Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-08-29

WITNESS:   I will just say that I want to request the Truth Commission to investigate the A-Team and try to find out as to in reality who were behind the A-Team, who were sending them to conduct this reign of terror, because they were youths, so there was somebody behind the A-Team.  And I want to know what they were promised for conducting a reign of terror.  I even wrote to the Attorney-General, the then Transvaal Attorney-General, the one who was saddled with the duty of investigating the third force.  He replied to my letter and told me that he will conduct an investigation, and he will come back to me, and according to my own investigation, when I followed de Kock's case, de Kock did admit that he had something to do with the death of my child.  Nokkie also admitted that he was given certain weapons at Vlakplaas so that he could come and plant them with the four corpses so that there would be a suspicion that they had come to kill people in Durban.  Andy Taylor was the spearhead of the Vlakplaas unit in Natal.  Now I want to put it to the Truth Commission that I know that you do not have a lengthy opportunity or much time.  I want an investigation to be  conducted insofar as the Attorney-General of the

KHOZA MGOJO: Transvaal is concerned, that there are so many atrocities that had been committed, but nobody had been brought before the law.  Justice was not done.  And I want an inquest to be re-conducted with regard to the death of my son, because Andy Botha did admit that they had to kill my son.

KHOZA MGOJO: Did you ever get a death certificate?

WITNESS:   I got it recently because I went to demand it.

KHOZA MGOJO: We thank you very much for having come before this Commission.  Our job is to pass these recommendations or requests to the State President in consultation with Parliament.  He is the one who will give the final decision as to how to help victims like you.  We are very disappointed and dismayed to hear that there are such things which have been happening in Chesterville which certain people were not aware of, because these things have affected the community and divided it into two.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Memela, I just want to make two comments first before I ask my question.  The one is that it must feel very good - and I say this because earlier on you said you don't know how liberated we are, but it must feel very good to be able to stand here today and to be able to openly say, you know, "I was helping people to leave the country in order to fight for the liberation of our country."  My second comment is really related to your statement, and perhaps you can also comment on it, and that is to say that, you know, you have told us so many things today which doesn't appear in your statement, and yet of course it would help us - this is going to go onto  our records what you have spoken today, but there are many

DR RANDERA: other people who are also probably doing the same as you are doing, and we won't have the benefit of the oral history that you're giving us today, and I just want to know why people still feel that they don't have to give the full statement when they're speaking to our statement-takers.  My question comes back to this period we're talking about, and you were intimately involved at that time.  We are told that between 1980 and 1993 that 35 000 people died in our country.  We are also told that 1978 to 1990 was a period of reform in our country, and we also know that part of that period of reform, and extension which went before already, was the homeland structure that was in existence already.  I would value your opinion actually as to what you felt, why you actually in a sense rejected on the one side this period of reform that people talk about, and at the same time rejected, it seems, the homeland structure that we know existed in this part of the country.  Although not accepted as an independent state, but nonetheless there was a Legislature, people were allowed to vote for that Legislature in other parts of the country, people recognised these independent structures.  I wonder if you would be willing to actually comment on that?

WITNESS:   Should I answer in Zulu?   (Speaking English)  Dr Faizal, were you in South Africa at that time?  We were not free, we were slaves at that time.  We were oppressed.  Our children were deprived of proper education.  We were forced to take a certain type of education which was not going to equip our children in future.  The homelands that you are talking about were some of the ways in which to oppress the black nation  completely.  If you tried to show that you were against or

DR RANDERA: opposed to oppression you were a dog that deserved to be killed.  Some of us decided to try and fight for freedom, as well as the rights of the people.  We taught our children about our history, our history of oppression.  This new phase of reform, which indicates that there's something that has changed, or there are certain things that have changed, there is absolutely nothing called reform.  We were even more oppressed than before.  To me reform is a myth.  It is just a dream that never came true.  That is why we tried and devised means so that we can be liberated, so that Africa can come back to its owners so that we can be really liberated.  I don't know whether I have answered your question for you.

DR MAGWAZA: We have run out of time, but I do realise that if I fail to say this to you I would have failed myself as well.  We were with Mrs Luthuli from Chesterville, and now we are with you.  Both of you are women, and you were harassed.  We usually get males who were harassed, but today we have come across women who were harassed whilst trying to fight for the rights of their children.  You make us proud as the womenfolk up until today.  You and Mrs Luthuli, today you are winners for us all.  We thank you very much.

MR LAX: Thank you, chairperson.  Mrs Memela, just one factual question.  What we don't have is the date round about when your son was killed.  If you could just assist us with the date round about when your son was killed.  Unfortunately we don't have it on the record.

WITNESS:   It  was the 7th day of the ninth month in 1986.

COMMISSIONER: Mrs Memela, we thank you very, very much for coming to speak to us today.  You were a political activist for many years in Chesterville, and because of this, and because of your son Thabani's activities, you were continually harassed by the police.  You were frequently detained for questioning, your house was set alight, and tragically in the end your son died.  The policeman who instigated much of this reign of terror against you was a very powerful person, and for many years held a senior position in the Security Branch in Durban.  His name, as you have told us and as we know, is Andy Taylor, and he is presently facing charges of murder for the death of Griffiths Mxenge.  This is the calibre of policemen that the regime used to intimidate and harass courageous people like yourself.  You have provided us with a valuable commentary on those years in Chesterville, and we are grateful for that.  And as Dr Randira says, that your commentary will find its way into our reports, and it would be so much more valuable if many of the other people who came and gave statements to the Truth Commission could give the sort of background that you have provided to us, rather than just telling us about the specific incident that they were involved in.
So we thank you again very much for coming forward, and we certainly are investigating the A-Team in Chesterville, as you have requested us to do so.  We have already started investigations into the A-Team, and we hope that at the end of the day we can come up with some coherent answers as to why this organisation existed and who was responsible for its existence.  Thank you very much for coming here today.