Human Rights Violation Hearings — Welkom — 1996-10-10

MR DLAMINI: his actions.  They told me that if I didn't want to go to court I was going to be arrested.  I said that is fine.  If they wanted to arrest me they could go ahead and do it, because I had been attending court for several times and Dewitty was being addressed directly by the Magistrate, and the Magistrate was giving Dewitty and his gang knives, and I could not watch that any more.  I did not want to go to court any more to watch Dewitty showing us his prowess, how he had the Magistrate eating out of his hand.  I just could not stand it.  Even the prosecutor, Mrs Pienaar, would speak to Dewitty, and she would ask Dewitty as to how many people they had killed, and Dewitty would point at me, and I would tell him not to point at me, but he should tell the prosecutor as to how many people he had killed.  He even said that at some stage he would go to Mrs Pienaar's house to sleep there.

MR DLAMINI: Ma Rantie, did you have any lawyer representing the family?

WITNESS:   I did engage the services of an attorney, but I was not satisfied with his services.  I went to Rector Mpohadi, the rector of Mpohadi College, because my child at that time was still at school.  I was not sure as to whether my child was safe, and I wanted him to write me a letter so that I could look for another school for my child, because I wasn't sure about her safety.

MR DLAMINI: (Inaudible) ... you, do you have his name?

WITNESS:   It's Groenberg.  I was referred to Groenberg by the rector of Mpohadi College, and I went to Groenberg.  There are two Groenbergs.  There's the one - the senior and the junior.  Groenberg told me that there was absolutely nothing he could do to help me, but I went back to the rector and he arranged an appointment for me with  Groenberg.  And Groenberg is the one who asked me as to

MR DLAMINI: what I wanted him to do for me.  I told him that my child was facing her final year exams, but I was very much concerned about her safety because she had no protection whatsoever.  And he made a court order and I said that I wanted to see the Magistrate.  And he arranged an appointment for me to see the Magistrate.

MR DLAMINI: I know that one of the perpetrators is now dead, Dewitty.  Are there any of the Three Million Gang who are allegedly - who were allegedly involved in the killing of your son who are still alive?

WITNESS:   There are so many of them who are still living.  Some ran away.  When I was called to go to court in 1992, when they said they were going to arrest me if I didn't go to court, when I got to court the Magistrate - the policeman or the court orderly who was there addressed the Magistrate and said there were more than 60 people who had come to kill my child, and most of them had died.  And the Magistrate said there was nothing that he could do because so many had died.  There was no need to look for the rest.

MR DLAMINI: And your son, was he a member of any organisation before his death?

WITNESS:  He was an ANC Youth League member.

MR DLAMINI: The investigating officers, I know that you were not happy with the way they handled you, but who were responsible to investigate the death of your son?

WITNESS:   It's Mr Mofokeng.

MR DLAMINI: Is Mr Mofokeng still at Kroonstad?  Is he still in the employ of the South African Police?

WITNESS:   He's on pension at the present moment.

MR DLAMINI: And we do have a copy of the provisional death certificate for Solomon, which still reflects the cause of death as, "Under investigation."  Did you get a death  certificate for Tsiyetsi?

WITNESS:   All the people who have been killed by the Three Million Gang they always say that the matter is still being investigated.  Even Tsiyetsi's death certificate is written like that.

MR DLAMINI: Mama Rantie, thank you very much for the courage that you have shown.  I would like to hand over to the Chairman now.  Thank you.

MR DLAMINI: Mama Rantie, I have this compulsion to say something to you and your family, that it's quite clear that the trauma you experienced affected your entire family, and it's quite clear that your life changed, it can never be the same again.  But I would like to hear from you very briefly how did this change your life and that of your family, and what's your state of health now?

WITNESS:   I am not feeling well.  I am very unhappy.  I am suffering from loss of memory.  Before I wasn't using any glasses, but I had an eyesight problem.  I ultimately had to wear glasses.  I do not sleep properly at night because I keep on thinking about my son's death.  I just have no way of coping with it.  I would like to forget about my son's death, but it just can't happen because there's so many things he used to do, and each time I get disturbed whenever I think of the things that he used to do for me.  At times he would book me a doctor when ever I was ill, and now those things that he used to do, there's nobody else who does them any more, and I do feel the gap.  Now I feel there's just nothing worth living for.  And even after my son had died I was always harassed, I was terrorised.  They sent Vet Volvo(?) to my place.  They harassed me with my family.  They traumatised my mother, who was blind, and the whole family was severely terrorised and harassed by the whole incident.  The past regime has traumatised me in an unbelievable manner.  There ware certain things which I feel I will never ever be able to forget, nor will I be able to cope with the situation.  My remaining son used to sleep together with Solomon, and each time he has to go to sleep he would go round and round the  house avoiding to go to bed, and now he is avoiding that bed ever since that happened.

MR DLAMINI: Thank you very much, Mama.  It's quite clear that there is so much - there is so much pain that it can just - there is nothing - there is no words that can express it.  You are depressed.  Your family is in pain, and I would say that please do use some assistance which we would try to give you.  And that regarding your house where your son was murdered - because living in a house where your son was murdered is not going to help you as well.  Probably also that's another thing where you can seek some assistance.  Anyway, thank you very much.

WITNESS:  Another painful aspect is that every morning when I wake up I always have to pass close to that spot where he fell when he was attacked by the Three Million Gang.  I have to live with that every day of my life.