Human Rights Violation Hearings — Klerksdorp — 1996-09-26

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Mogapi, good afternoon.

ANNIE K MOGAPI: Good afternoon, Sir.

CHAIRPERSON: Please people, we are going to close the doors if this continues.   Please settle down.
 Mrs Mogapi, can you please introduce the young lady who is with you.

ANNIE K MOGAPI: That is my sister's daughter.

CHAIRPERSON: I warmly welcome her too.   Mrs Mogapi, you are coming from Tigane, Hartebeesfontein, which is not very far from here, it is a small - having driven many times through this place, I know that it is a very small town, almost like a village.  You have come to talk to us about what happened on the 2nd of July 1992 and again on the 29th of March 1993, to your family members.   Commissioner Denzil Potgieter is going to help you with your statement, but before I hand you over to him, can you please stand to take the oath.

ANNIE K MOGAPI: (Duly sworn, states.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.  Commissioner?

MR POTGIETER: Thank you, Commissioner.  Thank you Dr Randera.  Mrs Mogapi, good afternoon.

ANNIE K MOGAPI: Good afternoon, Sir.

MR POTGIETER: You will be talking about two incidents as Dr Randera has indicated.  The one is in 1992 and the other one KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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is the following year, 1993.

ANNIE K MOGAPI: That's true, Sir.

MR POTGIETER: And your evidence relates to the conflict, some of which we have heard about earlier, in the city between the IFP and the ANC members in Tigane.

ANNIE K MOGAPI: That's true, Sir.

MR POTGIETER: Now let us go to the first incident.  The one where your home was attacked and it was in July of 1992. It is not clear on which day in July it was, but you can perhaps tell us.  Let us speak about that first and tell us about that incident first.

MR POTGIETER: In 1992, the 26th of July, I remember very well, it was on a Sunday. Since the morning, the day was just fine, but towards sunset I heard songs outside.  As I was listening to the music outside, there was silence.  As I was still in the house I heard that our windows were shattered. I was in the big house, and I moved into the big house to investigate what was happening. I said to my mother - she was staying in the two-bedroomed house in the back yard and I said Mom, they are stoning the house.  We went to see the other side of the house and we looked.  Many of them had already run away. I saw two boys and one girl. I saw Peter Majing and I saw boy Schute and a girl called Fandele Lebeti.  My father asked them what they were doing.  These two boys attacked my father and they stabbed him with knives. When I saw blood flowing out of his body, I said to my mother please, run away.  She was very old, she couldn't run.  Peter got into the yard and he hit my mother with a fist. I didn't allow myself to see this. I saw two children playing under a tree.  My sister's children. I called them to join them as we were running away.  They came, they
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followed me. I locked them in a room and I said to my mother please, run towards my direction, otherwise we are all going to die.  My father was walking along the street, as he was bleeding, and he was dizzy.  We hid ourselves.
 The two rooms that we were in was busy breaking, because they were throwing the stones.  I was powerless. I did not know what to do I stopped the door with my hands.  I wasn't aware that they were busy breaking the door with their knives and their pangas.  After a few minutes I felt something on my body. I said to my mother can you please come and help me, they have got hold of me. The children were hiding under the bed because they were so scared. They pulled me out of the house, through this door that they have broken. I was crawling.  I could still see Peter Majelo, and he lifted his hand and I saw a knife in his hand.  He just put it on my head. I cried and I saw them running and I felt my head, there was blood.  This blood was making me a bit confused. I didn't think of the police at that time.  I jumped the fence and I went to see Mr Leponesa More. It was just a terrible situation in the township.
 I ran to a direction where I could find the police.  I couldn't see any of them. I ran and I couldn't see even one of the police vans.  I went to a member of our organisation, the IFP and he said what is happening. I said oh, no, just look at myself, I am injured, the boys told me that they are going to burn the house, can you please call the police to quickly attend to this matter.  
 I was at that house, blood still flowing and the police came.  They said to me what happened.  They asked me where the children were. I said they are at home.  We thought the police had gone home to protect the house, and yet, it was 
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just a dream, nobody was protecting the house.  
 I was taken by Mr Pofolos' ambulance to the hospital.  When I got to Sepong Hospital my mother was already there to be stitched.  We came back then, but befor that my mother said to me listen, our house is destroyed; when I got out of the house it was burning.  I said to her where are we going to spend the night.  She said to me we have nothing left, my daughter, we don't have a house.
 We went to a member of our party, Mr Motsugayo who accommodated us in that time of trouble.  We spent our days at Mr Motsugayo's house, and the case went to court.  For a long time, I think.  It was two years, if I have to be specific, but to watch the end of this court hearing, I realised that it doesn't help because we don't have any furniture, we don't have any belongings any more. I will talk to my God and I will accept that these were the youth and because the IFP burnt the ANC houses.  Maybe they were revenging and I just said it was a matter of politics.  
 I even volunteered to be the go-between the two groups, that is the IFP and the ANC. I remember the last time when there was a court case, there was a White woman who brought the two groups together.  This woman said she was from Legal Wise.  She asked these young studs, tell us what are you fighting for at Tigane.  There was no answer, they were only laughing.  This White woman said listen here, you can't tell tell us - isn't there anything you can tell us?  It is so painful today to be homeless and some of your relatives have passed away.  They still couldn't give an answer.
 I said to this woman listen here, lady, as far as I heard rumours, people are fighting for freedom in Tigane and we didn't know what freedom it was, because people were
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running along the streets with dangerous weapons in their hands.  You know just these two groups fighting each other.  My son was working at the military base.  
 This woman said to me what do you think.  I said madam, listen here, the ANC youth doesn't have any representative, but I am together with the youth of my party.  Can we release these youth? Even if our houses are burnt, it is not a problem, these are the material things of this world. We will work for them, because they are still young, they do not understand what they were doing, can we let them go free, can we let them attend school. When the case was taken to the magistrate and it was just dropped. It was dropped.  The magistrate said the case was just dropped. The attorney who was present at the court hearing was a member of the IFP.  The case was dropped, as I have mentioned.

MR POTGIETER: Who were these people that attacked your house on the 26th of July 1992?  To which organisation did they belong?

ANNIE K MOGAPI: They were members of the ANC.

MR POTGIETER: And you have already said that you are a member of the IFP.  Is that correct?

ANNIE K MOGAPI: That's correct, Sir.

MR POTGIETER: Does that also go for the rest of your family?

ANNIE K MOGAPI: They were the IFP.

MR POTGIETER: Now in that first incident, was it yourself, your mother and your father that were injured?