Human Rights Violation Hearings — Witbank — 1997-06-05

MR MALAN: My colleague, Commissioner Miss Hlengiwe Mkhize has asked whether I can question you on her behalf.  Did you ever any clinical treatment?  Did you ever receive any treatment from a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist to help you overcome the shock that you experience?

MS JOUBERT: From the scene of the incident I went to hospital but after that I didn't receive any Psychological help.

MR MALAN: Why did you go to hospital?

MS JOUBERT: They took all of us there to be treated for shock.  It was mostly for the shock that we went.

MR MALAN: You never stayed in hospital overnight did you?

MS JOUBERT: No.

MR MALAN: If the Chairperson will allow it, I'd  like to follow up with one more question.   In your statement you say that you received notification  to attend a court case as a witness but that this was not followed up?

MS JOUBERT: Yes, I did receive notification just after the incident when I was still working at Jet Stores.  They said they will let us know when and where we must go but they never contacted us again.

MR MALAN: They didn't serve any official documentation on you, such as a Subpoena or a Summons?

MS JOUBERT: No.

MR MALAN: They also never informed as to who was being accused of the bombing?

MS JOUBERT: No, they never said.

MR MALAN: To the best of your knowledge, was it a criminal case? Was somebody implicated in connection with the bomb explosion?

MS JOUBERT: Yes.

MR MALAN: You never followed it up nor did you hear anything more thereafter?

MS JOUBERT: No, they said they would contact us again and they didn't.

MR MALAN: Thank you very much.  What made you decide to actually come and speak to us to-day?

MS JOUBERT: I already made a statement to Mr Killian and he suggested that I should come to the Truth Commission and speak again.

MR MALAN: Just for information, Mr Killian is one of the investigators in our office.  Fanie Killian, I take it?  How did you get to hear about him?

MS JOUBERT: He contacted me.  How he contacted me I wouldn't know.  He contacted me by telephone.

MR MALAN: So he must have got your name somewhere?

MS JOUBERT: Yes.

MR MALAN: Thank you very much.

DR RANDERA: Ma'am can I just ask a couple of questions from the Chair?  My Afrikaans is not so good so I apologize.  You when talking to Mr Malan that besides the shops and offices that there were in this building,  there were also the offices of some detectives.  Is that right?

MS JOUBERT: Yes.

DR RANDERA: Was that quite a big structure for the police in the area?

MS JOUBERT: No.

DR RANDERA: My second question is, according to our document a young man was killed subsequent to the bombing and the report that was released was that he may have been responsible for the placing of the bomb in the bank.  The one that you have been talking about.  Do you remember anything about that?

MS JOUBERT: Yes, I only heard from one of the ladies that worked at the N.B.S. who was killed but I didn't hear of the man.  May I read it somewhere but not that I can remember.

DR RANDERA: So as far as you are aware, there was no enquiry into the bombing?

MS JOUBERT: No.

DR RANDERA: Thank you.  Are there any other questions from the panel?
Miss Joubert thank you very very much for coming here to-day and sharing your experiences with us.   As you heard from my opening remarks there were a couple of people killed as well as many others who were physically injured and we're thankful that although you still carry the scars of that mornings incident, that you didn't actually suffer any more harm than what you've told us to-day already.  We thank you very much for coming and sharing your experiences with us.