Human Rights Violation Hearings — Venda — 1996-10-04

RUSSELL ALLY: If you could just help us just to establish some things.  In your oral evidence when you were speaking now, it is not in your statement, you mentioned that even before this detention, that threats had been made against, that he would be killed.  Could you just tell me a little bit more about that.  The threats that were made, you mentioned a name and I didn't get it, if you could just repeat that please.  That was before he was detained and arrested, you said that threats had been made that he was going to be
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killed.

MS DLADLAMBA: Before he was detained, I only know about when they used to arrest him, he went to the cell and back.  I can't give (indistinct) rightfully, because we were not together,  was in Messina, but I can only remember the time when I was in Messina.
 I only know when he was arrested ...

RUSSELL ALLY: In your statement when you are speaking about Mohofe being killed and his death, you say here and I will just perhaps like you to tell us if there is any explanation for this.  You said that you don't know where exactly he was killed or died, but you say that I only know that his corpse was found in a sitting position in a toilet at Venda Central Prison in Vondwe, near Sebasa.  This place is also known as Matatshe.
 Just a little bit about that, in a sitting position in a toilet, is that correct?  Where did that information come from?

MS DLADLAMBA: Well the fact that he was found right in a toilet in prison, he was already dead then.  When we learnt it from court, they tortured him here at all these people who are arrested, they are sent to, the inquest when we learnt in court, they said they took him to the car and pulled him from the back of the van.
 What I learnt thereafter and what I know of is that they were just, he was damaged in the head and even his hips were swollen due to the fact that he was being pulled from the back of a van so that he was asked to go and show where the rifles were, because they were said they were in the mountain.
 But then he was not able to, he was unconscious.  But 
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they were just saying that on his behalf.

RUSSELL ALLY: We also know and you mentioned in your statement, that a post mortem was performed on your son.  Can you tell us a little bit about this post mortem?

MR DLADLAMBA: Yes, the post mortem was done.  What appeared in the post mortem was that he had multiple injuries.  That means they really did that right internally, but then there was a whole, I think they use an instrument, a certain instrument that pierce him through the side of his body.
 We don't know exactly what kind of an instrument it was.  Up to he died, that happened internally, he was bleeding internally.  That happened, there was no external, physical evidence that one could see other than the post mortem that is where we will be able to see through the evidence on hand.

RUSSELL ALLY: Those documents,  I know you have copies of them, but have you made some of those available to the Commission, and if you haven't would you be able to let us have copies of those documents?

MS DLADLAMBA: Well, I've already handed these documents to the statement takers.

RUSSELL ALLY: I see, I am sure we'll get them from the statement takers.  Now the reason that the police gave for taking your son, was in connection with the bomb which exploded at Sabasa station in October 1981 where a number of policemen were killed.  What were they saying, what were they accusing your son of?  Did they say that he actually planted the bomb, or did they say that he knew who planted the bomb and what happened to that accusation against your son?

MS DLADLAMBA: Well, they were saying he was the one who bombed the police station.  They were not really accusing
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him, they were saying he was the one who was responsible in bombing, although they were not sure, they were just trying to say that, because they wanted to kill him.
 This very same Ramarighera what he said, I don't know how that leaked, they said, well we found you.  When they were arresting him, they said, we've now got you.
 There were six cars which came to fetch Sifiwa.

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you for that Mrs Dladlamba.  I can just say to you that we are certainly going to be sending letters to invite the two people who you mention as the alleged perpetrators, Managa and Ramarighera.
 We will certainly be inviting them to respond, because you are saying that  you suspect very strongly that they were the people.
 They were the arresting officers of your son Mohofe and you also suspect that they were actually involved in his killing and as I said yesterday, that although the Commission would want people to come forward on their own and we also invite people to come forward, especially if they're named as perpetrators, we are also not going to accept that if people don't come forward, after being invited, we will actually force them to come forward through subpoenas as is presently happening as you must have heard, the announcement of the deputy Chairperson of the Commission, with some of the police Generals and former Ministers being subpoenaed by the Commission to come forward so that we can ask questions about certain incidents and certain events.
 So these two people mentioned, will certainly be getting letters from us to come forward and explain and if the invitation is not taken up, then we do have other 
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powers, powers of subpoena and we hope that we will be able to get the answers which you have been wanting for so long.
 I am going to see if any of my colleagues would like to ask you some further questions.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Ms Dladlamba, I see here you say Lelian is the wife to the late, where is Lelian?

MS DLADLAMBA: She is abroad, overseas.
 She is overseas, studying.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Did they have children?

MS DLADLAMBA: Yes, a daughter, one.  Yes, they left together.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You express understandably so, very strong feelings the way you put it in this matter, the Venda people have killed my son.

MS DLADLAMBA: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: What do you actually mean by that?

MS DLADLAMBA: That means that time there used to be a saying that christians, people who believed in God, especially people who were connecting crusades around, they were said to be the ones who were exercising politics and terrorism.
 But that was due to the influence from the spies in the Venda Government who used to give information to the Venda Government, saying these are - there were a lot of people who I cannot mention ever here, some of them I don't even know, but during that time, I knew who were the people going to the then Government to influence the death of my son.

THOMAS MANTHATA: In short you are saying the Venda Government of the time killed your son and that the Venda Government of the time, had a popular support from the Venda people in this area?
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MS DLADLAMBA: I believe so, since the President say I am going to tear and squeeze your son and kill him.  After that it happened just like that and I then deduced that the information and the instruction came from the President and he instructed these people who wanted promotions and then they had to kill somebody.

THOMAS MANTHATA: My point is I want to say that the Venda people are very good, very kind, loving people, they couldn't have been in support of the then Government, like you hear from the clapping right now.
 The clapping right now shows great sympathy and support for you, which means they couldn't have been a party to the killing of Sifiwa.