Human Rights Violation Hearings — King William's Town — 1997-05-14

MARK RICHARD SPARG: (Sworn states).

CHAIRPERSON: I welcome you Mr Sparg and we will ask Mrs June Crichton to direct a few questions to you just to give you a chance to tell us your story.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Thank you.

JUNE CRICHTON: Good morning Mr Sparg.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Morning.

JUNE CRICHTON: I believe you are fluent in Xhosa.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: I'm not fluent in Xhosa.  I don't think that my fluency would be adequate for this Commission, so if you don't mind.

JUNE CRICHTON: That is fine.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Although I do understand Xhosa to a large degree.

JUNE CRICHTON: Right, well then we will speak in English to each other.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Thank you.

JUNE CRICHTON: You were a resident in Komga at, in 1993.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: No,  the facts I hear when you mentioned that my case regards arson are involved in Komga  in 1993.  I was actually in 1993 at a place called Nochga in the Transkei.  In fact at Nchoga Cash Store, which is near the famed Nochga irrigation scheme.

JUNE CRICHTON: And you were, at that time then.   You've got a story to tell us about a dispute that you had that involved your time there, your family.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Yes.

JUNE CRICHTON: And you alleged that this was by PAC members.  Now, before you start, could you give us a bit of a picture of what the political situation was as you understood it at that time?

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Yes.  In.  I arrived in Nochga in 1992.  Being an ex-Trankeian, and I say that, because when the Independence of Transkei or Transkei became Independent in 1976, people like us were sort of left without a home.  We were actually made, or we became, how could I say, refugees in our own country.  So, I went back to Nochga in 1992 with the intention of re-establishing my roots in the country of my birth.  I leased the shop from a Mr Nxangele, who at the time was in detention in connection or so-called connection with a coup in the Transkei, so I had to actually go to the Court to get him to sign our Lease and I leased Nochga Cash Store and began trading in approximately August 1992.   We did very well.  Our turnover by that December was in the region of R200 000-00 for that month, which you know if you put a station that is 4 months old, would show you that we had lots of support and were well liked by the Community.  People knew my father.  People knew our heritage and we were welcomed back in the Community with open arms.

JUNE CRICHTON: This store that you had.  It was a cash store.  It sold general goods to.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: General Dealer and Hardware.  Similarly we revived what was, what used to be run by the old trader in the Transkei, who sort of was bought out after Independence.  People were left.  Traders were left in a situation where they had no security really.  They were.  It said that they could stay but nobody knew what, where the political scenario was going and where we would be left ten years down the line, so a lot of traders opted to leave the Transkei, which was a  very sad thing.

JUNE CRICHTON: Can you now, can you now tell us who the harassment began and what form it took ?.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: In  mid 1983, I became a member of the ANC, a card carrying member of the ANC and I actually allocated, they requested me for offices on the shop premises so that they could run an election campaign from there and so build their structure in the Nochga district.  Towards the end or threequarters of the way through 1993, I visited a friend of mine called Brian Wiley at Toinga and he

JUNE CRICHTON: Sorry I'm just going to interrupt you there.  You said you became a card-carrying member in '83, now you've jumped to '93.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: I mean '93, sorry.  If  I say '83, please excuse me, I'm talking in  the '93's.

JUNE CRICHTON: So it was in '93 that you became a card-carrying member.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: That's right.

JUNE CRICHTON: Thank you.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: One Sunday, we visited a friend of ours, Brian Wiley, who was trading at Toinga., a Trading station which is in the Waducha Basin and from there was an election, well, when I say an election rally, it was a rally being held by the ANC at Klerkbury.  So Brian and myself and a gentleman that worked for us went to the rally.  We were very kindly, we were one, I suppose there must have been say, five or six thousand people there and we were the only and I don't like to mention the word white, but we were the only three white people present at the rally and were very kindly asked if we wanted to sit in the shade on, amongst the dignitaries because there seemed to be some room there, which we accepted because I mean, if you're not used to standing in the sun, you know you can suffer a little but and anyway I recall Mr Mandela speaking of a Reverend Harris that taught him at a Missionary ,  Mr, Reverend Harris was a Missionary
in those days, and he instilled in-.  I'm not transgressing, but it's a part that I particularly remember of this.  We actually discussed this on our way home, back to Toinga and we found it very enlightening.  He instilled in Mr Mandela, the ideas that probably would, if I could put it this way, of human rights that would be embodied in our Constitution to-day, and it was a very poignant fact for us to remember.  Anyway-,

JUNE CRICHTON: I'm going to just interrupt you, I'm sorry to do this.  I just want you to clarify something.  This man Brian, was he also a cardholder of the ANC ?.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Well, he actually was a Committee Member of the Toinga branch of the ANC.

JUNE CRICHTON: So he was a Committee Member?

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Ja.

JUNE CRICHTON: Thank you.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Well, the Friday of that week.  That was the Sunday.  The following Friday I came to fetch my son in aah, he was at boarding school in Komga and my wife phoned me, well I actually phoned home to see how things were and they said that Brian had been missing since the Wednesday I think it was, the Wednesday evening.  Well, his body turned up.  He was dead.  They found him on Friday lying in the feld around in the Toinga, I mean in the Hadutschwa district and you know, this unsettled us a little bit, because and to-day we have actually never really heard what the reasons for his death were.

JUNE CRICHTON: What was his surname- um.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Mr Brian Wiley.

JUNE CRICHTON: I beg your pardon ?.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Brian Wiley.

JUNE CRICHTON: Wiley.  Thank you.  Continue.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: Anyway, towards the end of November 93, we received word in our shop from our guard that was in our employ.  He said to us that he feels that he better resign, he's leaving, because he'd been told that they're going to kill him.  Who they were, I still don't know to-day.  I have my suspicions, but of course suspicions aren't the facts and ,

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, just an interruption.  There is a lot of interruption that is taking place.  I suppose that.  We would like people to keep quiet because the noise is affecting our concentration.  We have to listen clearly when a person is on stage.  If people want to go out, please go out quietly, because you are disturbing our concentration.   Thank you.

MARK RICHARD SPARG: May I digress a bit,  a month or two before the November, we, there was a Commission  in that 1983  year set up to try and fathom out  what should happen to  the
Nochga scheme.     In fact, one of your Commissioners, Mr Dumisa Ntsebeza chaired that 
Commission.

JUNE CRICHTON: Oh, I am.  You've said again '83, are you meaning ...