Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-24

CHAIRPERSON: Deborah, thank you very much indeed. I have just one very brief question, because it ties up with evidence that we are going to hear later this week, on Friday morning, in fact.  You mentioned, I think it was at Bethal, the arrival of the Magi, the magistrate, to come and take your statement. Now presumably this is under the Terrorism Act.

MS DEBORAH: Yes.
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
24 MS DEBORAH

CHAIRPERSON: But even under that act, was it not correct for the magistrate to come to enquire about your conditions, not to be an instrument of the State in that way?

MS DEBORAH: You are right. I think the strategy here was that when - I remember I told the magistrate, instead of giving him a statement I told him about what I had been through.  He said no, that happened in Pietermaritzburg, I want to know about things, you know, he even spoke in Zulu, about (indistinct), you know; how are they treating you here. And indeed, I was eating good food. I told him, and I sleep on a bed.  I slept on this bed for those three, four weeks there.  And he didn't want to know about things that didn't happen, he wanted to know about things that happened there. And I remember saying to him, but the statement that you want to know is about things that happened, not here.  He wanted to know about my activities and activities of other people. He was not interested in knowing. He knew what had happened to me, I think, and he was part of the system. He was part of the system.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. I think that it is just in closing, I would like to say that I think it is very apt that you have testified to end off today's session, because what you have told us ties in and rounds up very nicely what we heard about the previous two days about June 16th and everything that went from there.  I would like to say that as a Commission we obviously need please to co-operate further and get more information from you, about your experiences, so that you can assist us and advise us further in our work.  But I would like to thank you very, very much.  Thank you.
(APPLAUSE).
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
25 MS DEBORAH
 Before closing the session this afternoon, I would like just to mention two things, please.  The first is that we are hearing, we are holding hearings again tomorrow and on Friday. For those who might be interested, I am not going to mention names, because that is not our wont, but we will be dealing with the whole time from the Sixties through to the Nineties. We wil be talking about unlawful arrests.  
 We will be talking, particularly tomorrow, concentrating on people who are giving evidence about events outside the country.  For instance, an assassination in Zimbabwe, about a son being killed in Botswana, about a brother disappearing and dying in Swaziland, about someone imprisoned in Zambia and Tanzania.  So there is, if you like, an international or regional flavour to most of the evidence that we will hear tomorrow.  
 We will start again at nine o'clock.  We would welcome participation from as many people as possible.  I would like to thank everybody who has sat through the cold with us today.  I would like to thank particularly the witnesses who have come forward and in closing tonight's session, could I please ask again, the ear-phones belong here for helping people tomorrow to hear.  Please leave your ear-phones and your machines before you leave.  
 Thank you very much, this session is closed.
HEARING ADJOURNS
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG