Special Hearings — Children's Hearings — 1997-05-14

WITNESS: I would like to highlight this to the Commission, is   that because of what they have experienced, these children, they have lost some   stages on the way as children, and if you can look at their requests and their   wishes you can tell that what they need is different from what any other kid   who didn't experience what they've experienced would need, because these children   they are asking for schools to be built in their area.

CHAIRPERSON: Again maybe I can ask were you able to obtain if some of these   children went back to school, or went back to their families?

WITNESS: The kind of   life they are living it's like they are refugees at Gamalakhe, and their life   is not back to normal because they are staying at slum areas, and these are   now houses which can survive winds and rains. And the parents lost jobs and   they are very poor.

CHAIRPERSON: Kwezi, just for the record, it's correct your   surname is Malahleya, is that correct, if you'll excuse my rather - and you   work with Child Welfare as manager of a shelter for so-called street children?

WITNESS: I am working for the Durban Welfare Organisation and I am

CHAIRPERSON: /dealing

CHAIRPERSON: dealing with the street children project.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much for giving us that insight to some of the   stories of children from the Port Shepstone and, as you said, Umzumbe areas.   Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: /

CHAIRPERSON: CHAIRMAN

CHAIRPERSON: The next facilitator who will be talking will   be Dominic from Port Shepstone. Dominic, for the record, just if you'll help   us, what is your surname please? Msomi. And I see that you have one of our staff   members, Moses Pitso, with you, who will be presenting as well together with   you. If you will please just rise to take the oath.

DOMINIC MSOMI AND MOSES PITSO: (Sworn, State)

CHAIRPERSON: If you can please start then. Sorry, if Dominic   - I don't know which of you is going to start. You'll start, Mr Pitso?

WITNESS: Ja,   I will start giving a presentation, and then Dominic will give you an overview.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.

WITNESS: These are the stories that have been related   to us by children that have been subjected to human rights violations in areas   around the lower South Coast, and I'll try and give you the presentation as   they gave to us of maybe four kids. The first statement is of a young girl now   aged 13, and when the violation happened she was only seven years old.

CHAIRPERSON: "I am a young girl of 13, and seven years ago -             six years ago when this violation happened me and my family we lived             in Bethani, and that was a mostly IFP area, and we were all expected             to be IFP members. My family and I were ANC members, and as a result             of that we had to leave Bethani to go to Emavundleni to avoid or to             run away from the violence. But the violence followed us there, and             the story that I am going to tell you

CHAIRPERSON: /about

CHAIRPERSON: about is of what happened to my family there. One             fateful afternoon in 1992 my father was forcibly taken from our home             by people known to us, and he was taken under the false pretext that             he has to attend an IFP meeting. That was the last time that I saw             my father alive, and when the facts actually came out later we found             out that my father was actually taken into the nearby forest, where             he was brutally murdered. The reason that we later found out was that             because he was an ANC member. That night my younger brother, my mum             and myself went into the forest looking for our father, and then what             I saw that night I have been carrying around with me ever since. My             father had bullet wounds and stab wounds all over his body, and ever             since that day I vowed to revenge my father's death."

CHAIRPERSON: That was the first story.

CHAIRPERSON: Please continue.

CHAIRPERSON: "Ever since the day that my father has died I have             vowed to revenge his death, and remember I am only 13 now."

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, we're just having a problem. There doesn't appear to   be the Zulu translation coming out again. It's not coming through in the main   hall. Could the translator just try and talk, let's just see if anything will   come through. (Pause) Can you just talk again. Okay, it's

CHAIRPERSON: /there

CHAIRPERSON: there now.

CHAIRPERSON: "And remember I am only 13 now."

CHAIRPERSON:                     Continue.

WITNESS: That was the first story, and then

CHAIRPERSON: the second story that had been related was of a 15-year-old   girl who witnessed this violation when she was only eight.

CHAIRPERSON: "It was 2.00 pm on this fateful afternoon of the             10th of April 1990 when police came to my place knocking, demanding             to see my brother. My brother's name was Sibongiseni, and when he             got out the police just shot him in the stomach and then shot again             on the right thigh. My brother then fell outside in our yard and bled.             My father tried to - actually my father spoke to the police and asked             them to give him permission to take my brother to hospital, but they             refused. They sat watching my brother bleeding there for three hours.             At around 5.00 pm they called the ambulance. My brother was taken             to hospital, where he died the following morning at 7.00 am. These             policemen that shot my brother were all from the South African Police.             It was both black policemen and white policemen."

CHAIRPERSON: And then I'll give you the third story, again of a young girl   who today is 15, and when this violation occurred she was only three. She is   a young girl from Umzumbe area, also from the lower South Coast, a place known   as

CHAIRPERSON: /KwaMadlala.

CHAIRPERSON: KwaMadlala.

CHAIRPERSON: "In 1985 there was an attempt by a group of ANC             members to launch an ANC branch in KwaMadlala. This attempt was met             with a fierce opposition from the Inkatha Freedom Party. From that             day on there was violence in our area. I have personally witnessed             at that tender age people being attacked with spears, and gunned down             in numbers. Houses of those that did not belong to Inkatha Freedom             Party were burnt down. We were forced to flee our area and slept in             the nearby forest, because night time was dying time for us. Even             schooling was disrupted, in most cases by police, and this led to             me having started schooling very late. In one instance I witnessed             a policeman making a child hold a bomb, and this bomb exploded in             this child's hands and tore her to pieces. This incident has been             witnessed, and some that are like it, by most of kids of my generation             in that area. I still have distrust for the police. I am unhappy that             I could not go to school in time, and I blame the police for the disruptions             in our schools. I still harbour hatred and fear for those that have             committed these acts. I can still remember these acts explicitly."

CHAIRPERSON: /This

CHAIRPERSON: This would be the story by the third child. The last

CHAIRPERSON: story is also by a young girl who is 13 now, and when this   violation occurred or happened she was only 10.