Human Rights Violation Hearings — East London — 1996-04-18

JOE THETHINENE JORDAN: No it doesn't seem as if he was beaten, he was actually being beaten.  No he couldn't be audible because he was next door and what we could only hear it was the scream because one can hear that clearly from a prison cell.  I was the third one to be called in. This policeman first entered and I was to follow him. My name was called and I stood up.  They asked me why don't you shout, why don't you scream when we call your name.  They said you have to say "Thank you Mkosi", and I said no I don't have any chief here in the cells.  They said oh well you will follow us.
 Well I went on after them, entering the door. There was a white chief standing there.  He was wearing boots.  He was wearing khaki shorts from the railway.  He had a butt.  He was having a mop in his hands as if he was mopping the blood on the floor.  Everything was being mopped to the door and they said stop here so that we can finish.  Well they finished mopping the floor and I was told to enter the room.   While I was in the room this policeman in uniform never entered the room but the private one came in.  There was another one who was mopping the floor and the other one was sitting around the table and the other one was opposite.  He was wearing a sweat band normally worn by rugby players.  He had a beer in his hands.  He was drinking, sitting around 
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the table.  When I entered the room he said to me - and I said to him I am fine.  He said are you alright? I said yes.   He said can you now take off the clothes that you are wearing.  I looked at the condition and I said to resist here is going to be a problem, can I just take my clothes off.  Well I took off my clothes and I was only left in my underwear.  The one drinking beer said to me come and - if you go to bed with your girlfriend do you leave underwear on.  He went on to say I say to you if you go to bed with your girlfriend do you leave underwear on your person.  I said no.  He said can you now take your underwear off.  Oh well I took it off.
 There was a bench at the corner.  This bench had handcuffs that were hanging and something like ropes and belts.  There are electric cables there and something that looked like a battery charger.  It was at the corner.  It was connected to that cable.  They said to me I must lie.  I said well let me go and lie.  Lying down they used bandages at the wrists and at the feet, at the ankles and they said we are now giving your girlfriend.  They said can you please squat.  Oh well I squatted.  Now my feet were taken underneath the bench, I was handcuffed at the ankles on top of those bandages and these belts were taken, I was fastened onto this bench, the whole body, the only thing left was the head.  It was up to the shoulders.  After that the guy with a can in his hand stood up and he said to me do you know me?  I said no I don't.  He said don't you want to know me? I said, no. He said I am Dr Labuschagne.  Now the reason I am here is to come and to help you. I want to treat you about this communism disease you have.
 Sergeant Malunga said - well they took something from 
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the button and he said can you check that whether it is working.  The other one took it and came towards my direction and they said switch it on.  It was switched on right at that thing that I referred to as a battery charger.  They said can you please test it, we want to see whether it works.  While he was coming straight to me the other man stood up.  There was water in the bucket.  Just before they could start with the button on me they said wait we should first apply water and test whether it's working. Well they poured me with water then they put the button on me.  You could understand yourself, imagine electric on water.  
 He said there are two things that we are supposed to have done, seeing that you are a very stubborn person and you are not prepared to come and speak the truth it's either you speak the truth or either you give us the whole information about the questions that we ask you.  I said you can carry on, ask me questions, ask me what you want to know. You said before I asked you, you said from school you were together with your teacher, you said he was teaching politics.  I said no, he is Rine Mapisa.  I said no I don't know but I am used to him.  He said he taught you these politics.  You know he was making a joke and he said that person is now epileptic.  I think you are going to end up there as well.  
 Well I kept quiet.  You know I was really waiting for the question, the real question.  He said yesterday Mugabela sent you to - he said to you go, I am giving you an order to go to Zipuzana, you were supposed to have started at eight.  Nine has already past and now where is Steve?  He talked everything that he knew and I said yes that is right.  He mentioned that to me. He asked whether I went to fetch 
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Steve, I said yes.  He asked me where did I fetch him.  I told him that I fetched him from the office at the highway.  They asked with whom was he, and then I stated that it was Geoff Siwisa and Tangana.  Did you bring them here?  I said, yes.  He asked why didn't you come together with them there through the gate?  I said no I reported that I changed them to another car because I knew that you know this car that I am driving, so we had to change cars.  So they were in front of me so I was just following behind.  So it was clear that they had gone past.  So I was told that that was my first offence to make them run away.
 Secondly I was asked to tell after the mass funeral and everything that he was investigating people because everybody was being instigated by him, would like to know where Steve Tshwete was because he was a great instigator.  I told them that the commander said to me I must go and fetch him, so I do not know who gave him the information that he should go elsewhere.  So that is where that problem started.  All hell broke loose and they said they can see that I am resisting to tell the truth. They said they are going to say everything and they said they are going to do everything at their best.   
 There was a bucket next to the bench.  There was a small plastic which is like a car tube of the tyre, but it's tinier than that one.  It was taken off from this water and then it was put on my head.  This person checked my tongue, removed the plastic again and asked me why do I take my tongue outside.  He asked me if I want to stop breathing.  He also tested my teeth and asked me why don't I have canine teeth.  I was unable to state but I just told him that my teeth decayed.  He said to me so you are the one who uses 
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grenades because the handgrenades destroy the teeth.  They took again the plastic and put it over my head.  You can imagine that how can you breathe if you have a plastic over your head.  The water was then thrown over my body and they connected these and I was electrocuted.  The weights were on the bench were so strong and heavy that you were unable to do anything even if you have a heavy weight you had to stay stable in the bench.  I tried to struggle but I was unable to do anything about this.  The electrocution continued for a long time.  I was screaming all the time and I realised that I was losing consciousness.
 The man who was there drinking beer, if I can estimate his weight he was between 80 and 90 kilograms.  He stood on my body with his boots and jumped over my body.  He jumped, he's the person who injured me greatly.  He was jumping up and down over my back.  I think it was about three occasions.  I felt that even if the weights were holding me I could feel that something was going wrong.  They asked me if I want to tell the truth, I said I do not know Steve Tshwete.  I do not know where he went after he left these grounds.  You may go to Mgabela and find out from him what happened to Steve but you won't get any further truth from me, this is the truth that I know.  They said okay let us untie you so that we can plead with you, so that you can give us the information that we want.  
 It was very difficult for me to sit on the bench.  I sat on the floor.  They took me again to the table on which they were having beer.  There was a small blanket, brown blanket, now I could feel that my body was giving way.  They took a briefcase and it was put next to the bench.  I was told to open it and I refused.  
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