Human Rights Violation Hearings — Venda — 1996-10-04

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you very much Simon.  If I could just appeal to the audience just to be quiet please in respect of the person testifying.
 Simon if I could just ask you a few things based on what you spoke about now and also your statement.  You are at the University of Venda at the moment, is that correct and what are you studying?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: BA.  BA, final year BA.

RUSSELL ALLY: And you say you've regained your intelligence now?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Very happy.

RUSSELL ALLY: Simon you say that in this period, the early
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months of 1990 that the youth were very active in their campaigns.  Can you just tell us a little bit about these campaigns and what the youth were actually doing and what the objectives were, what were the youth hoping to achieve?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Well in brief, the place where I stayed, I never attended a single meeting, mass meeting.  What I can just explain is the youth had a place, they know very well that I didn't attend, their main objective as I learnt was that they didn't want witches, people practising witchcraft and I don't even know what kind of people they are.

RUSSELL ALLY: ; Now this accusation of people practising witchcraft, what was your understanding thereof.  Can you give us some idea, where did this come from, this idea that people were witches?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Firstly such a question I don't have an answer to that, because I've never been bewitched.  I can't even answer to that.

RUSSELL ALLY: But when the youth identified somebody as a witch, okay, what was it that made them believe that that person was a witch, why would they, you speak about a Mr Sentomali, who was identified as a witch.  What did they say that this person did that made this person a witch, do you have any idea?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: What I am saying is I never attended their activities.  They might have said that in that specific meetings, I never attended that.

RUSSELL ALLY: You see why I am asking is it is very important in the work of the Commission that the Commission is not only looking at the Gross Human Rights Violations which were committed, we also trying to understand the context, political context in which these violations took place.
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Why, what were the motifs, what were people thinking, because that is very important if as the Commission, if the objective of the Commission is that we never repeat those things again, that we never go back to the past.
 We need to understand, so that's why I am asking those questions, not in any way to implicate you in anything, but just hoping that as someone who was yourself a youth at that time, and was if not a participant, at least an observer of those events.  If you could shed some light, but if you can't that's fine, but that's the reason why I'm asking you these questions, not because I want to implicate you in anything or suggest that you identified witches or attacked witches, but just to help us to get some understanding.
 Now, this person was identified as a witch, eventually you say that he was killed, is that correct, that he was actually set alight?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Yes, yes.

RUSSELL ALLY: And then there was a court case against some of the youth who were ...?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: You mean when the youth had this court case of Sentomali, are you actually ...

RUSSELL ALLY: The court case where the youth were charged, because you said, it is not in your statement, but when you were speaking towards the end, you spoke about that you were a State witness, is that correct?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Yes, there was a court case.

RUSSELL ALLY: State witness, in other words were you testifying for the State on behalf of the State against those youth who were involved in this burning of this person as a witch?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: I can just say, I don't think the statement said those police who presented a warrant of appearance to
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give evidence, that is why I am saying, I was not actually a State witness to say on what those people said, I am just talking about the statement that I gave the police at that time, that I was innocent.

RUSSELL ALLY: Oh, I see and it was on the basis of the statement that you gave, that people then accused you of being a sell out or an informer, is that what you were saying?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Yes, I think so, there you are right.

RUSSELL ALLY: Simon, thank you for your testimony.  It is very important in helping us in trying to get some picture of these events.
 Your statement did help us to understand some of the things that was happening, particularly these accusations of witchcraft and attacks on people as witches.
 I am pleased that you have recovered from the ordeal and that you are now at University, I don't know if my colleagues want to ask you any questions.

THOMAS MANTHATA: This thing, this incident occasioned you a lot of hurt and injury.  And yet you still emerged as a student leader, you say you were a monitor, am I correct?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Yes, once I was SRC President.

THOMAS MANTHATA: This was after this incident?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: At that time, did you care to find out the role of the witches, politically as the  youth were concerned about that issue?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: No, I never made investigations of such nature.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Because it seemed you took this matter seriously where after that, you heard that, I don't know if this was the parents or what of the youths who were
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involved, were muttering some ominous words about you and you prayed and wished that those things should not happen to you.
 This came through your evidence.

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: Yes.  While those things were happening, when giving evidence now, I did not explain that, but in that room in which I was playing music, I've heard that something very evil was happening and then I prayed to God so that I must not get involved in that thing.
 And I prayed God that he must save that old man, but at the end of the day, God helped me to be free from being involved in that instance, but it was just unfortunate that the old man passed away.

THOMAS MANTHATA: What killed the old man?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: What I heard is because I did not know, because I was not there, what I heard while we were in the police station, I overheard that one of the ladies which went with him in the office, I heard him saying that he ended up stealing diesel because it was there and they took it and she was carrying the diesel and I did not know that they stole that diesel.

THOMAS MANTHATA: This phenomena of witchcraft and politics, we would have loved to pick it up from, you know, more especially when it occasioned you, those problems, at least by hindsight, one would have wanted to find out what was it all about.  Do you perhaps know some of the student leaders at the time, who were in those campaigns against rule and the lot?

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: One of the students who were involved in witch hunt, I think, I don't know them.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You were never detained with any of them?
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SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: I was not arrested with those people who committed those evil, but they were arrested later on.

THOMAS MANTHATA: And in your statement when you wanted to disperse that kind of information, how did you just put it in a manner that it could have made you a person of honour, saying okay, this is what I disliked about it?
 At least that would have given a hint of, you know, how either illogical or how mythical the whole issue was.