Human Rights Violation Hearings — Nelspruit — 1996-09-04

MS MKHIZE: I want to thank you Mr Mhlongo, I am going to ask you a few questions, just to get some clarity. If you remember correctly, how old were you when you were actually - when you met this incident?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: I am presently 57 years of age. Now it was 1976 when this happened. I was actually working at Foshini Stores delivering some goods.

MS MKHIZE: I thank you.  The other question which I would like to ask you; that time were you working - yes, that question has been answered. You said you left Barberton to Komatipoort. Now in Barberton that's where you said you almost lost everything, your property.

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: It was a four-roomed house built by the railway company and then people were actually moved from that place to another location.  Those houses which remained behind were given to us.  Then they said to us no, because I had a lot of furniture I could make use of all the rooms in that four-rooms, because they wanted to allocate four people in one house.

MS MKHIZE: The other thing which you said, which I would like to get clarity on, it concerns you said they tortured you.  They covered your face and they shocked you, electrocuted you and they tied an electric wire on your genitals. Is there anything else?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, they kicked me around.  They kicked me.

MS MKHIZE: The time when you appeared before the magistrate, did you explain, did you get a chance to explain that you also wanted to see the doctor, because your body
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was so painful?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, I did explain this. I wanted even to speak, we were grouped. I was not given the chance to say whatever I wanted to say before the magistrate. It was actually, I was surprised to see the way they gave the hearing.

MS MKHIZE: Concerning your torture, did you have chance perhaps to put forward your case?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: No, we were not even given time to say whatever our complaints are.  Then I only met the doctor, consulted the doctor when I was in prison.

MS MKHIZE: Can you please explain to us you said that you were grouped and you being 18.

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Actually we did not appear before the - I mean, they grouped us aside as a group.  They tried us as a group.

MS MKHIZE: You said, who was Johnsby?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: He was an interpreter, Johnsby was an interpreter.

MS MKHIZE: At the time when you were in prison, and before it was discovered that you are not a foreigner, did you get a chance to try and explain to the doctor who attended you at prison, that you are not an alien?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, I did get that chance, but the doctor also had nothing to do about what is happening in jail and what is happening with prisoners. He did not even bother himself to find out exactly whether I was an alien or not. He is still there. He is still practising.

MS MKHIZE: Can you give us his name?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Dr Pretorius. I am not sure of his initials, but he is Dr Pretorius.

MS MKHIZE: The other thing which I would like to know,
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which must be clarified to us, it is in connection with the change you now experience in your body.  You no longer feel as a human male. Now what has happened thereafter?  Are you still employed?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: I am presently not employed, I am only doing free-lance jobs, like selling furniture.

MS MKHIZE: Do you get any pension or are you getting any pension from them?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Unfortunately I did not get anything, and I don't get anything. I tried even to apply for the pension from the Foshini shop where I was working, but nothing has happened up to so far.

MS MKHIZE: Now in your statement here you mentioned that you need some help, to assist your children. In other words, do you still have dependants?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, I do have dependants and I have got six of them attending school.

MS MKHIZE: If you say they are attending school, can you tell us how do they differ, what standards are they?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: The first one is doing Form 5, he is about to complete matric this year.

MS MKHIZE: The other one?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: He is doing Form 3, Std 8.  The others are in primary school, two of them are in Std 4 and two are in Std 2.

MS MKHIZE: Lastly before I perhaps hand you over to the Chairperson. Now that you are here, what do you want us to do or what can be done to sort of have peace? People who have experienced the trauma that you experienced.

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: What I am requesting actually from the Commission is that I request that I be paid. I request
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that something should be done that I get a pension.  Maybe that could console me in a way so that I can be in a position to pay for my children. I thank you.

MS MKHIZE: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Any other commissioners that want to ask you questions?  Mr Lewin?

MR LEWIN: Just one question, Mr Mhlongo. You have obviously thought about this over a long period.   I would just like to ask why you think they did this to you?  What was happening?  What was this whole business about? Why did they act like this?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: I think the time when this took place it was during that time when most of the people in Mozambique ran away from that country because of the instability in the country, they ran to South Africa. Then I was taken as an alien for that matter.

MR LEWIN: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Malan?

MR MALAN: Mr Mhlongo, what was the charge that you were convicted of, that you went to jail for?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: In fact, they did not even ask me, I cannot tell you what was I charged for, and we were not even given chance to say anything, and I also said to them why can't I appear alone.  They said no, they only sentence us as a group. It was a blanket sentence.  They did that on their own.  They set no fine. So we were not given a fair chance in our hearing.  If they had given, perhaps a fine, we could have, my employee could have paid for that.

MR MALAN: So still today you don't know why you sat in jail, you don't know what the charge was.

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, I don't know, except that they labelled me
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as a terrorist.

MR MALAN: Did they charge you under your name Mhlongo or under the name Carlos or some other name?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: They said no, I am Carlos, the name which they gave me.

MR MALAN: So Carlos was in prison, Mr Mhlongo wasn't in prison. Is that what the records will show?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, it is true, because they only knew about my name after the application and the enquiry from the Home Affairs Department in Pretoria where it proved that I am actually a South African citizen.

MR MALAN: Can you tell us how old your eldest child is, the one that is in Form 5?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: The first one is born in 1975, 5 October.

MR MALAN: Just the age.

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: 1977, January.

MR MALAN: You spoke about the change in your body, as Commissioner Mkhize also referred to.  But you had five children after the shock treatment and after your imprisonment.

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Yes, I do have children.  But I will say this, I am supporting the children and ...

MR MALAN: Then you also say in your statement that your hands don't work since the shock, but you have been showing your hands around. Can you tell us what in your hands are not working?

MAHLASELA PAUL MHLONGO: Sometimes from here to the down limb, sometimes I am able to work, I am able to move around, but sometimes I have got to sit straight up-right as if I am shocked.

MR MALAN: But you don't have a problem with your hands or do you have a problem with your hands?
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