Human Rights Violation Hearings — Rustenburg — 1997-05-07

DR RANDERA: Elizabeth, my last question is, what would you feel if this person did apply for amnesty and was given amnesty?

ELIZABETH SEKATI: They may forgive him, but I am still having a bad scar and it will not disappear.

DR RANDERA: Thank you, Elizabeth.

CHAIRPERSON: Elizabeth, you told us about a painful story.  I would ask you that those whom you say you know, who were raped, who were victims of that kind of rape, ask them to come and give us their statements because we should look deeper into that case.  As I said to the person who came before you, I said there will be a special women's hearing which will encompass issues like rape and other terrible stories which happened to women.
 I know that when you think back about this incident, you feel burdened and it does not help for us to say forget and forgive.  As Professor Meiring says, you should get counselling and we will try to suggest people around here who will help you with counselling. You do not have to give us their names, but try to encourage them to submit their statements to us.  Because this special hearings, it will be in July before we close.  We thank you for coming and together with your uncle.
 We have come to the end of our hearings.  Three of our deponents did not pitch up and so we will come to the end of our hearing.  
 I want to ask you to thank all people who have come today, in particular the victims who came to share their stories.  When we look at our programme, we see that many people who were here today, come from Phokeng.  We did not know that the people from Phokeng suffered so much.  We thank them so much.  Now we know that in Boputhatswana, or former Boputhatswana it seems there were more violations in Phokeng than in other areas.  We thank the strength and the determination to continue to have freedom and enjoy freedom like any other person, all people who came here.  We thank again people who accompanied the witnesses.  It is difficult when a person has been subjected to that kind of treatment to come alone.  You did a great thing.  We thank you.
 The two cases which remained paid tribute to women.  Women were heavily burdened.  Men should hear me correctly that - I am not saying that they did nothing, now that we are enjoying our freedom, but I have said, women should be given a special recognition by what they did.  They carried pain through their children, their husbands, and their grandchildren, and what has happened to them, as you hear them today, I want to say today we should continue, because our work has not yet been accomplished.  Before we accomplish our work, we see the problems faced by our present Government, that is crime, that is violence and many other issues.  Even this crime and this violence is affecting women more then any other sections of the community, the other victims of crime and violence.  Let us stand for what to fight, those social ills and reconstruct our beautiful and new country.
 I want to thank our briefers who helped, Mrs Fikile and Zodwa since we started this morning.  I hope that your work has not yet finished.  You will be the one who will be our eyes and our hands.  When we want to have a support group formulated here, we will rely on you that you should be the contact persons with our witnesses.  
 We want to thank our translators.  They were only two. They were not helped by any other person, but we did not have any problems.  We had a wonderful translation.  
 We want to thank our media, radio and television, by recording our history.  What they have recorded today, is part of our history.  Our children and grandchildren would see this pictures on TV and in the papers.  So we want to thank them, because they are recording our history, which is very important.
 We thank our guests who have come to support us today.  More so, we could not have continued if our local council has never helped us.  We were offered this beautiful hall.  They have arranged our various meetings which we were preparing for this hearing.  We say to them, even tomorrow we thank you.
 We are still going back to ask for help, because Prof Meiring, who is part of the Rehabilitation and Reparation Committee will come back to North West to have follow-up workshops to see what will be the way forward for women.  We hope that you will be informed of all those dates, because on Saturday the Rehabilitation and Reparation Committee will be going to Northern Province for a follow-up workshop.  We will hear about - you will be kept posted about the dates for R & R workshops.
 We want to announce that we are going to finish our hearing in June.  We are not going to have hearings anymore, but we are still in need of statements.  We have designated statement takers, the local people who have been appointed to help our office to take statements.  We will arrange with the council and the churches that the programme which is going to be made to take statements how it is going to be formulated, because we are still in need of statements because these other statements which are going to be - when the Commission is going to make recommendations would be a foundation of that report.  If we do not have those statements to assure the atrocities of the past, we will never be able to formulate recommendations so that these things could never happen again, we should expose of these terrible atrocities.  When we say if it was like this in our past, how would our future be.  
 Even those who did not appear today, many people used to come to us, saying, I gave my statement, but I am not called to come and appear today.  In the (...indistinct) hearings, it does not mean that your statement was more important than the other person's statement it is because people were chosen to show the context of a situation.  But the statements are very important.  So do not be impatient if you were not called today.  You say maybe we did not consider your statement which means is does not have more value.  We still need more statements.
 You heard again that the Truth Commission closes on the 14th of December.  This was just the work of two years.  If you remember, you would know that we were supposed to finish by June.  After seeing the load of work we are facing, we are forced to extend for six months the work of the Truth Commission.  And this cannot go on continuously.  It cannot just continue for many years to come.  It should come to an end so that the Government should see ....(tape ends)
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