Human Rights Violation Hearings — Middelburg — 1997-06-04

CHAIRPERSON: May I ask that Mrs Tlou please come to the witness stand?
 Mrs Tlou, welcome.  Again I will ask Mrs Sooka to lead you and I hand to her also to administer the oath.

YASMINE SOOKA: Mrs Tlou, can you please stand so I can ask you to take the oath.

REGINA M TLOU: (Duly sworn in, states).

YASMINE SOOKA: You may be seated.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, just before we proceed, may I ask who ever of you may have a cell phone in the hall, please to check it, to switch it of.  If you are expecting a call and you have to wait for one, please wait on the outside.  It's really disturbing when cell phones ring when ...  sorry?  Yes, Dr Ally says it's also disrespectful to witnesses, but in the first instance it is really disturbing and distracting.  Mrs Sooka.

YASMINE SOOKA: Regina, you've come to tell us about your brother, Jimmy.  It's not a nice story.  It's quite horrible, but it's also something that the, we've heard more and more stories like the one you're coming to tell us.  And it's part of the violent history that we're all coming from.
 I'm going to ask you to tell us what you know in your own words.  And then I'm going to ask you questions just to clear up difficulties that we can't understand or to get more clarity.  Will you tell us your story then please.

REGINA M TLOU: Jimmy's friend came.  There were a group of school kids and active politically as well.  One of his friends came and asked me to come outside and asked for Jimmy to give him company to go to Tafelkop.  There is a mission that has to be accomplished there.
 I called Jimmy from the house and his friend, Fader.  I'm sorry to mention his name.  I asked him if he wanted to accompany him and Jimmy said, yes.  I allowed them.  They left.  Two days after they had left, Fader came to me at home and asked me to come outside and have a word with him.
 And outside there, he told me that they encountered an accident and Jimmy is injured.  And I asked as to how Jimmy was injured.  And he told me that they were going to set a certain house alight in Tafelkop and Jimmy caught fire.  And he said it was a minor thing, because he was just burned on his foot only and he was in Denelton Hospital.  It is not a minor, it's not a major thing.  And he asked me not to go to Denelton Hospital, because he had a false name, by the name of Solomon Maglang, so that the police cannot be able to trace him and track him down.
 He is the one who offered to keep visiting him at the hospital, but I shouldn't.  I held onto this and waited on Fader to come back and give me more information concerning Jimmy.  After a week, for quite some time, Fader didn't get in touch with me.  On the second week, I contacted his other friends and asked them, why was Fader not getting in touch with me and also I want to know about Jimmy in hospital?  What did they know?  And they answered vague and said they didn't hear anything and they had no knowledge pertaining that, but they will try to trace and locate Fader and get back in touch with me.  That was the second week I'm talking about.  I kept waiting for Fader to come back to me, and to avail.  
 Now this is the third week I'm talking about.  I decided, Fader is not getting in touch with me, now I shall take an initiative and tell the family at large.  Because they were not aware of this.  I was the only one who knew that.  And I made a decision that I will tell my aunt in Witsbank.  And she suggested that we go to the police station and report the matter.  
 I forgot to make mention of this one.  When they went to Tafelkop, they said they will be with a certain police by the name of Gole, in his Kombi.  We went to the police station with my aunt and when we got there, we explained and laid the whole story on the table.  And they told us to come the following day at nine in the morning and we'll be provided transport to go to Denelton Hospital and locate Jimmy.
 We did just that the following day, myself, my aunt and my aunt's son.  We went to the police station.  We're provided with transport and the police accompanied us to Denelton.  When we got there, we asked the receptionist as to whether Jimmy was admitted to hospital at a certain day and a certain date due to burns.  It was found that Jimmy was not admitted.  
 And I thought, after some time that, by the way, the friend told me that he had a different name, by the name of Solomon Maglang.  Then I told the receptionist about this name.  And they checked him on that name and truly he was admitted at that certain date and were taken to the ICU. 
 It was explained to us by the sister at the ICU that he had a third degree burned wounds - and explained that he was Jimmy Ragabane from Mhluzi.  And also told them where his home was.  And also asked them to contact me, the sister, Regina, that I'm admitted in this hospital.
 But the way, he was so much burned, they never believe that he will make it.  He survived for three days after the incident.  They did not hope that he will even last for that long.  He died after three days.  And we're told that his corpse was in Groblersdal in the mortuary, Government mortuary.  
 We left the hospital and were headed to the Groblersdal Mortuary.  When we got to Groblersdal Mortuary, they opened all the drawers.  So we had to identify.  As for me, I was given way to the mortuary drawers to identify the corpse.  In the last drawer, Jimmy was there.  
 They were not so sure if that was positive identification.  And I told the, I was adamant, that, that was Jimmy.  Jimmy was hard to identify, because he was fatally burned from head to toe.  The only thing that did not catch fire, was the right foot.  Besides that, he was almost burned to ashes.
 We took a hearse and we went to Middelburg and we started then to prepare for the funeral.  To date, I wouldn't be able to say what happened to Jimmy;  whether he was burned or he burned himself.  Only Fader can tell us the truth, because he was with him at the time.  Thanks.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you, Regina.  I'm going to ask you some questions.  I'm sorry that this is painful for you, but we need a little bit more information to help us with our own investigations.
 Can you tell me what Jimmy's proper name was?

REGINA M TLOU: His real name is Jimmy.

YASMINE SOOKA: And his surname?  You talked about Ragabane?

REGINA M TLOU: Yes, Ragabane.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also, right up front, you told us that they were activists.  Now can you tell us what kind of political activity was taking place in the township at the time?

REGINA M TLOU: I'm not too sure what group he belonged to;  it's PAC or ANC, but I know for the fact that it was the time when the police came at night and knocking from door to door and wanted all the youth, the boys.  At some time he was arrested with his friends.  I don't know exactly which group he was affiliated to politically.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also said that they went to Tafelkop on a mission.  Now did they tell you what that mission was going to be?

REGINA M TLOU: At first they didn't tell me what mission it was.  They only told me that there's somebody's house they have to burn there in Tafelkop.  So because I was always trying to protect him from the family members;  to know what he's doing.  So I only accepted that, okay, he's on his job.  He's a soldier.  So I gave him the permission to go.

YASMINE SOOKA: How old was he at the time?

REGINA M TLOU: If I am not wrong, it's about 16, 17.

YASMINE SOOKA: You also said that, you mention the name of a policeman.  So I was trying to understand, where they part, was the policeman part of their group, or were they going to burn the policeman's house?  Can you clear that for me?