Human Rights Violation Hearings — Klerksdorp — 1996-09-26

DR RANDERA: First of all, is Sibiya your surname?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: That is my name, Sir.

DR RANDERA: Good afternoon to you and welcome.  Mr Sibiya, I am going to be helping you as you tell your story.  Before we get to that, can you first of all introduce the person who has come with you?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: That is my cousin, his name is Somsi Nogo.

DR RANDERA: Mr Sibiya, would you please stand to take the oath?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: (Duly sworn, states).

DR RANDERA: Thank you, Mr Sibiya. Are you comfortable?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: I think so.

DR RANDERA: Mr Sibiya, we come back to this town again. Jouberton is just outside Klerksdorp.  You are 29 years old now, but we are going back to 1986, the 5th of March, not many days after what happened in Kanana.  You were then 19 years old, and you have come to tell us what happened to you on that day.  Before I ask you to go into the details of that, will you please tell us something about yourself.  What are you doing?  Can you hear me, clearly?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: Yes.

DR RANDERA: Sorry, would you like me to repeat what I said?  Everything or just some of it?
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SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: Part of it, Sir.

DR RANDERA: I was saying that you have come to tell us about what happened to you in Jouberton, on the 5th of March 1986.  This was two days after the killings we have heard of in Kanana in Orkney. Now before I ask you to go into those details, will you please tell us something about yourself.  What are you doing now, are you married, do you have any children?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: This time I am not married, I don't have children.  I am doing nothing. I am unemployed.

DR RANDERA: Will you tell us at the time of this incident in 1986, were you a member of the Jouberton Youth Congress or were you a member of the UDF or any organisation for that matter?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: I was taking part in UDF activities.

DR RANDERA: What was actually happening in Jouberton at that time, in 1986, can you please give us an idea, some of the background that was going on in Jouberton.

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: Do you mean during that time or during that year?

DR RANDERA: During that year, or even if you want to take a couple of years before that.

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: During those years there was a lot of unrest in that area.  There were so many that I am not able to identify one by one.  Like public violence was there and the burning of property, schools and other buildings in the area.  Those are the years when there were rent boycotts, bus boycotts, et cetera.

DR RANDERA: Thank you.  That at least gives us a clear idea of what was happening in Jouberton.  Tell us what happened to you on that day.
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SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: On that day it was a normal day. I woke up okay in the morning.  I didn't go out anywhere. I was just around in the township, not far from home. But early in the morning I was busy in the yard.  I went to pick up my friend. I was doing gardening in the morning until around twelve o'clock.  It happened, this thing happened round about three o'clock, it was a Wednesday.  That's why I was doing the rest of the day.  It was not even studying that part of the morning. We were just outside in the garden.  It was the time when my friend was at the back of the yard.  He was not aware where I was.  It was hot that day.  Then I decided just to pack up the instruments that I was using, so that I will complete my work in the late afternoon or maybe tomorrow morning.
 Then I heard gun shots from the back.  I didn't know what is happening, but I could hear the bang.  Then I turned around and looked behind me, trying to balance with my left leg.  I didn't realise that it didn't have strength. Then I wanted to fall down, but my head was a little bit down. I could see two policemen, White policemen, the one was a little bit hefty, the other one was lean.   When I turned around, suddenly I heard other shots.  They were not the same number of shots as before.  Then I fell down.  After that I became conscious in hospital, in the intensive care unit.  Then the sisters told me what happened to me. 
 The sisters told me that they are going to do this and that.  My body is scrap, it is not the same as before, the whole body.  Those people who were shooting me, I don't know them. I am not able to identify them.  They said they have arrived at the hospital. I did not know what they were going to do at the hospital, but I was in the ICU.  During that 
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time, I think I stayed from the 5th of March, I think about two weeks.  Because I was discharged on the 5th of May. 
 I didn't hear anything about the police, until when I was discharged from hospital. I decided to take some steps to lay a charge against them. It was then that I heard about them. It was somewhere in September.
 When they came to me they were very humble, you know, with me.  They didn't ill treat me at that time.  But they took me to the police station because I have a case against them.  They must make their statements against me also.  I gave them a statement. I accompanied them to Stilfontein police station.  When I arrived at Stilfontein police station, I realised that I am arrested.  Then one policeman told me that no, that the statement that we are taking now, you are now arrested and the reason is that you have laid a charge against us.  Then that was all, I was arrested.
 The following day I was released on R200,00 bail.  I did appear in court.  Lastly, I was outside when the court proceedings went on. I was sentenced on the 20th of June.  I was sentenced, I was convicted for public violence and I was sentenced to two years.  I made an appeal. I was not successful. The appeal was dismissed.  
 I tried to enquire about my case, my charge, because the first thing which I laid a charge against is the first one.  Then they said your case we don't know it, where it ended.  I was asking in court but I had to serve a sentence.  I went to Boergroep, to serve my sentence there.  I was released from prison in 1989.
 I made some attempts to meet the Human Rights lawyers.  Those lawyers told me that my case, according to them, if they look deeply into it, it doesn't show that it has been 
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completed legally. Then there is no way they can get it right.  There were lawyers again which I was using, so those lawyers were referred to.  So they said they (indistinct), and so they could see that they were defeated, so there is nothing they can do further.    That's where my case has ended up till now.

DR RANDERA: Mr Sibiya, thank you very much.  Just tell us were you - you said earlier on you were still at school, you were studying. What standard were you in?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: By then I was doing Std 10.  It was in 1986.

DR RANDERA: Did you finish your matric?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: I was not able to complete in 1986, because I was arrested.  Then I was released on bail and even there was little disturbance at school, I was not able to write. I registered the following year, then I was sentenced then, because it was 1987, in June.  So I didn't write my final exams that year.  The prison authorities denied me to write the final exam.  Then I was able to write in 1989.  Then I did my matric in that year.  I was released in 1989 from prison.

DR RANDERA: Mr Sibiya, let me just understand this again.  You are working in your garden with a friend?

SIBIYA JEREMIAH BELAWENI: Yes.