Human Rights Violation Hearings — Mmabatho — 1996-07-08

UNKNOWN: Not when they locked him up.  That was when he went to hospital when he was mentally ill.  From there the case was still on when they locked him up in jail because they thought he had run away.  It was in the second instance when he went to the court case again, after Bloemfontein.  That was when he was already sentenced.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Do you mean that when he went to the court case he was very mentally ill person?

UNKNOWN: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Was he mentally ill when he went for the court case?

UNKNOWN: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You as his sister, as your mother couldn't attend the court case, did you go to the court case?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: I didn't hear the question?

THOMAS MANTHATA: Did you attend the court case?
MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
7 VG MOKOTEDI

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: Yes, I attended the court case.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Before the court case, while Gabriel was still detained, were you able to visit him?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: No, he was still at home.   The court case was conducted when he was still at home.  He wasn't arrested by then.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Do you mean, he was living in Vryburg, going to Bloemfontein for a court case?  Where was the court case?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: No, he was at home.  And he was going to town for a court case.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Was the court case being conducted in Vryburg?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: And he was released on bail by then?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: Yes.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You said here that Gabriel was a very well man, interesting.  Could you know whether he took part in the organizations at school?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: No, that I did not know.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I thank you.

DR RANDERA: These questions are not to give you more pain but so that we can clarify the statements that your mother and you have made about your brother, so that we can understand what had happened to him.
 Can you just tell us, after Gabriel was arrested, how long was it before he came home on bail?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: It was about three to four months.

DR RANDERA: And what was his behaviour like at that time.

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: He has changed a lot, we couldn't understand him when he talked.  And he wasn't like that before he went away.
MMABATHO HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
8 M MOKOTEDI

DR RANDERA: Can you just tell us a little more, Kerileng?
What was he saying?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: No one would even understand him when he talked.  He would sometimes try to stone us, to break the windows at home and then we had to call the police in, so that they could take him away.   And they took him to the hospital at Bloemfontein.

DR RANDERA: How long was he in the hospital at Bloemfontein?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: He took about three to four weeks I
think.

DR RANDERA: Say anything about the time he was arrested before he was sent to Bloemfontein.

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: Yes, he told us that the police assaulted him.  They took him to the Bluegum and then they injured his ear there.

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: You said you were in court.  What was he charged with and what was his sentence for?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: The way I understood they said he was the one who had burnt someone.   The way they charged him at the court they said that.

DR RANDERA: Kerileng this is my last question I promise you.
Will you please tell us what your brother is like now?

MS MAGGIE MOKOTEDI: I don't know him as I knew him before. He looks like a mad person now.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Can you tell us what you know about Gabriel's arrest and yours?