Human Rights Violation Hearings — Tzaneen — 1997-04-10

DR RANDERA: Okay.  And I just want to know, maybe I've, I missed it as, as Mr Manthata was asking you questions or when you were talking, you said, at the time of your arrest with Isaac there were many other comrades when you went to Sandton police station.  First of all, what happened to Isaac Ditsego and what happened to the other comrades ?

STRANGER MBALATI: As far as I know Isaac Ditsego and his unit were released since there were negotiations between the government and the ANC.  They were given short of an indemnity or they were granted bail.

DR RANDERA: Can I ask this last question.  You said you went to visit Isaac and in the statement there's some mention of the Nchabaleng Unit of MK.  Were you involved in that yourself ?

STRANGER MBALATI: No, in fact I wasn't part of  Nchabaleng Unit.   In fact I was running away from home whereby we carried out some operations.

DR RANDERA: Sorry, I didn't hear that last part.  You were running away from home ?

STRANGER MBALATI: Yes.

DR RANDERA: Because ?

STRANGER MBALATI: Since I was involved here at home with  a unit of our own here at home.

DR RANDERA: Thank you very much.

RUSSELL ALLY: Stranger, thank you very much for coming.  We can all see what the consequences of your torture has been and again I can just repeat what I've already said, that, that is one of the areas that the Committee that Mr Manthata serves on, the Rehabilitation and Reparations Committee is looking at very, very closely, is what kind of assistance can be provided to, to people like yourself, both for urgent relief and also the more long term policy on reparations and they have already forwarded a policy document, an urgent interim relief which is, which is being discussed.  This will be submitted to the government and they are working on a long term policy but in the immediate term our briefers and one is sitting at the table, that they are in contact with many community organizations, with many government organizations, with non-governmental organisations and I'm sure that they will be able to direct you  to some place where you could go in the immediate term for some form of assistance whether it be counselling or whether it be in the form of some kind of medical help but thank you very much for coming and for bringing your case to the Commission and I hope that we will be able to, that we will be able to respond to your needs quite soon.  Thank you very much.
 That brings us to the end of the hearings for the Northern Province but before people start getting up and wanting to move, I'll ask you just to be a little patient with us for a few more minutes.  There are a couple of announcements we need to make and a couple of people we need to thank and we are then going to ask Father Mc Carthy to close the session with a prayer so, if you would just bear with us for a few more moments, I'm going to ask Mr Manthata just to speak very, very briefly about the follow-up meeting which we're going to be having in Pietersberg for the Northern Province in May which will be a very important meeting.   I'll ask Mr Manthata just to speak  to that  very quickly.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Thank you, Mr Chair.  We shall be having a follow-up meeting, that is after this exercise of hearing.  We would love to hear in collective form, from the people about their experiences, their expectations and to even acquaint them with the document that we so repeatedly referred to, that is the document on Reparations as we are going, as we have already submitted it to the government but even then it is still a draft, because we have to get the opinions of the people right through the country what they think or what they consider adequate measures for reparation.  So, on the 3rd of May, the whole of the Northern Province will be holding a meeting in Pietersberg where we shall be expecting to hear from them what reparation processes will be due to them and of course  one other sensitive area as we keep talking about here, is whether there would be possibilities of just initiating or talking about the likelihood of reconciliation.  It's not going to be reconciliation itself, as you will bear in mind that we are not talking about a cheap reconciliation and for that matter it will be observed that  reconciliation is going to be a process, a process that is based on knowledge of the facts of what happened to our relatives, of what happened to our brothers and sisters and who did what to them and what his intentions were, so that we talk of reconciliation in very specific terms.
 And it should be borne in mind that when we talk about reconciliation in the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is largely reconciliation between the Blacks and the Whites but we know that it is still very difficult to reach the Whites.  I don't even think that it is because it is that difficult but they are still undergoing a process of self knowledge, self re-assessment and of course that means knowledge of what other people are.  That is why some of them are still grappling with the problem of how to understand the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, because some of them believe that it's a witchhunt.  Some of them believe that it is calculated to put the Black people at a high moral ground compared to them and this still gives them a lot of problems, but otherwise the most important thing at that workshop is people will be made acquainted and knowledgeable about the reparation processes that are going to be submitted to the government and later what to expect from the government.  
 We keep saying that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission does not operate on a cheque book.  What we do is to find the needs of the people, more especially what the people would love to have the government do for them and then we submit that to the government.  It is the government that is going to materialise, that is going to implement all what you and others shall have proposed to be the ideal way of reparating the people for the sufferings they have sustained during the years of conflict.  Thank you. Mr Chairperson.