Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pollsmoor — 1996-11-27

MARY BURTON: Could you, other than the sort of numbers - could you describe a little bit of the March funeral of the 6?

MR WEAVER: I am - a little bit hazy on it I mean -  you know, it was literally a matter that time - that every weekend we would be at funerals, because there would be a funeral - the police would attack - somebody else would be killed and the following weekend there would be another funeral.  And it really became a blur of funerals and we - some of the things I can remember about the funeral at the Guguletu 7 was that - we had been tipped off and we knew from experience that the police would seal off the township in advance and they wouldn't allow the press in - they tried to stop the press from getting in.
And I went in  I think a night or two nights before - with a sleeping bag and I spent the night with a colleague Obet  [indistinct]  house.  And Obet was also taking pictures at the funeral itself.  I remember the numbers being absolutely enormous and towards the end it got very confused, because the distance of the funeral route was so big.  We could hear the sound of shots, we could hear tear gas being fired.
I subsequently got tear gassed and the police were closing in.  And I got smuggled out, through sort of the township safe rout and treated with Vaseline and lemon juice - so on, the usual treatment for tear gas.  And by then the police were looking for us and I had to get my film out - Obet's film out.  And we had a little smuggling route - that went through Nyanga and then out to Klipfontein - not Klipfontein Road to  Lansdowne Road.  And we had a car parked there and we managed to get out.
But I am afraid - I know that - you know the police almost as routine, broke up that funeral towards the end.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much Tony.  We are hoping that there will be, perhaps a submission, from the media as to their role in the whole business of the conflicts of the past about which we are being expected to give as full, as complete a picture as possible.
But may I again, just express, on behalf of very many - our admiration and appreciation for the kinds of things that people like yourselves did.   I mean because it was literally the case that people were putting their lives on the line in order to be able to tell the truth.   And often our people look to you as being able to provide them with some measure of protection - that although the Security Forces were often very blatant - they still, I think, had a measure of - they had perhaps a kind of decency that they didn't always act as they otherwise might have done if you were not there.
And I think it is a compliment to yourselves that we had this  [indistinct]  of laws which thought to inhibit you.  Yes, it seems in some ways like you are talking about life on Mars - to speak about what was taking place then.  But none of us had a normal existence really.  You were jumping, you would sit in an office and be told that the police are shooting school children over there - they are doing this and we had to keep running around.  And we are enormously thankful that that has come to an end. 
And there are very many people who have contributed to the fact that we are where we are today and in pain tribute to the - those of you in the media who were behaving decently. 
I really want to make a call to all of our people just to keep bearing in mind the very heavy price that was paid for what we have today.  We should not devalue it.  We should price it as something utterly precious, because it came in the way that it came.  That many people died in order for us to be where we are.  
Thank you.

MR WEAVER: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Well just  in case I mean you got jealous that when Chris got a clap, and you didn't - we will clap you too.