Amnesty Hearings — Pretoria — 1997-02-26

MR MORUDU: No.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Were you ever present when cars were burnt?

MR MORUDU: No.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Were you ever present at any marches?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: How many?

MR MORUDU: I can't remember.

ADV DU PLESSIS: One or two or a lot?
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ADV DU PLESSIS: 182

MR MORUDU: There were a lot of marches, I can't remember.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Were you present at a lot of marches?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: What were these marches about?

MR MORUDU: In most cases it was for matters related to the school or schools in our township.

ADV DU PLESSIS: What matters?

MR MORUDU: Like what I have already stated, books and I said I can't remember some of the things at 
that time.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Were you aware at that time who was in government, which political party was in 
government?

MR MORUDU: I was aware, yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Which party was that?

MR MORUDU: The National Party.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Were you aware of any other political parties at that time?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Which ones?

MR MORUDU: The PFP.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Which other ones?

MR MORUDU: The Conservative Party.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes?

MR MORUDU: You mean parliamentary parties or what?

ADV DU PLESSIS: Well I am speaking of political parties in total, so I am referring to illegal as well as 
legal political parties at that time.

MR MORUDU: Yes, I knew of the UDF also.  I can't remember the others.

ADV DU PLESSIS: You just new of the UDF?

MR MORUDU: Yes, you asked me of any parties I knew and I gave you I think three or four, yes.
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ADV DU PLESSIS: 182

ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes. Did you know of any other parties?

MR MORUDU: No.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Did you know what the UDF stood for, the letters UDF, did you know that?

MR MORUDU: No, I was not aware of it at that time.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Have you subsequently become aware of other parties that might have, other political 
parties that might have been involved at that time, legal or illegal?

MR MORUDU: You mean now, am I aware of them now? Well, I now I am aware that the ANC was 
there, I don't know whether it was a political party or a freedom party at all.

ADV DU PLESSIS: You have become aware of the ANC now?

MR MORUDU: Now I am aware that is why I say I can't distinguish between these other parties which I 
have got and the ANC at that time.

ADV DU PLESSIS: When you were at these marches, what did you do?

MR MORUDU: We were singing and running and so forth.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Is that all you did?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: What were you singing?

MR MORUDU: We were singing a lot of - we were singing songs.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Which kind of songs?

MR MORUDU: I can't now say which kind, but there were a lot of songs like Nkosi Sikelele which we 
sung at that time.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Do you know any of those songs still?

MR MORUDU: Yes, I know Nkosi Sikelele.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, and any of the other songs that you sang?

MR MORUDU: I can't remember them quite well now.
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ADV DU PLESSIS: 183

JUDGE MGOEPE: Sorry, did you sing so-called Freedom songs?

MR MORUDU: Yes, there were some, we sung them.

ADV DU PLESSIS: These Freedom songs you sang, what did they say, what did they mean?

MR MORUDU: You see, most of them are in Zulu and I don't understand Zulu.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Are there lots of Zulu's living in Mamelodi?

MR MORUDU: Well in my section they are "Peddies" living there, there are no Zulu's.

ADV DU PLESSIS: And where did these marches occur? Only in your section or where?

MR MORUDU: No. They were occurring in the township.

ADV DU PLESSIS: How did you know of the marches?

MR MORUDU: There were posters that were being posted in each and every corner of the township.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Why did you go to the marches?

MR MORUDU: I went to the marches because at that time each and every person was going to those 
marches and I was a student leader.  Where student demands were being there addressed, I was going to 
those marches.

ADV DU PLESSIS: For what reason did you go to those marches?

MR MORUDU: As I have already said, as a student leader I had to attend those marches to see if the 
things we want were being addressed and so forth.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Right, and you say you were a student leader?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Now, in respect of which organisations or to which organisations did you belong to?
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ADV DU PLESSIS: 184

MR MORUDU: Mamelodi Students Congress.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Now, this organisation, how many members did it have?

MR MORUDU: We didn't have registered members, but we had an Executive of about 10 people.

ADV DU PLESSIS: This Executive, were they all the same age as you?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Did they all live in Mamelodi?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Did they come from different parts of Mamelodi?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: How did it come that you were elected to this council?

MR MORUDU: I was elected to this council because I was the president of the students representative 
council at my school.

ADV DU PLESSIS: How did you become president of the students representative council of your school?

MR MORUDU: I was elected by the students.

ADV DU PLESSIS: How did that election take place?

MR MORUDU: It took place at an assembly.

ADV DU PLESSIS: At an assembly?

MR MORUDU: Yes.

ADV DU PLESSIS: How did it come that you were elected?

JUDGE WILSON: I take it that people voted for him.

UNKNOWN: Surely Mr du Plessis, do we have go into all these details at this stage?

ADV DU PLESSIS: Mr Chairman I have a specific objective for this.
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ADV DU PLESSIS: 185

UNKNOWN: Would you not put your particular question because we are going into minor details about 
student organisations SRC's and so on?

ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes Mr Chairman, but it is important to determine exactly what Mr Morudu's 
position in Mamelodi amongst the youth was in relation to his evidence.

JUDGE MGOEPE: . . . (inaudible) ask him why he was elected, how did it come about?

ADV DU PLESSIS: I was coming to that, Mr Chairman.

JUDGE MGOEPE: Yes, well then come to that one then.

ADV DU PLESSIS: As it pleases you.  Now, Mr Morudu at that assembly, how were you elected?

MR MORUDU: Names were suggested and after that the election took place.  That is how we were 
elected.

ADV DU PLESSIS: What was discussed at that meeting?

MR MORUDU: About the election.

JUDGE MGOEPE: Mr Morudu why were you elected as president? Why did the students think that you 
deserved the position of a president?

MR MORUDU: Maybe what I can think of at this stage is I was a prominent, I was an athlete at school, I 
was in a debating committee and they said how good I can debate when we have our debates.

JUDGE MGOEPE: Are there any other reasons that might have made you think that you might be a 
suitable person for the president other than the fact that you were a prominent athlete and good in debate?

MR MORUDU: I can't remember of any other thing.

JUDGE MGOEPE: Was it not because you had a political clout?

MR MORUDU: I don't think, I don't know how the way they perceived it, the students who elected me.
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ADV DU PLESSIS: 186

JUDGE MGOEPE: Did you think you had a political clout?

MR MORUDU: No. I didn't think of that at the time.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Were any political issues discussed when you were elected to this, to your school's 
council?

MR MORUDU: We discussed only students matters at that time.

ADV DU PLESSIS: What were they?

MR MORUDU: Like the repairing of windows, corporal punishment and free stationery.  Those are some 
of the things I remember.

ADV DU PLESSIS: Was nothing discussed pertaining to the upheavals in the township, the fact that the 
South African Defence Force was in the township, the UDF, anything of that nature?

MR MORUDU: No.  We were only ...(intervention)

ADV DU PLESSIS: Nothing?