Human Rights Violation Hearings — East London — 1997-06-13

MS MAXONGO: Thank you Reverend.  Let me greet you Reverend and people in 
the panel together with everybody present here.  I would like to thank this opportunity, 
I was given this opportunity after Sisan Jikilane, who was testifying here, he was my 
leader in the trade union.  Chairperson, I am not going to say a lot, but I will just tell 
you briefly what happened.  I am worried, because I was supposed to testify yesterday, 
but because of the situation here in Mdantsane I could not testify yesterday.  My 
speech would make sense if I testified yesterday, because yesterday was women's day. 
 Women in South Africa have struggled.  That is what I wanted to say yesterday.  I 
wanted to clarify this.  
 Women were involved in the struggle.  They started in the bus boycott and in 
the trade unions.  Because it was very difficult for us to be involved in the struggle we 
had to form different other organisations.  We did not want to depend on the trade 
union only.  We formed our own committees.  We were going to be joined to the 
community organisations.  We started with UWO, United Womens' Organisation, 
which was a national organisation.  We worked together with the trade union, because 
we were also workers.  We wanted to be liberated.  This is, this was our strategy.  We 
continued as UWO as women and we supported the bus boycott.  
 At that time in the Committee of Ten, I was one of the members.  There were 
only two women in that committee.  Eight of the other members were men.  We 
continued in this committee.  I am not, I do not want to talk a lot about the bus 
boycott, because Sisan has already given you that information, but what I would like 
to say is that we were fighting against the increase of five cents.  They called it 11%.  
We as workers, we were not aware of this 11%, but we found out that the difference 
was five cents.  People were killed, Chairperson.  I am here today, because I want to 
testify on that.  People were shot.  I heard about this while I was in prison, because in 
1983 I was detained in NU1.  
 The bus boycott started on the first of July.  On the second day people were 
supporting the bus boycott and the leaders of that bus boycott were detained.  The 
aim, Chairperson, was that as the leaders were being detained people would go and 
use the busses, because they thought that the leaders were the ones stopping people 
from using busses.  We were detained as members of the Committee of Ten in NU1 
together with other members of SAWU, who were suspected to be the ones 
supporting the bus boycott.  People were strong and they knew where we were 
detained.  The police would come to our cells, Chairperson.  They would tell us that 
the bus boycott was over.  I would say that, we would say that they were not telling us 
the truth.
 I was amongst these men.  Everybody who was a leader was arrested at that 
time.  Chairperson, we were inside at the time.  I would like to repeat that people 
supported the bus boycott.  The leaders were all inside, they were arrested.  I became 
ill in the prison cell.  After I ate my meal, as the detainees, as detainees we would eat 
food from different hospitals and on this particular day all the leaders were there and 
Tangana was also there.  After we had our meal, Chairperson, there was chaos.  We 
wanted, everybody wanted to go to the loo after we had this meal.  Because we were 
more than 15, because Comrades were more than 15 in the cell they would go to one 
loo.  Fortunately, I was alone in the cell.  I became ill and they decided to take me to 
hospital.  In hospital my family members were not allowed, because I was a detainee, 
but the workers would come to visit me in hospital and they would want information 
of whether there are any leaders who died there.
 Chairperson, as the Committee of Ten we were disturbed, because people 
were being shot outside and some of them disappeared.  Today, on behalf of the 
Committee of Ten, when I am concluding the bus boycott issue, I would like to say the 
victims family members of the bus boycott massacre would not be satisfied, 
Chairperson, unless someone would come forward to tell us what happened, because 
if you are a leader and such incidents are happening, you are also affected.  The people 
who were against our organisation said that we were the ones who made people killed. 
 When I am concluding the bus boycott issue I would like to ask the Committee to 
persuade the perpetrators to come forward to tell the truth so that the victims and their 
family members can be satisfied.  They must come here and apologise and I would like 
the Commission to speak to the President so that we can have projects in our area and 
people can get pension grants.  It is difficult for the victims, those who were injured to 
get the grant.  If the Commission can help them so that they get the pension grant.  
The Commission can come to us and ask the names of these people.  We do have 
records although they were burnt down when SAWO offices were burnt down.
 Chairperson, I would also like to talk about the struggle of school children 
especially what happened in Mdantsane in 1986.  We were different structures and we 
were trying to discuss this.  Women organisations were there.  We had women's 
organisations which were strong in East London.  We also had an, DUWEL 
organisation and ELWA, East London Womens Association and Democratic Union of 
Women of East London.  These two organisations would be present when 
negotiations took place.  
 In 1986 we were harassed as women.  In all the mentioned occasions women 
were the ones who were harassed the most.  In the case, in the incident of bus boycott, 
in 1983 I was in hospital.  I was assaulted in the police station in NU1.  In 1984 I went 
back to hospital for six weeks, because I was also assaulted.  I think I was assaulted, 
because I had connections with the ANC and it was banned at that time.  Members of 
the Committee of Ten were harassed by the people, because people said that these 
members sold me out.  I use to go to Lesotho.  We did not want the bus boycott to 
have anything to do with the ANC.  I denied everything and I denied the evidence by 
the police.
 They then assaulted me.  I urinated myself and my ears were burning.  They 
put a tube.  This was used by the Security Branch when a person would be 
interrogated.  They would tie this tube in your neck so that you could not breathe.  
They would say to you if you want us to put, to take off this tube, you will tell us the 
truth and tie, the tube was tied in your neck.  The police would say that if you are 
ready to tell us the truth, raise your hand.  After five minutes I would raise my hand 
and say, yes, I am going to tell you the truth and they would take off this tube.  I 
would say, yes, I am going to tell you the truth.  I do go to Lesotho and I come back.  
What else do you want?  I am not going to, I do not want to talk more about that.  
 At that time I was a leader, but I would like to tell you what the police use to 
do to us.  I was imprisoned with my friend Mtze, it was four of us in totality.  We were 
woken up early in the morning by the prisoners to be interrogated at unit one, 
Mdantsane.  The interrogation was led by White men.  The team was led by Charles 
van Wyk.  There was a whole lot of them.  So therefore the team that was torturing us 
and the team that was interrogating us was different.  They therefore had particular 
specific job to beat people up, to torture people.  This is the Black people, our own 
people that were torturing us.  When I had urinated on myself, all wet, I woke up from 
that, my tracksuit was wet as well.  
 They sent in my friend, Mtze, so that I could see how much he had been 
beaten up.  He said to us if you continue not to divulge the truth you are going to die 
here.  He said to me that Mtze was beaten up, because I was not divulging anything.  I 
saw that they would say that they would beat us up until we mess on ourselves.  My 
friend had messed on himself, I noticed.  I said to him that perhaps we should tell them 
everything, but we decided not to.  We said to them that they must beat us up to 
death, it is alright.  He said the same thing.  I would hear him screaming, crying from 
next door and he would hear me as well.  These were huge, hefty men that were 
beating us up, you must realise.
 Mr Chairperson, Madam Chair, the most important thing I want to say about 
women's struggle for liberation.  Nhononho ...