Special Hearings — Mandela United Football Club Hearings — 1997-11-26

CHAIRPERSON: We are trying to get quiet for a moment please.   Khoza?

KHOZA MGOJO: [Opens hearing with a prayer.]

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
 Good morning, I welcome you all to this the third day of this hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  We are trying to see just how quickly we can get up to date with our schedule.  We call Paul Verryn.
MS SOOKA(?): Mr Chairperson, I've just been called by Bishop Verryn and he's gone to fetch Bishop Storey, he'll be here within the next 10 minutes - apparently no lift was arranged for Bishop Storey.  I don't know perhaps if you'd want to start with Mr Sithole?
 He called me five minutes ago from Melville to say that they were leaving, so they shouldn't be very long.

CHAIRPERSON: I wonder whether we might not then wait, we've tried to go down the roll and none of the - what about Thabiso Mono?

YASMINE SOOKA: His lawyers are not here.

CHAIRPERSON: His lawyers are not here.
 Thabiso, can you just tell me (no English translation)

BAREND THABISO MONO: (no English translation)

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome you and we thank you very much.  Please do forgive us, you were supposed to appear yesterday but you have been aware that the days are getting shorter and we thank you for your presence.  Can you please stand up?
 Can we please settle?

MS SOAK: Could you state your full names for the record, please?

BAREND THABISO MONO: I'm Barend Thabiso Mono.

YASMINE SOOKA: Are you prepared to take the oath?

BAREND THABISO MONO: (sworn in)

MR MAKANJEE: Mr Chairman, I'm Sanje , I'm appearing on behalf of Mr Mono.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.  ...[inaudible] please.  Order please!  I know you're not making the noise but with the external noise it seems also that you are making noise and I'm not quite sure with whom I should get angry - the noise outside or the noise inside, but I will presume that the noise is coming from outside,  and so for your own sakes it will be very good to be as quiet as you can be, thank you.

MR MAKANJEE: Thank you, Mr Chairman.
 Mr Mono, were you one of the youths abducted from the Manse on the 29th of December 1988?

BAREND THABISO MONO: That's correct.

MR MAKANJEE: And did you give evidence in relation to this and to the subsequent assault of Stompie Sepei at the trial of Jerry Richardson as well as the trial of Mrs Madikezela-Mandela?

BAREND THABISO MONO: That's correct.

MR MAKANJEE: Did you make a statement to this TRC which corroborated the evidence that you gave in both trials that I mentioned?

BAREND THABISO MONO: That's correct.

MR MAKANJEE: Sorry, Mr Chairman, is it necessary for me to lead evidence on the evidence that was given by my client during the trials or may I assume that members of the Commission have read the record?

CHAIRPERSON: What do you want us to do?

MR MAKANJEE: Very briefly, I would appreciate it if he reiterated what he said.

CHAIRPERSON: Briefly - your briefly is my briefly.

MR MAKANJEE: It is.
 Mr Mono, let's go to the day of the incident in question, would you tell us what happened at Paul Verryn's Manse - the events that led you to be taken away from the Manse?

BAREND THABISO MONO: I do not understand which events, the events that took place on that day or which day, sir?

MR MAKANJEE: On the 29th of December, which was the day that you were taken from Mr Verryn's Manse.

BAREND THABISO MONO: I do not remember whether it is the 28th or the 29th but it's somewhere there.

CHAIRPERSON: Please do not touch the microphone, it makes a terrible sound - just push it backwards, thank you.

BAREND THABISO MONO: It was on that day, the morning of that day, after having had breakfast, myself and Pelo went outside to cut the grass.  Miss Xoliswa Falati sent one - I do not remember who, that we should come and wash the dishes and we said: "Yes, we're coming, we're still busy cutting the grass.  We will come and wash the dishes just after cutting the grass".
 After some time she came out, shouting at us and telling us that we are stubborn, we do not want to obey the orders, and she said she will send people to come and discipline us.

MR MAKANJEE: When she said that, who was she referring to?  Which people was she referring to when she said that to you?

BAREND THABISO MONO: She was referring to the Mandela Football Club.

MR MAKANJEE: When the members of the Football Club arrived, can you tell us what happened from that point?

BAREND THABISO MONO: When these people arrived, myself Stompie and Dada were in the dining room playing cards.  We heard the noise in the passage and one person was screaming in Afrikaans saying: "Come, come". When he appeared he was wearing an army coat, brown in colour. He said to us we should go the kitchen.  We did as we were told, we went into the kitchen. When we arrived in the kitchen there were two groups.  On the other side it was a group of those who stayed with us in the house and on the other side it was a group.
 I did not know them - these people, I only knew two people from that group.  If I still remember well, it was Xoliswa Falati and Nompumelelo.  Among these people there was a person wearing a khaki overall. He asked a question to Xoliswa Falati, who they are, and Xoliswa Falati started mentioning our names. She said: "It's Pelo, Thabiso, Stompie", and Kenny was mentioned also.  She said Kenny was too clever and he can't just be left behind. 
 And thereafter they said we should leave with them.  We left with them. When we were outside they took us into the bus that was parked just further down the road.  There was singing in this bus. We were told not to sit down, we should sin. Then we joined in the singing and the bus started moving.  This bus drove until at a certain house in Diepkloof - that I learnt later.   When we arrived at that place we were told to get out of the bus, and we went into the house.

MR MAKANJEE: Whose house was that?

BAREND THABISO MONO: At that time I did not know whose house it was but when we arrived there Mrs Mandela was there and we were taken to a back room - the room had a sliding door and we were put in that room to sit there.

MR MAKANJEE: Do you know why you were taken to that house?