Human Rights Violation Hearings — Bloemfontein — UNKNOWN

DR BORAINE: Good Morning, Mr Tshabalala. I gather thatyou can hear me all right? Can you just switch on the microphone please? Thankyou. You can hear me all right?

MR TSHABALALA: I can hear you quite well.

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much. Mr Tshabalala, youhave brought somebody with you. Could you please tell me who that is?

MR TSHABALALA: This is my mother, Emily Charles.

DR BORAINE: I'd like to welcome you, Mrs Tshabalala,very much. We are glad that you have joined your son whilst he is talking tous. Mr Tshabalala, you're going to tell us about a cousin, Edward Viyu Charles,who was killed, and even though it's not a brother or a sister, a father ora mother, it's a part of you, a part of your family, and we know that you feelthis deeply, and we are very glad that you've come to tell this story aboutyour cousin. Now, I have to ask you please to stand to take the oath.

MR TSHABALALA: (Sworn, States)

DR BORAINE: Please be seated Mr Tshabalala. Mr Tshabalala,you are first today. I am not sure if you were here yesterday, but we alwaysask a member of the panel, one of my colleagues, to assist whoever is givingtheir story, and on this occasion, to assist you wherever you may need it, isMr Ilan Lax, and he is sitting on my far left, and he will take over from menow. Thank you.

MR LAX: Good morning, Mr Tshabalala, welcome.

WITNESS: Thankyou very much.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... we start this morning, and before you go intothe story of the sad death of Edward Viyu  Charles, could you tell us a little bit about the Charles

MR LAX: family, how many children there were, and so on?

WITNESS: The familyof Charles is comprised of six children.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... them.

WITNESS: The family of Charles is a cousinwho grew up at my father's place.

MR LAX: Would you now tell us what you know of the death of EdwardViyu Charles please.

WITNESS: My cousin was a student at that time. He looked verybrilliant, he had a very bright future. My cousin could see the problems thatwe were going through at our home. He could also see the problems that the blacknation had. Then he took a decision that amongst all other things he will workfor his nation, especially strive for freedom. In other words he got involvedin politics. At that time when the UDF started he was the chairperson of theUDF in Welkom. In 1983 Edward Viyu Charles was arrested for the very first time.His second arrest was in 1985, near Welkom and Odendaalsrus, on the way to Kroonstad.In 1985 it was a little bit difficult during those times. His life was a littlebit more in shambles, and he spent most of his time in prison, and he relatedhow difficult it was there. He even told us about the torture that went on inthe prison. At that time he was in Mpohadi College, and his parents wished thathe should finish is education. There were people who kept on harassing him.Those were the law people. They were using constant death threats, and theythreatened that they would wipe the whole family out. And there came a timewhere he was told that he would go because he did not want to leave the causefor freedom. He used to talk with us to make us aware as to all that the previousregime was not protecting his nation. He  took an oath and he told himself that he will continue

MR LAX: with the struggle, he won't turn back. Amongst the torturesthat he went through the most painful was when he was taken into a bath, putinside the water, and he was electrocuted. In 1985 he went to Lesotho. At thattime we heard that they were threatening they would wipe the whole family ifwe kept him in the family. At that time he stayed in Lesotho until he crossed... (incomplete)

MR LAX: When you're ready we can continue. (Pause)

WITNESS: It was verydifficult because the parents were expecting that he should finish his education,but he did explain to them and they did understand he had to leave the country.It was then that we actually resolved and told ourselves that it was the lasttime we saw him.

MR LAX: You can take your time. We don't mind waiting for you. (Pause)--- The last time we heard him talk was when he phoned us and he told us thathe was on his way to Lusaka. That was the last time. He went to Lusaka. Throughoutwe were dreaming we were also expecting him, we were also - we also encouragedourselves. We told ourselves that whatever decision he had taken we were inline with it. We were being supportive because he always explained to us theproblems that he was going through. He went to Lusaka. We heard rumours thathe was around, but we never saw him. In 1987, on the 16th if I am not mistaken,that is the 16th of December, we heard rumours that there was a terrorist whodied in the vicinity of Brandfort and Bloemfontein in a farm. He was termeda terrorist. We never thought it could possibly he him. It took us a very longtime to know that it was him. This was being hidden away from us. I think itwas in 1990  when myself and his elder brother we made some

MR LAX: investigations. We heard rumours that amongst the people whodied Edward Viyu Charles was amongst them. We made some investigations and wediscovered that he is the person who was killed in 1987. We were not notifiedabout his death, we only heard it from people. It looks as if there were somepeople who were with him, but one of them is in Bloemfontein according to rumour,the one who was with him at that time when he died. The other one survived andhe surrendered, but my brother was killed by the boers. They killed him in avery painful manner. Amongst all other things when he was being buried he wasburied by the police. I believe they just buried him like a dog or a puppy.They were just seeing a corpse, an unknown corpse. There were two policemenwho couldn't - who had a problem burying him. This was a very painful experience.The most cruel of them all was that when we last saw him he was fine and alivein flesh, but now when we had to see him for the last time he was only bones.We buried his bones in 1991. We were not burying him in person. That's all Ican say.

MR LAX: Thank you, Mr Charles. Just for the record could you confirmEdward Viyu Charles' date of birth as 20 October 1964?

WITNESS: It is so.

MR LAX: So at the time he left the country he would have been 21. ---It is so.

MR LAX: Now, you spoke about some inquiries that you made. Could youbriefly tell us what sort of inquiries you made to discover that the ... (inaudible)... you subsequently reburied was in fact Edward Charles?

WITNESS: His elder brotheris a teacher at Ladybrand. He heard that there  was somebody who had died. He went to Bloemfontein to

MR LAX: come and see if there was anything he could find about hisbrother. He got information that he was the one who was killed in Brandfort.We went to Brandfort. We could not get any information as to what happened.Thereafter we discovered that according to rumours a certain person was beingburied in a certain grave by the Comrades. It could be possible that it washim. Further investigations that were made in Bloemfontein confirmed that inreality the grave was his.

MR LAX: Thank you. Now, you spoke to us about a witness, one of thecomrades of your cousin as someone who survived that incident, and you saidthat that person was somewhere in Bloemfontein. Do you know that person's nameso we can maybe try and trace him?

WITNESS: I think they talked about Mohapi. Thatis the name that I remember.

MR LAX: The elder brother who is a teacher from Ladybrand, what's hisname please?

WITNESS: It's Ezekiel Themba Charles.

MR LAX: Thank you. You spoke of arrests during 1983 and 1985. Werethose arrests for specific charges, or specific activities that you're awareof?

WITNESS: Those accusations we are not clear as to what they entailed, but atthat time they were electing a councillor in Thabong. That was the second arrest.