Human Rights Violation Hearings — Mmabatho — 1996-07-08

MS GASEBUE: In November 1985, it was between five and six o'clock this boy was working, they were building a fence at the creche.  And then he came back home and after a few minutes he left.
 After a while I felt something in my body.  And then 
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I went outside, I went home to look for him but he wasn't there.   I came back and I got into my house.   But just at the door I heard a gunshot.  This took place three times.
 After the gunshot I felt my body was very stiff. And he said to me, why don't you mix water and sugar and drink?  And that was what I did.  After finishing this water and trying to go outside I met Thanaka at the door.  Thanaka called to me and said -  I said, what are you saying.   He said, your son has been shot.  I then asked Thanaka where he was?   He said, he was at Lugumutsane.
 After Thanaka went away I told my sister that Monamodi has been shot.   I don't know where Thanaka went when he left the house.  When I went down Sumuno Street, after crossing Mosea Phoa, that is between Mosea Phoa Street and Goliati, I saw Matoko's lorry coming down Simuno Street.  
 It came and stopped where the child had been shot.  I came running and the boys jumped.  When they jumped I was still on my way running.  I was still looking up to them.  I think they were pulling him by that time.    I saw they were pulling him out of the yard. They had a lorry parked near the gate.  
 When they pulled him they put him into the lorry.  And the lorry came along.  I gave the lorry the signal to stop but it came at a very high speed.  And it drove passed me.  It joined Masoa Phoa Street and I followed the lorry, running.  
 When I came running there was a boy Buxman Labile who jumped out of the lorry and he had a sjambok in his hand.  He ran in my direction and he asked me, what is it?  Do 
you ask, what is it?   I've come to look if the child who has been shot is mine.   And I realised it was my child.
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 And I ran to the lorry.  There were so many people on the sides of the lorry.  When I ran to the lorry I looked inside and I grabbed the child's hair and felt for his pulse.  Really, he was dead by then.
 When I was feeling for his pulse, the other guy came running and jumped into the lorry and he closed the lorry and the lorry drove off.   
 At home I couldn't understand myself.  I was a very confused person.   We slept that night and the following day I prepared to go to the police station to report about what happened.
 When I was still preparing myself, Galeng came to me and he said, the lawyers were present, they were at Roma.  I was with my sister and another lady and we went to Roma.
Hoffman gave us a lift.  
 At the  time we got to Roma we found the lawyers and from Roma we left with the lawyers and we went to look at the spot where the child was shot. 
 Hoffman also took the stone which the people said was used to hit the child.   From there, when we left the area where he was shot, we went to the police station.
 On our arrival at the police station we got out of the car together with the lawyers and entered the police station.
 There were White men standing outside and they said blacks should not enter, only the lawyers should enter.  And they entered the building.  We and Hoffman stood outside the building.  Whilst we were outside the building they were looking at us through the windows, that is the White men.
 The White men came and chased us away and said we should stand in the street.  We went and stood in the street and we MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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stood there.  When we left that place we went home.
 When we went to see the corpse on the following day, they told us that the corpse is in the hospital.  It was being taken for post-mortem.   When we went to the hospital we didn't find the corpse.  We asked from the nurses and they said, there were no such corpse here.  
 And we went to the police station to tell them that the people at the hospital didn't see the corpse.  They said, please go away you will see the corpse tomorrow, you might come at 2 o'clock.   And that is the truth, we went away, we went home.
 We returned at 2 o'clock to go and see the corpse at the mortuary.  That is on Wednesday night, when we were together with Hoffman at the police station.  On the very Tuesday night they burnt Hoffman's house.
 We found the corpse at Avbob.  And we saw it, but I was not impressed by the way the corpse looked.  The corpse was in a sail, and there was blood in that sail.  And then I told them I am transferring this corpse to Safas.  The white man asked me why are you doing this.  I said I have business to do with Safas, and then I went to Safas.
 After taking this corpse to SAFAS I had to run around.  I can't remember whether it was on a Thursday I was going to the Reverend to report to him.
 When I entered through the mission gate I met a policeman who stopped me and told me that the Magistrate is looking for me.  I told him it is ok, and then I went 
away.
 I went home first.  At home someone told me that people had been looking for me and told me that the Magistrate is looking for me. I told them, no I got the message and then MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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I went away again to the Magistrate.
 When I got to the Magistrate, I was together with Monica and another lady called Mamotibi.  Magistrate Cronje said to me, because you have already arranged for the funeral I'm surprised to see on this paper that the people who have to attend the funeral all have to be in cars.   I called you because I know you won't be able to afford that.   And then he asked me where the child's father was and I told them, he died in 1983.  And he asked me how many people would come to the funeral and I told him, it would be many people, maybe they would be more than a thousand, because I have friends, I have relatives, his uncle has relatives and this boy also had friends.  
 And he said to me, no I don't agree to the fact that many should come and bury this child.  I give you up to 500 people who should attend the funeral.  And we don't want any speakers at the funeral.  No one should wear T-shirts.  The coffin must be in the car, they must not carry it along the way.  And those who want to walk on foot can walk on foot, without the coffin.
 And then I asked the Magistrate and said, because people can walk freely at night in the location and because of our tradition in Tswana, there are people who bring condolences and prayers at night and they are not able to do that, because the police is harassing them.   He said, no they won't be harassed.  They can come to your place.  
 Then we arranged for the funeral and buried the child.    The funeral service was very touchy.  People  had been hit by sjamboks, even my child's family and the relatives were not able to attend the funeral, because the police were harassing them.   There were many buses and combi's from MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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other areas - these belonged to the police.
 They surrounded all the cemetery and that is the way they used to operate.  Some of my child's relatives were not present, they were afraid.  The police were there.  They were harassing them, assaulting them and they were being torn apart by fences.
 After the funeral on the following day, a policeman by the name of Mothlaba came to me in the morning and he said to me the Magistrate has sent him.  It was on a Sunday.   That is the Captain sent me to come make sure about the way the funeral was conducted.  I then told him, go and tell your Captain that I am not happy about the reaction of the police yesterday. 
 We could not conduct the funeral in the way we wanted, because the police were harassing people.   
 After this funeral I couldn't sleep at night in my place.  Every time I tried to sleep I would take blankets and put them in front of the windows, so that from outside people should think that I am asleep.  But I would hear some footsteps around the house, whilst I am in the house.   Every time at 6 o'clock I would want all my children to be at home and I would lock the house.  Every time it became dark I would lock the house. 
 Whilst we were in the house and the others were 
sleeping, because I couldn't sleep after my child died, I would hear footsteps again in the evening.
 If I woke up and looked around I would find people.  On the following day when I got out of the house I would ask myself what the police were doing in my yard.  The children would say to me, maybe your head is not functioning well and I would say to them, didn't you hear the people around MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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the house at night?  
 And there were people also from Mathloko who I was seeing around my house.  And I didn't want those people to realise that lights were on in the house.   
 In 1986, I can't remember if it was 1986 or not, Monica came to me and said to me, did you receive any letter regarding Monamodi's case and I said, no.  And then I decided I had to find out from Maje and Fiona about how the case could be conducted without my knowledge.   And I told someone that I heard Monamodi's case was conducted and no one contacted me.  
 And they said they would phone me, but they didn't phone me.  They wrote me a letter and said to me, the case won't be conducted, as those people told you.  
 When Monica went to court I accompanied her.  When we arrived at the court, they said no, the case won't be heard.   The Magistrate we were with when Monica was assaulted ....
 Monica also asked about this case and they told us that the Magistrate is in church.   He can't really conduct this case. This case is too complicated. The case would only sit on the 8th of July and then we left him.