Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietersburg — 1996-07-19

MR PHOKELA: I will try to correct the date, it was in 1986. First of all I will give a brief background which made me to be confronted by the police.  I think it's important.
 Firstly it was a time of the riots which were brought by the central government run by the National Party working together with their puppets, the so-called coopted homeland leaders.  There was a concern in the community as a whole which was not satisfied with the government's rule.  During that time I was a secretary of CAUSA which is SACCAU in the Northern Province or Northern Transvaal.  I was a press secretary.  I was one of the people who recruited the people, workers to know about their rights in their work places.  Where I was operating where the units were not there in 1986 here in Northern Transvaal, operating from Warmbad, Messina, Barbeton, Mkushlu including Dendron and Ellisras.  Now I want to come to the gist of the matter.
 In Seshego specifically and other areas surrounding it, there were human rights abuses in those areas. I can give and example, we were not allowed to hold any meeting.  If I remember well there was a magistrate called Venter, every time we wanted to hold meetings whether for the workers or the people, we were attacked in different ways. We were attacked in churches, they threw tear gas canisters, I can quote churches which were attacked, Polly Sasitchava of the Lutheran Church.  The other things which were disturbing were, they used to kidnap people in Seshego, they used to assault and do bad things to them, some of them now are paralysed, some of them have been buried, we just buried them before this Commission started, they were prepared to come and give evidence before this Commission, that is Comrade Mathabata Adries, most people know him.
 One important thing, before I start about the assault, there were other raids on my family and in my house.  I think it was 14 times or over between 1982 and 1986 before they declared the state of emergency.  Police came there differently into my house, they came in during the night with many cars, woke up myself and my children and my wife and sat down with us from 12 o'clock  until 4 o'clock in the morning.  If I remember well, at one stage the security branch here in town, whose names I do have, if you want them I'll tell you later, they tried to recruit me. I was told that I must look where I'm staying, I'm staying in a shack, I'm staying in a ...(indistinct), where am I going to end?  Because my leaders are living in luxury I am suffering. Why not come with them?
 I rejected their offer and said I will live the way I'm living.  These are some of the things which made me to become their victim.
 One other thing which I want to say is they were not brought properly, they were, when I speak now, people came and just stormed into the house, they threatened the children.  What I remember is that one of my children was affected, there is no progress with her, that's what happened.
 One thing which I want to talk about is what happened in 1986, what I've said in my statement.  It was in the afternoon in March 1986 when all these things happened.  I was on my way to evening church which we call Isha. I requested my younger brother so that he could come back with the car that I was driving.  When we arrived at a four-way stop where they used to call it Mahoeshing where people who used to work for the former homeland stayed, we saw a group of policemen.  They stopped .....(end of tape 3)
(start of tape 4) the car, they didn't find anything.  They gave instructions to my younger brother Ratsina Rasithaba that he could go and they were going to see what they should do with me.  They detained me. What surprised me was the fact that they put me inside of a van and closed the tent so that I could not see outside.  They did not take a long time, that road block ended then and there.  I think their commander gave them instructions to go.  We did not go directly to the police station, we passed some houses in  combi from which I could see a few vans.  They entered some houses in ...(indistinct)..hoek in Sonntree.  They were knocking at doors and from there went to other houses and arrested this one, Malisela that is sitting next to me, that's Simenya.  He was not locked together with me in my van, they were put in other vans. These vans went to Seshego Police Station and when we arrive there I found people crying inside, and I was surprised because they did not take me out of the van.  I wore only a CAUSA T-shirt which as I said is called SACCAU and a pair of trousers.  After two or three hours, I saw through  a little hole, many police assembling and I saw one policeman who was my neighbour and I requested of him why they don't release me or charge me?
He said to me," Rasethaba there is nothing that we can do, comrades in Seshego are burning our houses, us policemen, our houses are being burned, there is nothing I can do, we want to protect our houses".  
 I didn't complain, I just sat down and kept quiet because they locked me inside a van.  After a long time, I don't know what they were talking about, they were staying outside, there was one policeman called Snolwabo who was the driver of the van in which I was.  There was a convoy which going to the site of Blood River to the side Torsmelitche. My own interpretation was that this convoy was possibly transferring me with other comrades at the back that I was  not aware of in the vehicles at the back to any of the many police stations because there were these big caspars.  I thought they were transferring me to Ga Mathlala Police Station.  It was not like that, we passed underneath a bridge before we reached the Blood River bridge and we went to the old grave yard of Seshego which was something that was surprising to me.  They stopped next to the graves of people which we buried of Rastchava.  They came out of their vans and they started looking around.  It's next to a tar road, the old grave yard, I don't know what made them to be frightened but they came back to the cars and our drivers proceeded with the journey.  I don't know what they were talking about, they took the road to Stutulani and turned immediately to the new graveyard just next to the fence. There are many stones at that place, many people from Seshego know it.  The convoy followed.  When we arrived there at the graveyard, they opened for me and the police performed what I would describe as a guard of honour.  One of their commanders, Mr Rasithaba, asked me why I'm giving them problems, why am I harassing whites and bringing strikes, did Mandela send me to do these things?
 I gave them a simple answer, would it not be correct to take me to the police station and ask me there?  These people were armed, carrying sjamboks, wearing uniforms, khaki uniforms and one of them gave the instruction that I did not want to listen, and what was done to the others should be done to him.  They started beating me, all of them, about thirty of them. Sometimes they even beat each other trying to reach where I was.  They tortured me and told me that I'm going to speak the truth that day.  Surprisingly I asked them what kind of truth am I going to give them or what discipline am I going to get.  They didn't answer me.  Shortly I tried to run but not even for a metre before they brought me back and started beating me again to such an extent that I fell down and they carried on beating me.  They took me and started hitting me on the ribs.  I can show you the scars that are still showing on my body, the sjambok marks are still there.  I fell down and while I was being beaten I was bleeding from my mouth and my nose, I was just like someone who had been injected so that I could not hear anything.  One of the policemen whose name I don't know, tried to pray for me.  He  begged that they mustn't kill this person. My buttocks were big, I could not sit and I could not even stand.  I was sore and I could not even hear myself being semiconscious.  I could see only slightly. 
 After some time they took me, my trousers were down, my underpants torn, I think the underpants and T-shirt are still at home.  My underpants are torn and the trousers that I was wearing were torn.  They took me and put me inside a van, it was dark, 12 o'clock  or one o'clock midnight and they drove off to Seshego Police Station were I was welcomed by boots on arrival.  They took me behind a counter, one policeman said I was not there, they hit my head against a wall so that even now if I hold my head it's painful. They hit me with a safe., when I requested water from them they refused and were laughing happily amongst one another. The person who was sitting next to me in Manisele was being kicked like a football from one side to the other. After a few minutes they took me to the cell.
 Here in the cell the inmates told me that I was raving unintelligibly in the cell.  They were very disturbed about it.  They tried to draw attention to the police that I was dyeing in the police station.  According to the statement, the police refused and they told them to treat me as a comrade or I would die like a dog. They said they tried using a water and sugar solution which they tried to make me drink because there was no medication.  I could not sleep because there was no part of me that could touch down without pain.  They tried to put blankets down to give my body a soft surface to lie on.  God preserved me until the following morning.
 Early in the morning they tried the same thing, calling the police and again insisting that I was dyeing, they must help, but they delayed, they didn't do anything until those who were supposed to go to court refused to do so until I was taken to hospital.  I believe it is said that there was a stage when they opened the cell and I was put lying down inside a van without a mattress and I was taken to Noble Hospital.  I didn't see what happened.  I stayed there without anyone visiting me, without my family knowing where I was.  At Noble Hospital, after four or five days, I was taken to theatre, but I didn't see what happened.  I stayed in the hospital, Mathata Sedu is a reporter, although he was banned, they came to the hospital, Thembo Molife and other people from my church who supported me, they came to take photos although they were not allowed to.  I don't want to forget to tell you that I was a prisoner even while I was in hospital, under police guard with someone whom I did not know.  I stayed there with comrades from Mankweng whose photographs I still have which were taken by others who used to visit us in the hospital.
 I stayed there for about a month under police guard until one day when police came and said to me it's my court day that day.   It was premature because I was still in bed, the doctor didn't discharge me.  The doctor of the hospital was a woman superintendent, who came and signed a document permitting them to take me to go to court.  I was Accused No 38 in court and Accused 39 was sitting next to me.  Accused No 1 was a young man probably in primary or in secondary school.  It was the first time for me to see all those people who appeared together in court.
 They said that they were charging us with public violence but what amazed me when they spoke about public violence because I did not understand what kind of public violence they were talking about.
 We were released on bail for amounts which I can't remember and they postponed the case until I appeared for the third time and they told me that they had withdrawn the case. After the withdrawal of the case, I took my case to Mr Don Kadimeng on the same month.  As I've already explained, the situation was tense and harassment continued.  Police were still after me until it reached a stage where I had to run away from home although I was still ill and wanted to get treatment.  I stayed in the country but not at home and was unable to continue with my work as a trade unionist because we were afraid of the police.
 I came back home at a later stage, they heard that I'm back and came in a truck of soldiers when I was asleep and bandaged still having treatment and they took me to Seshego again where I was detained for a few days before being released without any charge. It wasn't long before I came back and ran away to Louis Trichardt where I hid.  I don't know where they got the tip-off but I only saw two security branch and one black person who came and said, "Yasser, today we have found you, you ran to this place and you think that you are safe".  And in that manner told me to pack my things because I was under arrest.  I asked them why, and they said that it was a government instruction that I should be detained and I was detained in Louis Trichardt.  
 I didn't know that it was a state of emergency but I had been detained for three days before they declared it.  I stayed in a cell for three months, no one was allowed to visit me and the food was not up to standard.  It took a long time before some came from Pretoria to listen to our complaints, I could not eat that food and then I explained and they started giving us food which was more palatable, pusamanza and porridge.
 After those three months I was released but it was only a transfer to Pietersburg Prison.  That's where I found the majority of comrades who were in the cell and they explained to me what was happening in the country.  I stayed there from June until my release in October.