Special Hearings — Health Sector Hearings — 1997-06-17

WENDY ORR: Thank you Father.  We have so very many special guests here today that it is impossible to welcome each one by name.  We do, however, have a number of international visitors and we are deeply grateful to them for taking the trouble to come all this way to participate in the hearings and to add their support and hopefully their on-going support as we prepare our final programme and recommendations.
 I just want to comment particularly on the context of these hearings.  I think there have been accusations that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is going beyond its mandate by exploring the health sector, the judiciary, the education sector, but in fact our mandate is very clearly spelled out, to examine the context, perspectives and environment within which human rights violations occurred, and to make recommendations to ensure that those violations do not happen again.  And it is within that context of our mandate that we are holding these institutional and professional hearings.
 This process started a long time ago.  In August last year Fazel and I were charged with putting together a health sector hearing and to that end we had a national consultative workshop in November at which we discussed the issue with a number of major role players and decided that it would be appropriate to hold health sector hearings at which we would hear submissions from a number of major role players.
 We have tried to structure the day by starting off with case studies to demonstrate real life situations in which things went wrong.  In which complicity and collusion, negligence, mistreatment and violations occurred and then moving into the organisational submissions to try and help us understand the context and environment within which these occurred, why they occurred, how they occurred and most importantly, and I feel very strongly about this, how we can prevent them from occurring in the future.
  We are going to have to change the order of the case studies just a little bit because Mrs Ntsiki Biko and her brother-in-law, Steve's brother, Mr Kayo Biko will be arriving any minute.  Their plane was due, SAA willing, to arrive at 10 o'clock, so we are hoping that they will be here soon, but we obviously can't have our presentation of the Steve Biko case study without Mr and Mrs Biko being here.  So we will be starting with Case. no.3 on your programme which is the Detainee case studies.
 Before I move into that I want to say thank you to two very special people without whom these hearings would never have happened.  One of them is here and is Sheila Roquitte who is a research intern from Princeton, who has been my right-hand, my left foot, my head, my eyes, my sanity in the last few months as I've been working towards these hearings and I want to say a huge thank you to her.
 The other person is not here, she is Linda van Demen, my secretary, who turned her office into a printing press to try and produce copies of all the submissions so that people had a chance to read them beforehand and prepare questions around them.
 We received almost 50 submissions and they are still coming in, so there is obviously tremendous interest in this issue.  It highlights the fact that we need to break the culture of silence, the taboos which have surrounded the medical profession, the mystique of the medical profession, the fact that people don't speak out, the fact that doctors are viewed as a closed club very often who stand up for each other rather than for their patients and that's really what these two days are all about.  It's how we can break that culture of silence and move together into the future.
 I'd like to ask Nomfundo Walaza and the witnesses whom she is bringing with her to come forward and do our first presentation on Detainee Case Studies and Glenda Wildschut is going to be facilitating their evidence.
DETAINEE CASE STUDIES

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: Nomfundo before we start may I ask that Mrs Lesani and Mrs Gcina please stand to take the oath and we will ask Denzil Potgieter to administer the oath.  Are you going to be testifying as well Nomfundo?  Okay, alright, then you can take the oath as well.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you.  Can I just ask you to state your full names for our record before I administer the oath to you and would you mind just switching on the microphone in front of you.  Thank you.

NOMFUNDO WALAZA: (sworn states)

MILDRED LESANI: (sworn states)

IVY GCINA: (sworn states)

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: Welcome Nomfundo and Mrs Lesani and Mrs Gcina.  I would just like to find out whether you would prefer to speak in your own language, because it is possible, we do have people who can interpret.

NOMFUNDO WALAZA: Yes, we will speak in our language, in Xhosa.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: You will speak in Xhosa.

NOMFUNDO WALAZA: Yes.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: If you are going to be speaking in Xhosa will you please put on your earphones because I am disastrous at Xhosa.
 Nomfundo just a minute, I just would like to make one housekeeping announcement.  These earphones, if you do not understand Xhosa you are going to have to use these earphones.  Channel 1 is Afrikaans, 2 is English and the 3rd is Xhosa. We do not have enough earphones so those people who understand all three languages or English and Xhosa please share that with those who do not understand.
 I have just been asked to make one small announcement to the witnesses but could people who have cellphones please switch them off.  I have just switched off this one now.  Can we ask those who do have cellphones please to switch them off.  
 And for those people who have to leave the room if you could please leave the room after the witnesses have given evidence, it's very disturbing to give evidence while people are moving around in the room.  Thank you very much.
 Thanks for your patience.  Nomfundo I believe that you are going to give a short statement and then we will move over from your statement to Mrs Lesani.  Thank you, please go ahead.