Human Rights Violation Hearings — Queenstown — 1996-07-23

UNKNOWN: When I came to East London, there were many Doctors who attended to me.  Then they gave an instruction that the policemen should not touch me again.
 And I was there for about a month.  When my grandmother came to visit me with a policeman called Lukas, they took the handcuffs off, they gave me meat to eat and I was 
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confused.
 Policemen from Indwe came too and my grandmother, Mambele found me in a bad condition in hospital.
 Then there is a Doctor from Queenstown, Pillay, phoned East London and asked that when I get discharged from hospital, I should go back to Queenstown.
 Then a letter was sent to the police station and also to the hospital and this happened.  I went home in November.
 But the policemen continued to visit me.  They even asked me to go to the Clinic, they took me actually to the Clinic.  They said they wanted to talk to me, then I said i didn't have anything to say to them.
 Then they put me into a bedroom and said I had to go to the Clinic because I had to go on contraception.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: How old were you then?

UNKNOWN: I can't remember how old I was at that time.  Then it happened, the policeman took me to the Clinic.  My complaint, I felt better any way but I had crutches I was using.
 Then I asked my uncle what should I do because now people were taking care of me and doing everything for me.
 We then went to the Magistrate's office and my uncle told the Magistrate everything.  Then the interpreter said to me I should give them a photo-copy of my ID. 
 Then I went to some White people who were standing aside.  Then after that, I would go to the Magistrate's place to go and get the outcome.  I would hire cars, because I couldn't walk properly.
 I also went to a Social Worker to lodge a complaint.
 That Mrs Pienaar said she was going to attend to me, but I've been waiting until now.  Nothing has happened up to QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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date.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Are you presently under treatment Ms Jack?

UNKNOWN: Yes, I get medical treatment from East London.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: And how often do you see the Doctor?

UNKNOWN: I go to the Doctor almost every day, but I go to the East London, to see the East London Doctors on Wednesdays.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: ; I see when you walk, you have to drag your leg.  Was that part of the punishment when they chained you to a bed?

UNKNOWN: Yes, it is.  There was some water leaking in the toilet and I had to sleep there on the water because the mattress had to be put there.  I was instructed to sleep there on a wet mattress.
 And I was kept on handcuffs just that they even left marks on my hands and feet.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: You were 17 years old.  What standard were you in?

UNKNOWN: I was doing standard 7 at the time.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: And you have since stopped your education?

UNKNOWN: I am no longer going to school.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Ms Jack, it has been almost ten years now, could you give us some idea about what you would like the Commission to do.

UNKNOWN: I would like the Commission to assist me because I cannot walk and my parents don't have a proper living place.  I also want to go back to school.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Have you used crutches at all during these ten years, or a wheelchair?

UNKNOWN: I now use crutches, but I am not good at making use of the crutches, sometimes I fall down.
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MAPULE RAMASHALA: ; Are there anything else that I may not have covered that you would like to tell us?

UNKNOWN: Yes, there is something else I want to say.  When I was discharged from hospital in 1989, I went to the Dodrecht police station to get my clothes and I was told that I should ask Nmambi about my clothes.
 Then I asked but why because I had left them there for their care, then they said they were going to look for them.
 I went back and I again went to the police station, but they did not get all the clothes.  I only got back a dress, a skirt and a blouse.  Then I asked what had happened to my shoes, then they said they would look for them.
 Then they asked me that I should phone them, then I said no I couldn't do that, because I didn't have the money.
 But up to now, they are quiet and I haven't received those articles back.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Ms Jack, thank you very much for your testimony.  It is pretty clear that you had dreams and that those dreams were interrupted, but you are indeed a very brave lady.
 I don't know if you ever received any assistance at all after you lost your baby, I don't know whether you ever received any counselling at all.  Could you tell us a little bit about what carried you through that period.

UNKNOWN: I went to  Bishop Lavis in Cape Town just before I came to Indwe and then I was told that I was pregnant when I wasn't aware as such.
 Then when I came home, Sister Malela she was there and I vomited blood.  It was full, the bucket was full of blood, then I was sent to the, my sister did not have money.
 In stead she gave me Med Lemon and some Grandpa and QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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this gave me some slight relieve and I could get to the toilet.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Did you loose the baby in the hospital or outside of the hospital?

UNKNOWN: When I lost the baby, I was still in jail.  Then when I recovered I was in a hospital in East London.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Let me ask you to speculate.  Do you think you lost the baby spontaneously or do you think the baby was taken from you?

UNKNOWN: I think I could call it and even from the beating by the police, I then lost my baby through that.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Do you remember the name of the Doctor who attended to you at the hospital?

UNKNOWN: I was under the attention of Dr Pillay here in Queenstown.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: And this was in 1986?

UNKNOWN: And this was in 1986.

MAPULE RAMASHALA: Ms Jack, thank you very much for particularly your bravery.  Chairperson, I hand over to you.

BONGANI FINCA: Thank you Dr Romachela.  Are there any questions?  Lydia, we thank you for telling us your story which reminds us in a special way that females, when they take part in struggles, they used to suffer a lot more than any other person.
 They suffered firstly because they were  Black in a country where the Blacks were considered as being useless because the Whites were protected by the Law.
 Secondly, they suffered because the were activists as you were one, who was trying to liberate this country, South Africa.
 Thirdly, they suffered because they happen to be 
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females.  So, the suffering that was, that Mr Xundu once had and any other person like you and other females, you suffered more than those people ... (tape ends) (tape starts) ... into the contribution made by females.
 This hearing will truly focus on the violations that were done to females which has been kept as a secret, which we did not experience as males.
 Therefor in that hearing you may again be called and I want to add that you come from a small village, small town and usually the media has always been biased in favour of big cities.
 Those of you who struggled in small towns, nobody cared about your contribution.  I've been here in the Eastern Cape for quite some time, but I've never read about this experience of yours because the media sometimes gets biased against the rural people.
 We therefor thank you for giving us this story.  We also thank Dr Mapule Romachela because though your body is destroyed but your spirit is not destroyed.  We therefor thank you, we salute you as a hero of our struggle and if South Africa fails to acknowledge hero's like you, it will have failed in a very important task.
 Especially since you come from such a small village.  We shall therefor ask you to go back to where you were and we thank you.