Human Rights Violation Hearings — Port Elizabeth — UNKNOWN

WITNESS: I have suffered a lot of stress since his disappearance.  I now suffer from a number of strain related deceases.  I am a diabetic, I am asthmatic, I am hypertensive as well as arthritic.  I am on the verge of leaving my work due to ill health.  I am in a financial gloom as I have already been told that I shall receive no monthly income when I leave my work.  I am responsible for my late daughter's eight year old son.  I therefore further request the Commission to assist me in not only with the investigation of my son's disappearance but financially as well as I already find it difficult to make ends meet.  When I come to this point I become terribly ashamed to make this request.  I am a communist.  I have visited a number of homes.  I know how much suffering my people go through.  In fact, as I sit here I complain of being in a financial gloom, but I know what situations there are in homes.  When I walk into those homes I sometimes feel I am almost a Queen as compared to their destitution.  However, I cannot but put this request to you because I know what things will be like.  
I am 34 years in the nursing profession, but today, because of the apartheid laws, I am going to leave the profession with no monthly income.  Why, because whenever you left your job and start at a new place you start at day one at the next place but the other people continued with their service.  Today I am only nine years old in the nursing profession and hence, according to the rules and regulations and the whatever, I am not entitled to a monthly income.  So when I do leave as I am in the process of being boarded off work due to ill health I shall receive no income.
May I use this opportunity to thank my family, my friends as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ for their support during the 16 year period of mourning because I have been mourning all along.  A special thanks to my Pastor who sits with me at the back there.  He has been a tower of strength to me.  May God bless him.  I wish to thank this Commission, in fact, I am thrilled that the government has set up a structure like this for people like myself and many others to come forward and put their cases and in fact the very fact that I have spoken today makes me feel better.  Already I feel some weight off my soldiers today.  I have been weeping and crying for 16 years.  I would dearly love to know what happened to my child.  
I would dearly love to know where he lies because I do not believe that he still lives, but I do not know who is responsible for his disappearance.  Thank you.
(?) Thank you very much, Nokwanda.  I have two questions that I will ask at once.  It is up to you, you will choose if you want to answer these questions.  If you want to do so please answer me.  You said somewhere at the beginning that your father's family is Mbeki's.  Your son's family is Mbeki's. Please explain to us who are these Mbeki's exactly and please tell us who is your son's father because we have noticed that you talk about him so many times.  It looks like his name is very important in this case but you have not mentioned him.  If you would like to answer this question please do so.

WITNESS: I refrain from answering the question.
(?) I did not hear you clearly, Nokwanda.  Please repeat your answer so that everybody can hear.

WITNESS: When I talk about the Mbeki family I am talking about Gavin Mbeki's family.  About the second question, please I ask to refrain from answering that question.
(?) Thank you, Nokwanda.

CHAIRPERSON: Are there any questions from the panel?  Can you please settle down so that I can be able to thank the witness.  
Mrs Mpahlwa, thank you very much for coming here with the story of the disappearance of your son.  We can see the pain that you are in just like any other parent who has a son who has disappeared.  You are lucky because you have your sister next to you who, when you were crying, also cried with you.  It is obvious that you share this pain.  Like all the cases that have been submitted to us we will do our utmost best to find out what happened.  If we can be able to get his bones we will bring them back to you.  Thank you for coming and thank you for your testimony and we hope that if your son is alive he will be reunited with you.  If he is dead we will bring the remains back to you and you will be able to bury them.  Thank you very much.

WITNESS: IS EXCUSED

CHAIRPERSON: Could you please settle down so that I can thank you and then we can go home.  We have now come to the end of the hearing in the Port Elizabeth district.  I knew that because of the big number of witnesses that we had we knew that when we close we would have a few people in this hall, that is why I thanked you right at the beginning, thanking the way that the Port Elizabeth community supported these hearings. [Information lost due to recording] ...which have been so well attended throughout the country in all the hearings that we have had.
We thank the Port Elizabeth Mayor and his Town Council for giving us this Centenary Great Hall for free saying that what we are doing is also their duty as well.  We also thank the NGOs, the CBOs, the church organisations from Port Elizabeth for all the help that they provided to us throughout the time of preparation of this hearing.  Most especial thanks goes to our witnesses those who came forward to give their evidence and testimonies of their pain.  Each one of them is very special.  Lastly we thank you for what I think has been the best behaviour I have seen in a crowd as large as this one.  We salute you.
We announce that our next special hearing will be here in this house just like we have announced after lunch.  The next normal hearing will be in Umtata in the Transkei, from 18 to 20 June.  I would like to say that those people who said that Port Elizabeth has had the greatest contribution in our struggle, but now even tiny villages in Transkei especially in the Pondo area, in Engcobo, Cofimvaba, people stood up against the monster there, a monster, and they opposed it and they died for it.  We have then to go there and listen to their stories.  Thank you very much.  May God bless you all.

CHAIRPERSON: Just thank the press again for the very good coverage you have continued to give our hearings and this one has been no exception.  You have, in my opinion, reported us and covered the stories of victims very well and thus helping to make this process a peoples process that people participate even if they are not here in hearing the stories which have been covered.  We thank you for that.  I think I must take questions.
(?)No microphone.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Maqina was not called today.  We were aware of the anger generated by the announcement that those who are mentioned in the testimony of Mrs Mtimkulu have again gone to court to commission from hearing her evidence.  In our opinion that generated a lot of anger in the people whom I think you have witnessed.  We thought that if we call in Mr Maqina that he testified in a situation which was likely to be extremely hostile it would defeat the purpose of having a fair hearing for him.  We consulted with him.  He was of one mind with us and we mutually agreed that it would not be proper to take that hearing today.  We will re-schedule it possibly for the next time we come around here.
(?)No microphone.

CHAIRPERSON: We will have to consider that one very carefully.  He may want to go to any other of the hearings in the region or he may prefer to wait until it comes back to Port Elizabeth.  There will be hearings for instance in Transkei next month.  There will be a hearing at a town next door here in Uitenhage, Queenstown, etcetera.  He may decide to go there or he may prefer to witness in his own community here in Port Elizabeth.
(?)No microphone.  ... situation with Van Rensburg...  I understand the judgement is tomorrow to explain exactly they want...