Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, you may be seated.  Thank you, Dr Mgojo.  Perhaps before we begin let me take the opportunity to welcome all of you here who have taken trouble to come and grace these proceedings.  I particularly want to welcome the leaders of our community and all of you who have come with the leaders of your communities.  I have, in a fleeting glance in the room, recognised certain politicians, both in the national office as well as in the provincial office.  I have noticed Dr Blade Nzimande, Mr Pierre Cronje, a former mayor of Pmburg, Mr Rob Passwell, Mr John Jeffries, and there may be others that I have not particularly noticed.  We welcome all of you.  We also notice stalwarts of this community, Professor Byuso Nyembezi, Mr Xaba, Mr Kirschoff, and we are very pleased that you are all here to give this occasion the dignity that it deserves.
And I also must take this opportunity to say that I, as Acting Chairperson of the Commission at this particular point, have taken notice of remarks on TV this morning which have been attributed to the Inkatha Freedom Party, namely that they welcome the sittings of the Truth Commission at this area, and that they are however cautioning that the evidence that must be led here must be led in such a way that it does not provoke the other people about whom evidence is led.  May I just make an assurance - give an assurance that as far as the Commissioners here present are concerned, and as far as the evidence that is going to be led is concerned, we will accord an opportunity to witnesses to state what they have to state freely, without fear or favour, but we will also be responsible to make sure that the evidence that is given here is given with the necessary dignity, decorum and circumspection.  And we are always endeavouring to be as even-handed as possible in our presentation of evidence and our dealings with proceedings in the Commission.
Let me introduce to you the persons who are sitting here as members of the Commission today in these proceedings.  On my extreme left we have got Dr Simangele Magwaza.  She is a committee member and she functions in the Rehabilitation and Reparations Committee.  Next to her we have Mr Mdu Dlamini, also a committee member, and a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee.   Next to me on my left we have Mr Richard Lyster, a Commissioner, a co-ordinator in this region, and also a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee.  And on my right, and it has nothing to do with his politics, we have got Dr Khosa Mgojo, a Commissioner and a member of the Reparations and Rehabilitations Committee.  Next to Dr Mgojo we have Mr Ian Lax, who is a committee member and a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee.  And last, but not least, at the extreme right we have got Mrs Virginia Gcabashe, a committee member and a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee.  All of these persons are obviously known to you, or most of them are known to you, and I am happy then to be presenting them to you. 
I will now hand over to Richard Lyster, who shall perform the necessary ceremonies when we are about to call our first witness to the podium, and he will tell you who it will be and what the person will be doing or saying.

MR LYSTER: Thank you, Mr Chair.  May I just make one further announcement?  If there are any people in the audience who want to make statements about human rights violations we have members of our staff in committee room No 3 on the second floor of this building.  So if there are people who want to make statements about things that have happened to them, whether they want to give that evidence later at a public hearing, or whether they just want their statement to go into the Truth Commission's report, please get hold of one of our members of staff at the back of the hall there and ask them to show you to committee room No 3 on the second floor, where you will be able to make a statement today.

INTERPRETER: Their statements must be with us, so that when we investigate about the happenings we may have some statements with us.  They must proceed to the committee room.  There is an office at the second floor, but if you have problems there are members of the staff of the Commission whom you can ask to help you.  They will show you where the committee room is.  They will also show you who is going to take the statement.  We can still continue taking the statements because the Commission is going to continue hearing the evidence.

MR LYSTER: Thank you.  I am going to ask the first witness to come onto the stage, Mr John - sorry, Professor John Aitchison, from the University of Pietermaritzburg - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.  Professor Aitchison is not going to give evidence here today as a victim, although he was during the 1960s banned for two successive periods of five years for his view which he expressed.  But he will not be giving evidence as a victim, he will be giving an overview of the social and political history of this period - sorry, of this region over the last approximately 25 years.  We've found that it's useful to give this sort of overview at the beginning of a hearing so that the stories that people will hear later during the course of the next four days will make more sense, and they can place those stories in context.

INTERPRETER: The first witness that we are going to listen to will be Professor John Aitchison from the University.  He is going to give us a general overview of human rights violations in 'Maritzburg.  He will also give us a general overview from the 1960s, what happened in 'Maritzburg at that time, so that when the witnesses come to give testimony at least we have a background or a bird's eye view of the whole situation.

MR LYSTER: Professor Aitchison, thank you for being with us today, and thank you for preparing the document which we have in front of us.  It's a very useful document, and I have no doubt that it will find its way into the Commission's report.  We're going to give you approximately 20 to 30 minutes to talk to your document, but before you do so I'd like to ask you please to stand and take the oath.

UNKNOWN: (Sworn, States)

MR LYSTER: We have a shortage of these earphones for simultaneous translation, and the proceedings today, except for Professor Aitchison's evidence, will be given almost exclusively in Zulu.  And I see that there are - the vast majority of people here today are Zulu-speakers, so it will probably be best if those people who are not able to speak Zulu have access to the simultaneous translation machines.  Except for Professor Aitchison's evidence, which will be given in English, and will be summarised every minute or so by Mr Mdu Dlamini into Zulu.  So if you could just bear that in mind please, Professor Aitchison.  Well, the Chair is suggesting that Mr Dlamini gives a summary at the end, or at larger intervals than every minute or so, so if you could, Mr Dlamini, just try and summarise every few minutes to give the gist of what Professor Aitchison is saying in Zulu.  Thank you very much.  Professor Aitchison, over to you.  Sorry, could I just ask you please to switch all cellular telephones off.  Thank you.

WITNESS:   In this testimony ... (inaudible) ... period of gross human rights violations from 1960 to 1993 in the broader context of very complex patterns of politically driven intolerance, injustice, oppression, and corruption of the rule of law that has infected this region, and have, particularly in their last and most horrific form, led to the deaths of literally thousands of people, men, women and children, in this region.  According to my count 3 837 people have been killed in the last 10 years.