Human Rights Violation Hearings — Venda — 1996-10-04

MBIZA MBOKOTA: I arrived at home, I was coming from school at Turflop in 1991.  At home I mean the area itself was a little bit behind about the struggle and we was started organising ourselves.  In forming the branch of the ANC started enemy between us and the nearest police station, Sasalam police station, including the tribal authority.
 There is so many things which we used to quarrel with with the tribal authority and about holding meetings, they used to not allow us.
 While we were still quarrelling about these issues, we said to ourselves we are still going to move forward.  In 1992 I was still a Chairperson of the ANC Youth League - I was a Chairperson for the Youth League for two successive years.  There was an accident in one policeman's home in Menga Village, this policeman's name is Noqi Tsahoge, his house was burnt down during the night.
VENDA HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
2 M MBOKOTA
 The following day in the morning, it was February 1992, we heard about the arson because the village is so small.  During the following day, during the night police went to arrest all the members of the Youth League, they were detained at Sasalam police station.
 Early the following day they also went back to arrest other people.  When I started reading the list of people who were arrested there were ten.  I found out that all of these were members of the ANC Youth League Committee.
 Then we realised that they were trying to destroy the workforce of the African National Congress.  I was a teacher at a high school.  I went to the police station to visit them, to pay them a visit.
 In the charge office they asked me who I am coming to visit them, I said to them I am coming to visit them because some of them are my relatives, but all of them who were detained are members of the ANC Youth League of which I was the Chairperson.
 While I was still there, one of my comrades, comrade Moses Mahone was handcuffed, was chained in the legs and I could see that the comrade was injured.
 And I said, because I was angry, I said to them if you don't allow me to see these people, you are afraid that I am going to see what happened to them, because this person, the last day I saw him, he was not like this.
 But I could see that now he was injured.  Then I argued with the police in the charge office, I said to them okay, stay with them, I am going.  While I was walking, I went to another butchery which was next to the police station, and I think they thought I saw one of the comrades who was arrested and no one knew that the people were being 
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assaulted.
 It was the third day when I went there to see them.  They sent a certain policeman in the name of Richard Madebale, he came to the butchery and said there is some other things that they want to clear up with you, the police in the police station, just come back. 
 I said okay, since I'm here in the butcher and as I've heard how they were arrested, just leave me here.  What I am going to do, I will buy meat and braai it for those people who were arrested, because I know that you are going to arrest me, so that I get inside the police station with the meat I am going to buy here.
 He realised that he could not argue with me, he went back.  I was together with Stuart Mabangese who was a member of the Committee, but he was not arrested by then.  We followed them to the charge office.
 When we arrived in the charge office they said just come in.  They took us to the office of the then warrant officer, Chibambo.  They said, oh, it is you.  They took us to another office because those comrades who were assaulted together, if you talk about office number 6, they know what kind of an office it is.
 We went to office number 6, we found that there are police who were using nicknames, they are still using those nicknames.  There is Mburi, Malumbu.  Warrant officer Chibambo was instructing them to see what to do with us.
 When we looked around in the office, we could see that it is difficult to be in that office, there were blood stains all over and sticks, you could not understand what those weapons were.
 Because we realised that all the police are just taking VENDA HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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all those things and assault people and they want to make you suffer.
 They said to me Mbiza, give a statement, write a statement here and tell us about, because you are a teacher, you're a good writer, write a statement and tell us about the meeting which decided that you are going to burn Noqi Tsahoge's house.
 They said that you know that Noqi Tsahoge's house is burnt, I said no, i no.  They said you and the others who had been arrested here, you are the people who burnt down the house and I said no, I can't write a statement.
 They insisted that I should write that on this particular day, yourself, they read a list for me, all the people who were arrested, they said I asked them how come I shall give a statement talking about a meeting and the names of the people who held meetings for the African National Congress in the Province.
 They said this list were given by Headmen Cali who is still a Headman there and Esminge.  He said we are the people who should be arrested because we burnt down the house.  I refused to give him a statement.
 They put a bag on my head, they started assaulting me, sjamboking me.  The hardest hit which also took me to hospital is something which was very heavy, which hit me on my shoulder.  Seeing some other articles there, there was a very big wood which was there, I think it is the one which hit me on the shoulder.
 Because I knew that I could give a statement in court, I said just put me in the cells, I am not going to give a statement.  They took me to the cell.  I stayed in the cell for four days and they said to me since you are the 
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Chairperson of the ANC Youth League, you must be alone in the cell.
 They put me in solitary confinement for three consecutive days.  The team of warrant officer Chibambo, Noqi Tsahoge, Constable Tsahoge, this was the team which used to come to my cell and start torturing me.
 This is the team which I used to say this is a better one, this is a bad one.  That one, if they come there if warrant officer Chibambo started greeting me, when they close there warrant Noqi when they left the office, the others will come and start assaulting me, forcing me to give a statement.  I said I am not going to give a statement.
 The others outside in the other cells had some windows who could shout at each other to find out how we are.  What I realised, when we greeted firstly for the first time, they said are you not badly injured and then I realised that these people were badly injured.
 And then I told them that I'm just feeling some pains here and there, and then they told me that some were taken to hospital, they are back.  We were 16 in total so they were calling names, that this was taken to hospital and that one was taken to hospital.
 From there most of the people heard that we were arrested, those who were left behind, because they arrested 16 and then they ran away to go and inform our Zonal Chairperson, comrade Robert Malabu who is now the speaker of the Provincial Legislature and then they told him that there is something which happened in our Youth League.
 And the arranged the MEC, now who is the MC for Constitutional Affairs who was still a lawyer working for the Human Rights and then we stayed there for nine days, I 
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think so, before we were released.
 On the 7th day we went to court, we applied for bail and it failed.  We went back to the cells.  Sometimes they used to come and torture us.  Some of them were police, they were coming from Maheso, they have passed standard 10 from Maheso.
 Some of them were torturing me, some of them were afraid to do that because I taught them.  Those were the people who were in the team who used to take us to hospital for check ups.
 Comrade (indistinct) applied for bail and it was successful, we were released on R200-00 bail per person and we attended the court case for four days, I think so.  The fourth one was the last day, remanding the case, saying pending the Attorney General's decision.
 During that time, many people used to come from the villages and the students used to come, because some of them whom I was arrested with, were students so they even stopped going to school and some stopped going to work until they realised that many people are coming to attend the court case.
 One day we went there, we said we were going to court, they said they wanted to control people.  They failed to control them.  We tried to assist them to control the people and they started throwing us with teargas canisters, (indistinct).
 After that they just came to take us to go to court and then they remanded the case again.  Then for the last day, they said the case was withdrawn.  We were never told the reasons, who's wrong, who's right, they never told us, the truth never came out.
VENDA HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
7 M MBOKOTA
 We only heard rumours that Noqi Tsahoge's rondavel, they used a generator, there was no electricity by then in Atmenga, they used a generator which used petrol and I think they said it is the thing which caused the fire.
 What happened when the house started burning, his wife's panty was burnt and the buttocks and then they ran away and the house was burnt just like that.
 We were not satisfied about the case itself, because we were assaulted, because at school I was working with school children, some of them are relatives to the police, some of them are relatives to Noqi, who made us to be arrested and we are staying in the same area.
 It destroyed my relationship with the school children while I was teaching, it was difficult for me from that year until 1995 and I realised that I was mentally retarded, psychologically I was affected, so even my teaching was affected because some times, I mean I felt some pain and then I decided to retire because there is no follow up in the tribal.   
 The tribal authority was after me, I worked for the civic association as a secretary, I was harassed again and then I realised that the best thing for me is to leave the teaching profession.
 What I want to say before this Commission is that those people whom were together, we tried to arrange that we shall come together to testify, because some of them were badly injured.  For myself I was physically injured on my shoulder and psychologically and on my spinal cord I am still having some pains.
 Some of them their hands are now not functioning, some of them their legs were badly affected, so they are worried 
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that they should have known about the Truth Commission was coming here so that they should come here and give their evidence, so if possible if you can tell me if they are allowed to come in and give evidence.