Human Rights Violation Hearings — Kimberley — 1996-06-11

ADV POTGIETER: David, thank you for that.  How old were you when you were detained and you went through this ordeal that you just spoke about?

DAVID MABEKA: I was 20 years at that time - I was 20 years.

ADV POTGIETER: Were you given ever a reason why you were detained?

DAVID MABEKA: Up to this day I don't know any reason whatsoever.

ADV POTGIETER: Were you - you were schooling I gather, is that correct - at that time when you were detained?

DAVID MABEKA: Yes, I was doing Std 9 at the time, I was at school.

ADV POTGIETER: Were you - were you a youth leader or were you in the SRC or did you hold any positions like that?

DAVID MABEKA: During that time it - the prefect system was still in use and we wanted that system to be  eradicated  because it was - it was there for the teachers against the students.  And at that time we were fighting the prefect system - we didn't want it to exist.  We wanted the SRC to be in place.  That is the only part that I took as we were going about  eradicating  the prefect system.

ADV POTGIETER: Was only at your school that you were at, at that time, you were only concerned about your own school of getting a SRC there, you're not involved in any other schools?

DAVID MABEKA: Can you please repeat the question?

ADV POTGIETER: It was only your involvement in connection with the SRC that you wanted.  That - that was only at the school where you were at that stage.  You were not part of a bigger movement, no so?

DAVID MABEKA: My organisation actually is ANC, I was an activist in the ANC organisation but during that time the branch had  not been launched.  Even the active members of the ANC - but I must say there wasn't any formal branch of the ANC at that time.

ADV POTGIETER: When you were detained and you were questioned it seems to have been only in connection with what happened at school because you say that the police accused  you of teaching the children wrong things, to stay away from school and that so.  It looks as if your detention had to do with some or other activities at school.  Is that how you also understood it?

DAVID MABEKA: Yes, I think my arrest stems from the fact that I was active at school because I've been only active at school.

ADV POTGIETER: So one can assume that you were detained because of that attempt to get a SRC at your school.  That seems to be the only reason that suggest itself, no so?

DAVID MABEKA: I think it's true.

ADV POTGIETER: In fact you said that when the police questioned you they wanted to know what was going on in Barkley West, they wanted information from you.  They didn't accuse you of anything of having committed a crime or anything in particular.  Is that correct?

DAVID MABEKA: At that time in Barkley West - Barkley West was quiet and people were not yet aware of what was happening.   And sometimes I would get advice from my friends at Kimberley.  They were only giving me advice on political matters and when I was at Barkley I realised that many parents at that time thought that I was - I didn't want to go to school.  And they thought that I would take their children from - out of school.  There were lots and lots of allegations from the parents.
 I think it's because they didn't understand quite well the political situation at that time.  And what I was trying to do - it was just to explain and give them advice and this didn't to happen only at Barkley West.  It happened all over the country.

ADV POTGIETER: Now, did I understand the - your evidence correctly.  It seems as if you were questioned and assaulted and so on just for the first - well the first few days of detention and after that you were simply locked up for the rest of three months and never questioned again.  Was that - was that how it happened?

DAVID MABEKA: I didn't quite understand the question.

ADV POTGIETER: Is it correct to say that what actually happened was that you were questioned over the first few days of - after you were detained and assaulted and everything else that you testified about and after that you were just locked away and you sat out the rest of about three months in custody just being locked up?

DAVID MABEKA: That's true.

ADV POTGIETER: And there were never any charges made against you, there was never any case made against you, is that correct?

DAVID MABEKA: Yes, that's correct -  no charges were laid against me.

ADV POTGIETER: And - and as you've already said there was no explanation given to you why you were detained?

DAVID MABEKA: They never explained to me why was I detained.

ADV POTGIETER: When you were transferred to the Transvaal Road Police Station, you were taken to the 6th floor and at that time you already heard about the 6th floor.  What was it that you heard - what - about the 6th floor?

DAVID MABEKA: On the 6th floor - it was the first time that I went to that floor.  As we heard that in the past some comrades were being arrested.  There were some rumours  that I heard of what happened on the 6th floor.  They told us that we must know that the 6th floor - when you are at the 6th floor you experience - when they showed us the bath that reminded me of what I heard outside about what's happening on the 6th floor.  
They told us that you are being put into a  bag together with a cat and you are being put into that bath full of water.  Those were things that I heard are happening on the 6th floor.  When they showed me the bath I thought of such things and many comrades were also being tortured on the 6th floor.

ADV POTGIETER: And how did you feel when they took you to the 6th floor, what - what emotions did you have?

DAVID MABEKA: When they took us to the 6th floor together with James Morake - we were staring at each other.  We were just thinking of what would happen but I must say we didn't know what was going to happen with us.  We were just puzzled, we didn't know what to expect.
 I can't say I was scared but time and again I was thinking not knowing what was going to happen.  I must say I wasn't afraid, I was just asking myself questions, this was ringing in my mind - what's going to happen - what's going to happen.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] when you were taken to the 6th floor in Transvaal Road Police Station, were you injured?

DAVID MABEKA: As I already mentioned when we arrived on the 6th floor they took us  finger prints and they took photo's of ourselves and they didn't assault us there.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] injuries as a result of the previous assault when you got to the Transvaal Road Police Station?

DAVID MABEKA: At that time I was already in pain because when you spoke to me from a distance I wouldn't hear a word of what you were saying.  As I'm talking to you now, my left ear doesn't function.  I only use one ear.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] you - you got the injuries, did you see a doctor eventually?

DAVID MABEKA: I think three years passed before I could see a doctor.  I say three years.

ADV POTGIETER: I assume that you stopped your schooling after the detention?

DAVID MABEKA: Yes, that's so.  What actually happened - in 1992 I decided to go back home because of the back to school campaign.  And as they've been saying that you don't get old for education.   And I remembered that my mother told me that she wants to give me education because that is the only thing that she can give me.  I wanted to make my mother happy, I wanted to reach that standard that she wanted me to reach.  Then in 1992 I decided to go back home and 1993 I went back to school to do my Std 9.  It was not easy, I passed my Std 9 and in 1994 I did my matric - it was not easy as well.
I would forget things most of the time.  I just told myself that I have to complete my matric and thereafter I would decide where to go to further my studies or to lead a wonderful  life.  I completed my matric in 1994 as I'm talking to you now.