Human Rights Violation Hearings — East London — 1997-06-11

ADV SANDI: 1977.

BONGANI NONDULA: 1977.

ADV SANDI: Were you arrested again after that?

BONGANI NONDULA: I am going to quote 1981.  In 1981 I was arrested by the Ciskeian Police.

ADV SANDI: You were arrested in 1981?

BONGANI NONDULA: Yes, but I do not remember the month, but it was the beginning of the year.

ADV SANDI: What happened to you in 1989 when you were arrested?

BONGANI NONDULA: I was taken to Zwelitsha, Zone six, the headquarters office of CCIS, the Central Intelligence Services of Ciskei in Zone six.  There was Captain Vuyani Genda in that room.  He was on his way out when he saw me getting in.  He said, Bongani Nondula, ...

ADV SANDI: Excuse me Mr Nondula, in your statement Mr Vuyani Genda was not mentioned.  I would like you, what you are going to say about him to tell us afterwards, because we are supposed to give him a notice that his name is going to be mentioned.  Did you appear in court in 1981 after you were arrested?

BONGANI NONDULA: No, I never appeared in court, I was only detained in Dimbaza.

ADV SANDI: After 1981 were you arrested again?

BONGANI NONDULA: I was arrested again in 1982 by the Ciskeian Police.

ADV SANDI: You were also tortured in 1982?

BONGANI NONDULA: Yes, I was.  Van Wyk was also there.

ADV SANDI: After 1982 were you ever arrested again?

BONGANI NONDULA: In 1982 I was charged of terrorism and then I was acquitted.  Again in 1984.  We were arrested as the East London Youth Congress.  I was the President of this organisation.  We were arrested in NU13 in that, in the prison there.  We were also found not guilty.

ADV SANDI: If I am not, if I am listening to you clearly, Mr Nondula, from 1977 you would be arrested, detained and tortured.  Let us talk about the damage to you and to your health in general.

BONGANI NONDULA: In 1977 this affected me, this affected my ears.  I could not hear clearly.  My left ear, even today, I could only hear through my right ear and in my body I do still hear pain, but unfortunately I do not have a medical record in terms of my injuries, because when I laid a complaint to the police they took me to the hospital and they said that the doctor did not see anything wrong with me.

ADV SANDI: Mr Nondula, under these conditions, are you able to work for yourself?

BONGANI NONDULA: Sir, I am suffering a lot, because I am not working.  I use to be a casual labourer all my life until now.

ADV SANDI: Do you get a disability grant as a person who is not able to work for himself?

BONGANI NONDULA: No, I do not get a disability grant.

ADV SANDI: In conclusion, Mr Nondula, do you have requests you would like to put forward to the Commission so that it can forward them to the President concerning the issues or the incidents happened in your life?

BONGANI NONDULA: What I would like to request Sir is that I do sympathise with the Government, because now it will be his responsibility to support me, but before there can be reconciliation between myself and the people who did this to me, I would like them to understand that they have destroyed my future.  More than two decades I have been doing nothing for myself.  I do not even have something to wear.  This also affected me physically, my health is not well.  It is not only my ear, because in Winter I do not have clothes to wear and the kind of food I am eating affects my health.  Again I would like treatment for my ear and the doctors will see what to do for me in terms of a hearing aid.  I am talking in terms of reparation and rehabilitation.  I would like to be helped to get a certain course so that I can be able to open my own business.  I would not like to be under someone who would not tolerate my situation.

ADV SANDI: In other words, Mr Nondula, you want to be helped or to be trained in order for you to be able to open your own business?

BONGANI NONDULA: Yes and I would like to get a specialist for my ear.

ADV SANDI: Thank you, Mr Nondula, for your testimony.  Maybe there will be questions from my colleagues.  Let us go to Nomvuyiseko Forosi.  I apologise, Ms Forosi, for spending such a long time to Mr Nondula.  You have been waiting for a long time.  Your story is similar to Mr Nondula's.  Is that correct?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: Yes, that is correct.

ADV SANDI: Let me now hand over to you to tell us what happened to you and to emphasise more to what happened to you while you were in prison.

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: First of all, I was in a church.  There was a practice, a youth practice.  Whilst we were still in the church our Priest said that there was something happening in Highway and he told us to go home, because something was happening in Highway.  On that day it was Mr Steve Biko's funeral.  The Priest offered us to take us home, because I was staying in NU1.  I got home.  In the afternoon a police by the name of Mphathi Sizani, who was my neighbour, came to me saying, telling me to stay at home the whole day, because the police are coming to get me.  There are rumours that I was responsible for the death of the two police in Highway. I was shocked, because on the day of the funeral I was not there, I was in church.  I knew inside, in my heart, that I was not involved.

ADV SANDI: Excuse me Ms Forosi, are you talking about the day of your arrest?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: Yes, they arrested me at night.

ADV SANDI: Who was with you at home?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: I was with my sister and my brother.

ADV SANDI: You were arrested and where did they take you?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: They took me to Mdantsane Police Station.

ADV SANDI: When you got there what did they say to you?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: They came at 11 and they knocked on the door.  We were alone at home.  My mother and my father were not there.  We were orphans, we were staying alone.  We opened the door.  The police said that where is Nomvuyiseko Forosi.  I said I am Nomvuyiseko Forosi.  These were strong men.  I stood up.  They told me to say, "Power is ours", because they said that I was in Highway.  I was lost, because that was, I did not know what they were talking about.  My brother said please take me, because my sister is still very young.  They said if he, if she is innocent we will bring her back.  My brother begged them not to assault me.  They promised.
 When we got out of the house the very same people who promised not to assault me, they kicked me and they slapped me.  At that time the police did not have any respect for women.  They were angry, asking where Toy Wengama is.  I was dizzy and I was confused at that time.  I could not even know where Toy Wengama was staying.  They wanted me to show them Toy Wengama's home.  It was clear that they knew this house.  When we got to Toy Wengama's house they were still assaulting me.  They were clapping me.  Some of them were laughing at me.

ADV SANDI: How old were you at this time?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: I was 17 years old.

ADV SANDI: They took you to the police station after that?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: No, they did not take me to police station.  We went to Toy Wengama's home.  When we got there the gate was locked.  They told me to call her, to call Toy Wengama.  At this time they were assaulting me.  Some of them were beating me with their batons.

ADV SANDI: Who is this Toy?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: It is the person who was arrested with me.

ADV SANDI: Was she a young girl like yourself?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: Yes, we were of the same age.

ADV SANDI: Did you find Toy.

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: Yes, we did.

ADV SANDI: What happened after you found her?

NOMVUYISEKO FOROSI: They went to pick up all the people involved in the issue of Steve Biko.

ADV SANDI: At this time were there two policemen who were killed?