Amnesty Hearings — Bloemfontein — 2011-01-21

WHITE MOHAPE: What happened is that few days after that some students were arrested and the police were looking for me.  They could not get hold of me.  I went into hiding and after some time I was arrested by one guy, squad member, I will recall his name.  He took me to Bayswater police, no, no, to Park Road where he was on the way calling security branch members and telling him, telling them that he got me, he arrested me and then when I arrived at the Park Road I was taken by Major Ben and others, there were two of them. They took me to Bloemspruit Police Station where I was beaten up by them, but then I went to, after, they refused me a bail for some time and then I went to court and I was acquitted in that case.

CHAIRPERSON: Do you know what his surname is, Mr Burn, Ben, Mr Ben?

WHITE MOHAPE: No.  Ben, ja.  I only knew him as Major Ben, you know.  I did not know exactly.

MR STANDER: Who is the other person who also took part in the assaults at Bloemspruit?

WHITE MOHAPE: It was also, the other one was van Dyk and the other one who later, I just forgot his name also, he later joined the security branch.  He is a short guy, I think Erasmus knows him, he is his best friend.

MR STANDER: Did I understand you correctly?  Who is van Dyk, is that Major Ben Van Dyk, is that what you are saying?

WHITE MOHAPE: No, I am saying these chaps were three.  It was Major Ben, it was this van Dyk that I cannot remember his first names and it was this other one who I am saying I just forgot his name.

MR STANDER: What happened after you had been detained and assaulted?

WHITE MOHAPE: I stayed at Ramkraal, the prison Ramkraal, for the duration of a month or two when they were still refusing to give me a bail and then I subsequently went to court and it is where, out of the statement that was, you know, said by Ngo, was shown to be a lie and then I was acquitted in that case.

MR STANDER: Were you released after this?

WHITE MOHAPE: Yes, I was released immediately after being acquitted.

MR STANDER: Were you arrested on any occasion thereafter again?

WHITE MOHAPE: Yes, let me explain this thing.  You see, there has been many a times of arrest, many a times of detention.  Even before I think, before I was arrested for Ngo's case, I has been detained at one point or another, but, you know, my problem is that maybe I will forget the dates and, you know, the months, but it happened, but in terms of specific activities I can recall years.

MR STANDER: I would like you to move over to the incident or the occasion where you were assaulted by, among others, Mr Ngo after you were released from a certain police station.

WHITE MOHAPE: I was detained again, but before I was detained, yes, I was shot at by the police at Vulamasango High School.

MR STANDER: Just tell us briefly about that.

WHITE MOHAPE: What happened on that day, the students of Vulamasango had a problem that they were trying to resolve and I was called to come and help to solving that problem. When I arrived in that school, whilst I was busy consulting with students, the police came and they went to the principal, from the principal they came to me and then the principal pointed at me and then there was a commotion there and then the principal said shot or who ever said shot him and I was shot at when I was trying to run away.

MR STANDER: Who shot at you?

WHITE MOHAPE: I could not exactly recall the policeman who shot at me, because there were, you know, there were, at, you know, like, from the Administration Block of the school and at the time of the, you know, shooting I was, you know, running away, so I could not, you know, specifically see, you know, amongst the policemen who were there, who shot at me.

MR STANDER: Let us move on to the incident at Bayswater Police Station.

WHITE MOHAPE: In a situation of Bayswater Police Station what happened is that I was detained by, under, in actual fact, Lieutenant Horn, but the person who picked me up in the street was Mr Motsamai and then when he picked me up I was taken to the security branch offices and when I arrived there I got them sitting and they told me that they are detaining me under Section 29.  Then I said to them, okay, if you are detaining me under Section 29 I do not have a problem, I will go and stay there.  Then I was taken to Bayswater Police Station and at Bayswater Police Station I stayed there for about 14 days.
	Now, there was one thing that I realised later, that they were making a mock out of me.  When Lieutenant Horn told me that he is detaining me under Section 29, in my mind I prepared myself for 90 days under Section 29, but I was not aware that, in actual fact, it is not Section 29, it is under Section 50 that allows 14 days and in that 14 days he was coming to the police station time to time and then he will say to me, you must work with us, we want you as an informer.  I said, no, but I cannot do that and that was Lieutenant Horn.  
	Ja, I think Mr Visser you must ask so that I hear, because I overheard that.

MR VISSER: Yes, no, I do appreciate that, I did not want to interrupt you, but thank you for repeating it.  I am slightly deaf and this does not help me, but thank you very much.

WHITE MOHAPE: All right and then I would say even prior to him coming to, you know, to the police station Erasmus, Lieutenant Shaw, they would say to me, work with us, be our informer.  I will say to them, no, no, I cannot do that and I, you know, I explained one situation to Erasmus and said to him, you know, it is very easy for a person to be your informer, because I am in the leadership of Cosas, yes, I am having first hand information about our activities, I can come to you and give you the information and you can give me money, but a day will come when, you know, students around will realise that all along I have been an informer, what are you going to say on that day?  Then Erasmus said to me, no, no do not worry, that thing will not happen.  I said you are lying and I made an example of one student leader or student activist who was an informer and then he was exposed and then he subsequently joined them.  That was Zeva and he knows him.
	I said you know what happened to Zeva.  Zeva was one of those student leaders and he sold out, but then he was uncovered and what happened to him?  I do not want to go the same route and then after that I was then locked up at Bayswater.  Days after days Horn will come to me and ... (intervention).

ADV DE JAGER: Sorry.

WHITE MOHAPE: Sorry.

ADV DE JAGER: Ag, sorry to interrupt you, you know what, you know what happened to Zeva and some of the other people, but please tell the Committee was he killed or what happened to him?

WHITE MOHAPE: Okay, Zeva was a student, as I am saying, a student leader.  He was exposed by student, it was during 1980's and when he was exposed he had to run for his life, you know, because at that time when people could have got him at the right time when they got him he could have been dead and then he joined them, you know.  He joined them and he went to what ever schools of theirs, you know, but he joined the security branch.

MR STANDER: You may continue, you may continue to say what Lieutenant Horn, what he said when he tried to recruit you to become an informant.