Human Rights Violation Hearings — King William's Town — 1997-05-13

CHAIRPERSON: We will now call Rhyline Nene, Nonkululeko Nonyaniso Gladys Madikane.

RHYLINE NENE: (sworn states)

NONKULULEKO NONYANISO GLADYS MADIKANE: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Thank you.  Mr Chairperson, they have been properly sworn in.

CHAIRPERSON: Tiny Maya?

MS MAYA: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  Mrs Nene, let me start with you.  You are here today to tell us about your husband, Mr Steven Nene.  You are going to tell what happened in 1990 immediately after Oupa Gqozo had taken over the rule of the Ciskei.  Can you please tell us what happened to your husband?

RHYLINE NENE: First of all I would like to greet the Chairperson of the Commission, members of the Commission and everybody here.  Secondly I would like to thank the opportunity to come here and give details about what happened to my husband.
 I am requesting to start in 1989 about what happened to me in 1989.  My house was burnt down.  My husband was a Councillor in Mdantsane at the time.  Secondly in 1989 when Gqozo had taken over, my shop was also burnt down.
 Everything inside the shop was burnt down, even today I was not able to build the shop again.  Thirdly, the police of Mr Gqozo came to my house in Frankfort.  They were driving a kombi, a cream, white kombi.
 I thought that they just came in the hotel.  At the time my husband was about to have tea as he was coming from the field.
 These people said that Mr Nene, we are here to take you.  He asked them who are you.  They said that we are from the government, we have been sent to take you because there is something that was needed from you.

MS MAYA: Excuse me Ma'am.  Let us go back to 1989.  You said that your house was burnt down and your shop was burnt down.  Why was this happening to you?  Who burnt down your house and your shop?

RHYLINE NENE: It was at a time of consumer boycott.  If you belonged to a certain party, your house would be burnt down.  I think that my house was burnt down because my husband was a Councillor.

MS MAYA: Please continue Ma'am.

RHYLINE NENE: I think our house was burnt down because my husband was a Councillor.

MS MAYA: Did you know the people who did this?

RHYLINE NENE: No, we did not know them.  We did not even know the people who burnt down the shop because it was on the day when Gqozo had taken over the rule of Ciskei when our shop was burnt down.

MS MAYA: Please continue Ma'am with your story.

RHYLINE NENE: The police came.  I asked them why are you looking for my husband.  They said that they had been sent to fetch him, they did not know why.
 I asked whether I can accompany him with his car, they said no, they are going to take him with their kombi.  They told me not to go with them.  They then left me behind.
 Because I was scared, I forgot to take the number plate of the car.  I just thought that maybe they were going to kill him.  I phoned my son in Mdantsane.  He arrived, we then went to the police to report this.  The police told us that he was not there and there is nothing they can do.  They told us to go and search for him in other police stations.
 We went to Qasa police station, Zwelitsha police station, Tamara.  A week passed.  After a second week I saw my son arriving at home.  He said that my husband was in Cecilia Makiwane.  One nurse phoned him, this nurse said that my husband arrived there with the police.
 He was in Cecilia Makiwane.  We then went to visit him in hospital.  When we arrived there his condition was very bad.  We could not even talk to him.  We came back the following day.
 I found out that in that private ward there was a red flag.  I asked the sister what was that flag for, the sister told me that Ma'am, this is because your husband's Doctor was there, but every Doctor has to go inside and check or examine him.

MS MAYA: Excuse me Mrs Nene, how old was your husband at this time?

RHYLINE NENE: In 1990 - he was born in 1924.

MS MAYA: Thank you Ma'am, you may continue.

RHYLINE NENE: We then visited him every time.  After three days he regained consciousness, he could identify us but he could not do anything for himself.
 The Doctors would come and take him to an X-ray.  We then realised that he, when we visited him, he would tell us that the police are on their way and the police would arrive.  One of them was Mr Funani.  I don't remember the other police, but I can identify them if I can see them.

MS MAYA: Where was he stationed?

RHYLINE NENE: He was a police under Gqozo.

MS MAYA: In which station?

RHYLINE NENE: No, I don't know.  I don't want to lie, because I don't know.  I think he was in Zwelitsha or Mdantsane.

MS MAYA: For how long did your husband stay in hospital?

RHYLINE NENE: He stayed for three weeks.

MS MAYA: How was he injured?

RHYLINE NENE: He was injured very badly.

MS MAYA: Where?

RHYLINE NENE: He was injured in his head.  Even today he is mentally impaired.

MS MAYA: Did you get details or explanations of how he got injured?

RHYLINE NENE: Before he was discharged, as we were visiting him, there was a police guard in his ward.  But we could see that this police was feeling something towards my husband.  He said that Mxolisi, under your fathers bed there is a machine, this machine belonged to the men who used to visit him.
 He was always restless as we were visiting him.  Even if we were talking to him, he would not respond to what we were saying.  We then asked him what happened to him.  He said he cannot tell us because he did not know what happened to him.  The only thing he knew was that while he was in Tamara, he was taken to certain places at night - they would put something, a sail or a sack in his head.
 But what he remembered was that he was in Tamara where he was assaulted there.  He did not remember anything else.  He said that the police would take his head to the toilet and they would flush the toilet, which rendered him unconscious.
 He said that he woke up in the hospital, he did not know who took him to the hospital.

MS MAYA: The Mr Funani you mentioned, was he in Tamara?

RHYLINE NENE: I don't know where he was, but all the time he was together with these police.  Even when they visited my husband in hospital, he would be with these police.

MS MAYA: What was the main reason for this assault, what were they looking for?

RHYLINE NENE: He said that the day when they released him, Mr Funani said that Ma'am, I am happy because you are here, because you are here to take your husband home.
 I asked him what really happened, Mr Funani said your husband was allegedly in contact with Sebe, that is why they were interrogating him, they wanted to know their conversations with Sebe. 
 He then told us that that was a wrong information.

MS MAYA: Was there a reason for them to accuse him of this, was he  a friend of Mr Sebe?

RHYLINE NENE: He was close with Mr Sebe because he was a member of SINIP and he was a Councillor at that time.

MS MAYA: The people who came to release him, did they tell you who ordered them to release him?

RHYLINE NENE: They said that Gqozo ordered his release.

MS MAYA: How was your husband's health affected by this?