Human Rights Violation Hearings — Heiderveld — 1996-04-24

DR BORAINE: Mr Lubowski I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you, and express the gratitude of the Commission for your willingness to come under circumstances which are extremely difficult for you and for your family.
Thank you very much for coming. Now I understand that your wife is with you Ms Lubowski, and also your daughter. May I extend the welcome to you as well. Mr Lubowski I understand that you are the only one who will be giving actual testimony this afternoon - both of you - thank you very much in deed then who will start.
Ms Lubowski will you please stand to take the oath.
MS

LUBOWSKI: Duly sworn states

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much please be seated. Mr Lubowski I think it may be as well to swear you in now also.
WILFRIED FRANZ

LUBOWSKI: Duly sworn states

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much in deed. I just want to say that you have been here all day and you will know that the people who come to the Commission are drawn from a very-very wide spectrum.
 You will know that we met in East London and that from here we will go to Gauteng and then to Kwa-Zulu Natal and then to many-many parts of South Africa. We have stressed that our doors are open to all. Some of hardly know and that's one of the reasons why we want them to come, because nobody knows about them, others are very well known and they are just as important for us.
 You will be telling us a story that obviously changed your entire lives, a story of a very-very well known South African, Namibian, world citizen in may ways Anton, know to many of us sitting on this Commission and certainly known to many in the audience and in other parts of South Africa and Namibia. We want you to know that we feel for you and that we will listen very carefully to your story and if there is anything we can do in order to help, I know you will tell us.
 Mr Denzil Potgieter a fellow Commissioner is going to - someone whom you know is going to lead you in order only to assist you to tell the story. You tell it in your way, but he'll be there to guide you if necessary. Thank you very much.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you Alex. Ms Lubowski prefers giving her testimony in Afrikaans and Mr Lubowski will give his testimony in English. You are very welcome here and also to your husband and to Annalize very welcome here.
 Madam you evidence will deal with the assassination of your son advocate Anton Lubowski, is that correct, you want to testify to that effect, please just relax you are very welcome.

MS LUBOWSKI: Anton Lubowski was my only son, he was raised in the spirit of opposition politics against apartheid. His father stood as a candidate in three election in South West Africa against the National Party. Anton completed his high school training at Paul Roos in Stellenbosch and then underwent one year military training in Pretoria as a lieutenant. Then he did a BA in Law at Stellenbosch University and completed that. He completed his LLB at the University of Cape Town.
 Anton was a child of God and the courage which I received over the past couple of years, to carry on with life, I've found in the same source every single Sunday I listen to the radio church service with Anton's Bible on my lap. I know how much solace he has left me by underlining certain important verses in the Bible. And the verse which he left with me, and underlined for today comes from Romans 8 verse 31, what can we say of these things if God is for us, who can be against us.
 Right from the first day that he started at Lawrence and Bone in Windhoek, a firm of attorneys he was thrown into the deep end. He had to visit SWAPO awaiting trial prisoner in prison, the gruesome torture which this man had undergone so distressed Anton that he was physically ill after that.  That was the start of numerous cruel actions that he suffered at the hands of the Security Police. I, his mother, I knew how much empathy he had with his fellow human beings and I understood what it did to his psyche and his soul.
 He decided to go to the Bar earlier as an advocate 60% of his cases were of a political nature and he defended SWAPO supporters. One again this brought him into very close contact with unbelievable stories of torture by the Security Forces in the police. SWAPO men who just disappeared overnight without a trace, torture in police cells and detention which shocked him to his core.
 There was also the case of an Ovambo women who had to stand against the wall for hours and hours she had her monthly period and the blood ran down her swollen legs. These kind of things nearly broke his spirit. He became more and more outspoken and took up a strong point - point of view against the authorities and apartheid legislation.
 All these things of course made him a marked man. In 1984 he joined SWAPO openly and that was the start of his road to tragedy filled with unbelievable pain and suffering, not only for him but also for his wife and his children and his loved ones.
 In a local newspaper in Windhoek he was warned about what was waiting for him. Anton - Anton now you'll know what hell on earth is, you'll know what it's like to walk down the street and to know that eyes are following you. You are now the inmate of the outer sphere of hell and particular darkness, you're a marked man. Thereafter his life was constantly in danger, he had threatening calls frequently.
 His wife and children were also warned that he had only hours to life. Pamphlets depicting his head full of bullet wounds were received in the post, other pamphlets showing his head covered in this most filthy language in Afrikaans were also received. If I may show you an example [intervention]

ADV POTGIETER: Do you have examples of the kind of thing you talking about of these pamphlets. And this one he also received, not only this one, but numerous others. When you finished giving your evidence I will ask you to hand in these documents as Exhibits when [intervention]

MS LUBOWSKI: May I read, may I read you what it says here.

ADV POTGIETER: Certainly.