Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-20

MR SIGWELA: The honourable Chairperson of the Commission and all the Commissioners, I think it was around September or October in 1980.  That was the time when members of the PAC were released and other members of APLA they were led by Sabilo Kweta.  He use to be known as Sabilo Palmer.  We use to know each other from Kangaluza High School, that is myself and Sabilo Kweta.  We were here in Umtata.  He came to the Council of Churches where I use to work.  I was a field worker at the time.  People use to be helped at the Council of Churches.  He did come as well and among the things that he said, he said to me there is another young man from Cala, his name is Gwazo Twalo who has been arrested.  He is here in prison, not necessarily in any prison, but he knew that while he was being interrogated he did realised that this man is right here.  Even with the information that he received from others, but that was my first time to here his name.  It was my first time to hear about Gwazo Twalo's name.
 As Commissioner Ntsebeza has said before I did not care whether the information that I received was just from the streets, I use to open up files.  That particular 
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information I also included in my journal including it with the others who were arrested, but I tried to find out why was he arrested.  They said Gwazo and Sabilo use to know each other during their high school days.  Gwazo went to Wentworth to do his medical studies and Sabilo went to Fort Hare University.  They went to Botswana as refugees.  They went on separate ways.  One was going to the ANC so he said I am under the impression that he was trained in Angola, but I wrote down all that information.  There is another prisoner who is presumed detained.  His name is Gwazo Twalo.  He also underwent military training in Angola.  I kept that whole record in my files which I kept them.  So that when I keep following the case I can be able to refer back to the file so that I can be able to help the family if they came to me to ask more.  At that time I did not know that these people that I know, from his family, that it was them because I realised that later this Gwazo Twalo is the same Gwazo Twalo when I came back from, when I was from Robben Island in 1979.  You must realise that at that time we were doing everything underground.  At that time we were forced to do everything that we wanted to do underground.  
 I was called by Comrade Kati.  He told me that there is another young man here.  A man that he was supposed to meet.  At that time now it was in the Nobowa rural areas.  He was doing the underground work in the country which was now during 1979.  He was sent by the Umkhonto we Sizwe command from Lesotho.  We spoke with him, but I did not know he was Gwazo Twalo.  When I met him I did not know him at all.  This name, Gwazo Twalo, was quite new to me.  It was if I had known him right from the beginning, that this is Gwazo Twalo when we were at Cala.  I could be able to associate 
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these two, but I could not at that time.  This whole period that were together in 1980 I could not associate this Gwazo Twalo to be the same person who was from Cala.  The same person that I met at Engcobo.  The same person that I had information about his disappearance.  He did not come back in 1979 when he was supposed to come back, to come back to Lesotho.  The report that I got was that he did not come back at night.  People wondered what happened to him.  Now when I got this information, but I could not associate these two meetings.
 Now in 1981 when I was going to Lesotho, when I got there this man had already a wife now when he was outside, while he was in exile.  His wife was very worried until she decided to contact the lawyers.  She contacted lawyers in Port Elizabeth, but I have forgotten the name of the firm, such that if I knew that I was going to be talking about this here, I would have brought out all the facts, but it was a firm of lawyers.  She was trying to trace her husband.  From Lesotho I got a request from Chris Hani that we must also try and trace and find out if there is any information about this young man.  I tried by all means because I what I wanted to do most was to meet his wife so that I can get all the details.  So that I can just find out if she suspects, she has any suspicions about his whereabouts.  At that time there was International Committee of the Red Cross, it was ICRC.  He use to work together in the Council of Churches and I knew that there was this trace urgency because at the time of the struggle.  During the wars that were going on, especially the World War, the Second World War.  Many people disappeared and I was involved in tracing those people.
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 Now during the Vietnam War, after the Americans had fled, there was more tracing and there was this problem of tracing.  I can remember one child that was traced to Tanzania.  He was a white child.  They were captured by the Frelimo.  Then I approached them in Pretoria.  Now that is how we started to work with the International Red Cross.  They gave me tracing forms, I took those forms to Lesotho.  I did not meet this wife still.  I left these forms with the ANC people telling them that they must give these forms to Ezra's wife.  I did fill in all the particulars, Kwazo's particulars. Everything that I knew about him and the last time I saw him.  Now in the end what transpired through the lawyers and the efforts of the International Committee of Red Cross was that the Pretoria did give the affidavit that they arrested Ezra in Aliwal North and then released him in May 1980.  That is how the documents say this.  Now anyone can just think for themselves if that is something usual for a person to be just released after the person has been suspected of so many political activities.  Now, still I could not reconcile his release with the fact that in October 1980 I met Sabilo Kweta saying that, no, this person we are talking about is here inside the prison.
  The situation stayed like that for quite a while.  Still I was trying to make an attempt.  While I was still trying to do that I was arrested as well.  Even in my pocket I still had this woman's address.  During the time of my interrogation, I was interrogated by a Lieutenant Boy.  He said to me, what is this?  I said this is somebodies address.  The person is a detainee, he has been disappeared.  Then he said, is he here with us?  So he took the address and threw it in the trash bin.  That was the last time I saw UMTATA HEARING EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE
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the address.  Now, after that I was concentrating on other things.  I could not find any leads even from the Red Cross and from our own side.  Nothing happened.  
 Now in 1981, if I am not mistaken about the time, four men were released.  Madi Koniwe, Mr Ntsebeza, this one who is just sitting across me now.  You will forgive me for pointing my finger at you while you are a Commissioner.  They came to the office, Mr Ntsebeza said to me, man there is something suspicious because it looks like they were also taken to Sakspruit, I am sorry, in Mount Fletcher.  He said there is something about Gwazo here in this prison.  It looks like Gwazo is here in the prison, but I do not know if that was true at the time.  Even the man who was here now before me, I think he knows about this, he talked about him.  It was at that time when I was able to gather the, but the whole process kept on going by the Council of Churches, here and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
 Now, by the International Committee of the Red Cross was, had this case, but this was one of their unsolved cases that they had.  I will really like the Commissioners to please contact the Red Cross so that the case can be reopened.  Thank you.