Special Hearings — Women's Hearings — 1997-07-29

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: (The speaker's mike is not on). According   to my knowledge within the ANC there is no such rule that women should be violated   in this manner. We used to be in camps and we would be told that men do not   have a right to violate us. You could only get involved if you wanted to, but   if you didn't want to you couldn't. But it did happen that at that Sun City   one Desmond raped me nine times. He was raping me. He's quite a young man. He   was 28 years old at that time and I looked at myself or upon myself as his mother   because I could have been the same age as his mother.
 There's a certain comrade by the name of Mashego who was   staying in Swaziland and when I met him he raped me until such time that I approached   Mr Mashego and reported the matter to Mr Mashego to try and intervene.  And   there was another one by the name of Tebogo who was also very young. He raped   me and he also cut my genitals. He cut through my genitals and they were cut   open and he put me in a certain room and he tied my hands, my legs, they were   apart, he also tied my neck and he would also pour Dettol over my genitals.   The pain that I experienced I have never spoken about this, I have never even   told my children about this. It is the very first time that I speak about this. 
 I even mentioned it in my statement because I realised   that the Truth Commission is the only stage or podium where I can get to voice   out all this pain and anger. Maybe I will get over it.

MS MKHIZE: In your statement it's where you have also   stated that you were tied with a rope around your neck and you were hung on   a tree, was that the usual occurrence or it was an isolated issue?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: I wouldn't say it was a usual occurrence,   but as far as I know that was not a rule within the ANC itself that you should   be assaulted and treated in this manner.
 I still bear some scars on my neck. After having been assaulted   I bled through the mouth, nose, as well as ears, but still I was hung, I was   left dangling on the tree, and at that time they were telling me that they wanted   to kill me on that particular day. And I had been made to wear an overall so   that if I mess myself up they wouldn't get, or catch sight of my mess.  There's   a certain boy by the name Mpisi and an assistant commander JJ Jonas. When he   took me down, brought me down from the tree he said I was hot which means I   was still alive, and the other one said no this dog is dead. When they took   me and put me on the ground they realised that I was not dead. That's when they   left me.
 At that time I just wished I was dead. I kept on praying   to God to take me and take my soul because I just wanted to die, but my wishes   were not granted. My teeth have now turned red because they had come loose at   that time. Chief Maybra(?) came to my assistance. He told me that I should not   use my teeth, I should not eat anything that was going to make my teeth more   sensitive and he nursed me back to health until I got better. But after we were   taken from Zambia to Tanzania, that is the Tanga Jail, that is when I got even   better because we were given healthy food and we were not skipping any meals.   And I have since been on the slow road to recovery. 
 We stayed there for a whole year and the tribunal come   there apparently to discuss or deal with our cases. At first there was Comrade   Vera Sibisi who was our attorney, but thereafter they just came and went away,   thereafter nothing happened up to the first time that we were released and taken   to an ANC camp in Dagoa without ever having appeared before any other tribunal.

MS MKHIZE: Then in 1993 you have also mentioned that   you were tortured and you were sexually assaulted?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: Yes. At the end of 1992 I went to Shell   House to Comrade Mdu. I had gone to ask for his assistance to make some arrangements   for me to be able to get either a job and get a place to stay because when I   got to Swaziland I found that my house had been looted and the house itself   had been sold and they had alleged that - because I used to go the Chief with   some of the comrades and I would explain to the Chief that they should not be   harassed by the police and they went to the Chief and alleged that I had been   taken to Zambia and I would not be coming back to Swaziland and they lied and   said that I had asked them to sell the house on my behalf. They sold it for   R20 000 and they took the contents of the house. Ever since I have come back   from exile I saw my bedroom suite in another comrade's house by the name of   Mike. And this woman is from Mamba. She is sleeping in my bed and using my bedroom   suite.

MS MKHIZE: I asked about the 1993 incident where you   said that you were also tortured in Boksburg?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: I was in Piet Retief at that time and there   was a rally that was held where I saw Comrade Jacob Zuma as well as A Team.   I approached them for some help. They said all they could help me with was to   give me money to go to Shell House where all my things would be arranged accordingly.   They gave me R50,00 to go to Shell House. When I got to Shell house I was taken   to Mr Mdu, and he seemed surprised to see me at his office. And I told him that   he was not able to kill me.
 Thereafter he took me in his car together with another   guy, they took me to Boksburg and they showed me this new house which had this   advertising agency's board that the house was on sale. They put me into that   house and when Mdu - when this other guy left Mdu raped me the whole night at   gunpoint. He said he lost me in Zambia and I wasn't going to get away on that   particular night. This was his house. He had bought the house. And should I   dare scream he was just going to kill me and go and dump me far away. He raped   me for the whole night and the following day he took me to Shell House. When   I got to Shell House I was given money by this other guy who said that I was   going to get some taxis and I never saw Mdu until today. He raped me in that   house in 1993.

MS MKHIZE: The question that I want to ask you is, as   you have just told us the story it seems you had a prominent position within   the ANC structures, now after all this did you try to complain or lay a charge   or lay a complaint with regard to your treatment?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: Yes I have done some complaining. I have   faxed some of the comrades, Phosa, Mashego as well as Skweyiya, Comrade Baba   as well as the Senator. I also went to the Senator's house. I went to Dr Karim.   At times I used to have my breakfast at Dr Karim's house. The mattress on which   I used to sleep was given to me by Dr Karim's wife, Thelma. She is the one who   used to help me at the time and she thereafter felt that she had grown tired   of helping me. I have laid complaints, quite a number of complaints, and they   would make promises, but nothing would come out of the promises that they made.

MS MKHIZE: Now according to your own opinion, as a prominent   activist within the ANC, what do you think could be done to help other women   who have been humiliated, tortured and harassed like you have been?