Human Rights Violation Hearings — Johannesburg — 1996-04-29

GEORGE DUBE: You know after that place I went to a certain place where we had been building, because I am a bricklayer. I have been building many camps there in Angola.  We built at a certain vocational training centre in Angola a beautiful place.  So I wanted to go and watch them, upgrade my skill of building, ah to be an architect and so forth, so it failed.  So I tried to go and learn farming, I also failed, that was in Angola.  When I was sent to Tanzania I tried to go to a school of cooking where we examined, blood and all that, we were alright, we were supposed to go to
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Germany, it failed again.  So we were told that now we are going back home, the old man is out of Robben Island we are going to get some other skills we are going to learn at home there.   You see so I just left at that time, I just came this side.  In other words I was somewhat deprived to learn some skills.  So still now I still want to go and learn to be a chef because I like cooking.

REV XUNDU: George thank you very much, that concludes my questioning.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.  Any questions?  Yes Yasmin Sooka.  Order please.

YASMINE SOOKA: George there have been a number of commissions of inquiry that have investigated abuse in the ANC camps, have you ever made any testimony to any of those commissions?

GEORGE DUBE: In the ANC I have never made, I have never done.

YASMINE SOOKA: (...indistinct)(Not talking into the microphone)

GEORGE DUBE: Yes, yes here in South Africa, here, there was a commission of inquiry of Dr Matswenyane, somewhere year before last, so I went there.  I was told by somebody why don't you go there because you have been somehow abused as you are saying in Angola and all that.  I went there, they were in FNB, they had their offices in FNB, so I went there.  From there I went - because I saw there was nothing happening I went to Zimbabwe to see my sister whom I left in Zimbabwe the time I came this side.  That was 20 years ago.  When I came back the Commission was not there anymore, I went there I didn't see anybody.

YASMINE SOOKA: Sorry, at the time did you make any complaint to any person about the way you were treated in the ANC camps?

GEORGE DUBE: I once told Social Welfare here where I usually
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went, share a house, that is I was once locked up for seven years in exile.  And then I even told a certain comrade who was a regional commander, Timothy, Commander Timothy, he was originally commander there in Angola that I had been arrested for seven years.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.  Any other questions?  Dr Randera.

DR RANDERA: George can I just come back to your release in September 1983, are we to understand that after that you went back into the ANC camps and you then came back to South Africa with the ANC?

GEORGE DUBE: Yes.

DR RANDERA: Okay.  And my next question is since you came back, and sorry when did you come back to South Africa?

GEORGE DUBE: 1993, somewhere near September or October, 1993.

DR RANDERA: 1993?

GEORGE DUBE: 1993 yes.

DR RANDERA: And since then you have been in contact with the ANC (...indistinct)

GEORGE DUBE: Yes.

DR RANDERA: (...indistinct) (not talking into the microphone)

GEORGE DUBE: I will be asking for them to somehow send me to school ...(tape ends)  so I was nowhere.  Till now I am nowhere.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.  Any other questions?
 Thank you very much.  We are mandated, required by the Act that has brought us into being to investigate all instances of human rights violations, gross human rights violations happening to our people inside the country, outside the country, and we intend as this Commission to 
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carry out that mandate.  
 We are quite clear that human rights violations when they happen are human rights violations, and if the evidence is such as to indicate that that has been the case then we will be seeking to put this as one of the parts of the report of our Commission because we are asked to give as full a picture as possible of all gross human rights violations that have happened as a result of the conflicts of the past.  We want to assure you that this Commission will in fact seek to get to the bottom of the story that you have given us.
 Thank you very much.

GEORGE DUBE: Thank you.
COMMISSION ADJOURNS

DR BORAINE: The previous witness requested witness protection and when people request that, unless there is some very good reason we have to grant them that and the place of safety where he has gone closes at five o'clock, and the witness protector did not want him to travel later in the evening.  So the request came from our witness protector and I can now announce that because he's actually in protection and will be looked after.