Human Rights Violation Hearings — Mmabatho — 1996-07-08

DR RANDERA: The next witness is Mrs Violet Mokotedi who will be speaking on behalf of her son, Gabriel Mokotedi.  I also understand that Mr Zero Thomas Mongale will be giving evidence in support of what happened to Gabriel as well as Maggie Mokotedi.  Is Maggie here?  Thank you Maggie.
 Zero Thomas Mongale, welcome.

VIOLET MOKOTEDI: (sworn states)

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: (sworn states)

UNKNOWN: (sworn states)

DR RANDERA: Mr Manthata will you take over please.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I'll start with Ms Violet.  Ms Violet will you please tell us what happened on the 18th of June 1990.

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: Yes.  It was at night while we were sleeping.  We just heard knocks. We opened the door and asked what do they want exactly.   And he said, I want Polono he and I told him that there was no Polono here.  And he took my son and I asked, where are you taking him to?
 They took him to Bloekom in Khanyisa.   That is where they were beating him and I asked, where have you taken my child to and they told me to just go away, go home.  And I 
said I want to see where my son is, and they refused to let me see my son
 And when I got back home my other said, they are there and I followed them.  And they told me my son is asleep and MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
2 VG MOKOTEDI
you cannot see him.  I waited outside up until around half past twelve.  
 Then they told me your son has been sent to Bloemfontein for five years in prison.  And I left and I came back home and I sat down.  
 After three years that is only when I got to see my child in Kuruman.  That was the only time that I got to see my child, that was after three years.  And I brought him with today.  Even today I even force him to come by.  I am done.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I will ask you a question.  At the time what was Gabriel doing?   Was he student or not?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: Yes, he was still a student.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Were you aware that he was a member of any organization or not?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, there were no organization that he was a member of.   He would just come back home after school.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Somewhere here in the statement you say, who heard from Gabriel's friends that they arrested Gabriel for some reason.  Would you clear that?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: Actually, what he said, they just came to fetch him.  They didn't even explain why they had to arrest him, when they arrested him.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I understand that.  Didn't you find a lawyer
for him?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, we got a lawyer afterwards, and that was done by the ANC.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Why did they look for a lawyer by that time?  Was he already sentenced?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, he was not yet sentenced.
MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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THOMAS MANTHATA: Did they tell you his last name?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, they didn't.

THOMAS MANTHATA: So you heard that he was already sentenced and that he was already in jail?  Did you ever see him in jail?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, I didn't.

THOMAS MANTHATA: What was the problem that you couldn't see him?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: I went there but they told me he was ill, they couldn't take him outside.

THOMAS MANTHATA: That means you couldn't see him because he was ill?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Didn't they inform you of what his illness was?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, they didn't.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Mokotedi, let me unbundle this a little so that we could all understand.
 Gabriel was arrested on the 17th of June 1990.  Is that right?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: Yes, that is true.

DR RANDERA: And you say he was taken to Ganyisa Police Station and that you went there on the 18th of June?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: After taking him to Bloekom, along the Ganyisa Road I went to see him but they refuse me permission to see him.  It was on a Sunday.

DR RANDERA: Was there a court case?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: I wouldn't know because no one informed me of anything.

DR RANDERA: How long after he was arrested, were you told that he has been sent to Bloemfontein Prison for three MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
4 VG MOKOTEDI
years?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: They told me after about four months and he was the one who wrote to me from Bloemfontein and informed me of his situation.

DR RANDERA: And where did this story about killing a Battalion 32 soldier come from?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: I don't know anything about the soldiers.

DR RANDERA: I don't know whether you have your statement in front of you, but we are told from your statement that you were told that Gabriel had killed a Battalion 32 soldier.

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: It was a Wambo soldier.  I don't know them because I was not one who could move around a lot.

INTERPRETER: Mrs Mokotedi, Dr Randera wants to know who told you that you son killed a soldier or when did you hear that?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: I just heard from boys when they were passing around that my son has killed a soldier.  I didn't know that he was a soldier, I only know he was a Wambo.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Mokotedi, so you don't know why Gabriel was sent to jail?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, I don't.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Mokotedi, I understand one of the other reasons that you are coming today to tell your story about Gabriel is that he has become mentally disturbed.  Is that right?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: Yes, he is also here.  We forced him to come here.  His words does not work well, his ears doesn't hear well also.

DR RANDERA: What was Gabriel like before he was arrested MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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by the police?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: He was a very health person.  He could wash my washing up for me and then go to school and come back home.    These bad things happened later when I heard that the police had taken him to the Bloekom trees.

DR RANDERA: Are you saying that what happened to Gabriel at the Bloekom trees and soon after his arrest, because of the torture ...

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: That happened to him at the Bloekom trees and when they sent him back he was already not a well lived person.

DR RANDERA: So you are relating it very much at what happened at the Bloekom tree?  Or Bloukom tree.

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: I would say that because by the time they sent him back he was already ill.

DR RANDERA: Last question.  You said earlier on that Gabriel wrote you a letter, explaining to you where he was in prison after three or four months.  Can you tell us whether you could tell from that letter whether he was all right or not?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: It was not me who read the letter.  His sister read the letter to me.  I can't read.

DR RANDERA: I will ask that question to your daughter when we come to ask her some questions.   Thank you Mrs Mokotedi.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you recall exactly what your son was found guilty of when he was sent to prison?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, I can't.   I don't exactly know.
No one told me what his fault was.

CHAIRPERSON: And you did not attend the court hearings, the court case?

MS VIOLET MOKOTEDI: No, I never went.
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THOMAS MANTHATA: I will ask Kerileng to tell us what he know about Gabriel - as to what he was before he was sent to prison.

UNKNOWN: What I know is that he was normal and fine and a healthy person.  Things now, began to change when he came from die Bloem.  He was sent to Bloemfontein and in Bloemfontein he started getting sick and mentally disturbed and from Bloemfontein they gave R200 bail.
 After that the case sat and they sentenced him to five years.  And they sent him to Kuruman and then to Bloemfontein.  And then from Bloemfontein he went to Kuruman again.  And from Kuruman he went home.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I understand that you say, you only realised that Gabriel was not mentally well when he came back from Bloemfontein?