those people and look for them, the perpetrators, so that I know them as well.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you, Mamma.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much, Rossy. If I could now ask if any of the other members of the panel have any other questions.

MS MKHIZE: Mrs Moloi, I would just like ask you briefly about the funeral of your child. I would like to know if from the speeches, anything that was said?

ROSSY MOLOI: Yes, they came, there were visitors who came to talk at the funeral.  They said yes, the Government has done what they wanted to do over the years. I don't even know where those people came from.  We just thought these people came from Pretoria.

MS MKHIZE: When you say you still remember, please explain to the Commission that when they arrived, what did they who were they? Don't be afraid, please tell us.

ROSSY MOLOI: They never said who they were. They just said they visited Pretoria and that's all they said.  They gave a statement like that and they said the Government has done what they wanted to do and we have been waiting for this over the time.

MS MKHIZE: When you observed and when you were looking, do you think those people were politicians?

ROSSY MOLOI: It looked as if they were friends that they used to attend school with.

MS MKHIZE: When you say those were football members?

ROSSY MOLOI: I just think they are football members because they were all boys, there were no girls at all.