Human Rights Violation Hearings — Queenstown — UNKNOWN

NA DASTILE: I went to the mortuary and when I got there,
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three of us arrived at the same time, but we did not really know each other and when we got there, there was a Doctor coming out   and there were five policemen who were carrying firearms.
 And we wanted help because we wanted to go inside and identify our people.  When the policemen looked at us, they said to us, they're dead, we don't know what killed them.  We didn't answer.
 The Doctor passed us and they also went past and when we went into the mortuary, what we saw there was, we just heard because when we got there it was cleaned up already, apparently the Doctor must have done the post-mortem.
 They were laying on their backs and they had been cleaned already.  You could see that the men, you could differentiate the men from the boys because they were naked and they were laying next to each other.
 We came and identified them and I saw Fikile.

MR SANDI: The Doctor that was with those five policemen, do you know him?

NA DASTILE: No, I don't know him.

MR SANDI: While you people were preparing for the funeral, were there any incidents that disturbed you people?

NA DASTILE: When we were preparing for the funeral, there were disturbances because while we were there waiting for the date of the funeral, the police came and told us to go out and sweep the streets.
 While we were going out, before we got there, some women came and made it possible for me to go along the wall and go into the house and they proceeded to go and sweep the streets.

MR SANDI: Was there any conditions in connection with
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the burial of your son?

NA DASTILE: No.  The people had requested the funeral for that day.

MR SANDI: How did the funeral go that day?

NA DASTILE: ; The day of the funeral we went by Kombi the morning to the mortuary and we were taken to AVBOB to go and see them for the last time.
 When we got to AVBOB they were put outside and we could see them and we were brought back and they were then transported to the Israel, by the Israel by the stadium where the service was going to be held.
 They then blocked the way for us not to pass on the way from there and they would stop the vehicles that we were travelling in and look for whatever it was they were looking for.
 And when we finished the service at the stadium, there were two hippo's which were standing near Zwelixa and two Priests, I don't know who they were, came out.
 I don't know if, I know there was a White Priest, but they went to the hippo's and said to these police, we asked to have this funeral, why are you people holding us inside here.
 And they said no the hippo is stuck, we didn't come to you.  The funeral proceeded to the graveyard and the hippo's moved from there and when we got to the graveyard, there was a helicopter flying above.
 We proceeded and we were told by the Marshals that we should leave first and get straight into the vehicles, we shouldn't wait until everything had been finished.
 When we finished, we left and got into a Kombi.  The Kombi in which we were, is the same one in which the Kamati 
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family was.

MR SANDI: Sorry Ms Dastile, are you going to repeat what was said by Ms Kamati?

NA DASTILE: The part that I am going to say is that since we were the mourners, we were supposed to go to the yard.  When they were being stopped by the police, I jumped out and I went into the yard.

MR SANDI: Let us just go beyond that.  Did you go to an attorney for advice?  Did you go to an attorney?  Is there an attorney that you approached for advice?

NA DASTILE: No, we did not go to an attorney.

MR SANDI: Did you hear about policemen that had been arrested in connection with this matter?

NA DASTILE: No, I did not hear anything.

MR SANDI: Now that you are here in front of the Commission Ms Dastile, do you have any request from the Commission?  What can the Commission do for you?

NA DASTILE: I do have a request.  Since my child died I live a life where I get odd jobs here and there, but my life has never been right again.

MR SANDI: Do you mean that this terrible incident that you have all spoken about, has affected your life?

NA DASTILE: It affected my health because I am a diabetic and my eyes also are a problem.

MR SANDI: Are you under any treatment currently?

NA DASTILE: Yes, I do go to a Doctor for treatment.

MR SANDI: Who is this Doctor?  Who is this Doctor?

NA DASTILE: My Doctor is Doctor Beukes, but he passed away recently and I haven't been to another Doctor yet.

MR SANDI: Is that all you want to say?

NA DASTILE: I would like to know if the Commission cannot QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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help me because I would have liked these people who killed my child to be prosecuted.

MR SANDI: Thank you Ma'am.

BONGANI FINCA: Are there any questions?  Revd Xundu?

REV XUNDU: (No interpretation)

NA DASTILE: ... there was another one with white hair, called Van Vuuren, he was called Van Vuuren.  One was called Van Vuuren.

REV XUNDU: Are there, don't you know any other names of these policemen?

NA DASTILE: No.

REV XUNDU: The nurse that was assisting there, do you know her name?

NA DASTILE: Yes, I do.

REV XUNDU: What is her name?

NA DASTILE: She was Sister Batwali.  She was Sister Batwali.  The one who was saying that the police should be phoned.

REV XUNDU: The White one that was also there, what was her name?

NA DASTILE: I don't know her name.

REV XUNDU: Thank you.

BONGANI FINCA: Dr Ramashala.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Chairperson, this question is directed to all the witnesses.  Since this was a mass massacre, have you thought about how you would like all of them to be remembered.  Now I am not talking about individual remembrances, I am talking about a community remembrance.  Have you thought about it?  Dr Ramashala would like to know if you people have thought of any way in which you, you the families of the 11 would like them to be remembered?  the 11 QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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people who died in that Methodist Church on that day, have you thought of a way in which they can be remembered?  If you haven't thought about it yet, say so.  If you have, you can say what ideas you have.

WITNESSES: We do have a wish that even if there can be a memorial stone to remember them, by which we can remember them, in their memory, just a plaque or a memorial stone.