Human Rights Violation Hearings — East London — 1997-06-12

CHAIRPERSON: Can Nosiphiwo Damane and Funeka Voyiya come forward please.  Will you please get up to be sworn in.

BONGANI FINCA: Thank you Ms Chairperson.

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: (Duly sworn in, states).

BONGANI FINCA: Thank you Mam.  You will give your testimony under oath.

FUNEKA VOYIYA: (Duly sworn in, states).

BONGANI FINCA: Thank you Mrs Voyiya.  You will make a testimony under oath.

CHAIRPERSON: Nosiphiwo Damane, Mrs June Crichton will lead you with questions.

JUNE CRICHTON: Can you hear me Mrs Damane?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes, I can hear you.

JUNE CRICHTON: Will you excuse me for one moment.  I just need to mention something to the, to our Commissioner.  Thank you Mrs Damane.  Mrs Damane, you are here to tell us about an incident that happened on the 11th of July in 1986 to somebody by the name of Makhaya Ngalo.  What was his relationship to you?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: He was my boyfriend.

JUNE CRICHTON: And you had a child with him already, did you?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes, I had a child with him.

JUNE CRICHTON: According to your statement you have said that he and three other members of the ANC were killed in a shootout with police near Fort Jackson.  Is that correct?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes, that is correct.

JUNE CRICHTON: And that along the road between East London and King William's Town?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes, that is correct.

JUNE CRICHTON: Now, you have come here today as a woman to tell us what effect that had on your life.  At the time that you heard of his death from friends you were pregnant.  I would like you to tell us in your words what happened to you as a result of that news that came to you.

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: On the 11th of July I was coming from town.  When I got home I saw that there was chaos in the area.  As Makhaya Ngalo was staying in the same street as myself, because it was a June holiday, the schools were closed.  The teachers who were teaching with them were in the township.  They would go to my neighbours home.  I could see that something was happening, but they were avoiding me.  After that I got a telephone call.  My friend phoned me asking when last I saw Makhaya.  When my friend asked that I asked my friend why are you asking me this.  My friend said that a, she was looking for her husband, Cecil Madyaka.  Because she saw that I got suspicious after asking me about Makhaya, I asked where Cecil was, her husband.  She did not answer me, she just dropped the phone.
 I became suspicious.  I wondered what happened.  I dropped the phone.  I went outside to the neighbours house, to my boyfriend's friend.  When I arrived in my neighbours home they also dropped the phone.  They went in and out.  I called one of his friends who was a teacher at Hobosane.  I asked him what was happening, because it was a holiday and it was cold, because it was Winter.  He told me about what happened.  I tried to be strong, because I knew that my boyfriend was from Cradock so his family members were in Cradock.  I tried to be strong.  I went back home.  I took my diary, trying to check for the telephone numbers.  I phoned his uncle in Worcester, his aunt in Worcester.  
 I did not explain what happened to him, because I was not sure.  His aunt thanked me.  I then stayed at home.  At night while I was sleeping his family members came from Cradock.  They said that they heard that there were Comrades who were killed.  I was not sure whether Makhaya was one of these people, because I was not sure of what I heard.  We saw this incident in the Daily Dispatch the next morning, but no names were mentioned.  They were just labelled as four terrorists who were killed.  In the pictures shown I saw his car.  Because at that time I was pregnant, I was six weeks pregnant, this affected ... and people came for prayers at home and these prayers were disrupted by the police and people stopped these prayers and he was buried at his home in Cradock.  
 After that I became sick.  I became ill and I decided to go to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital for the, in the Maternity Section, because I was pregnant.  I was examined in Cecilia Makiwane.  They did not tell me what was wrong with me.  They gave me another appointment.  I went for the second time.  They put me in a sauna and they told me that I miscarried my child.

JUNE CRICHTON: I just want to interrupt you there.  When we were talking earlier you said that the baby had died, but it had not actually come away.  Is that correct?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes, that is correct.

JUNE CRICHTON: So, the word "miscarriage" is not correct there.  The, what they said to you was that the baby had died.  Is that right?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes, that is correct.

JUNE CRICHTON: And then how did they advise you?  What did they advise you you need to do?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: They advised me to, they said that it was very dangerous to take out the child.  They told me that this will happen naturally.  The miscarriage will happen naturally.  I stayed for three months.

JUNE CRICHTON: Are you saying, then, that you for three months you carried this dead fetus inside you?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Yes Mam, it is so.

JUNE CRICHTON: Continue please.

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: I stayed for three months.  I thought I should leave the area I was at.  I phoned his aunt who was in Worcester that he would go to for holidays as well.  I left with my elder child who was five years of age at the time.  He was still in pre-school.  We went to Worcester.  I asked for a transfer from my doctor so that if something happens I could be admitted in another hospital.  He prepared for me and he gave me a hospital card.  I stayed there.  Nothing happened and I came back, because my child was supposed to graduate from pre-school.  I came back home.  I went to Makiwane Hospital for a check-up.  I told my doctor that I was back.  He gave me a date to go to a sauna.  The fetus was still there.  They admitted me.  They tried to expel the baby from my womb and they performed a DNC.  That is how I lost my child.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Damane, I am almost lost for words as to how you managed over those three months, but I must ask you a question and that is how did you cope emotionally knowing that the shock of what you had experienced and, as you told me earlier, the harassment you had and the teargas that was thrown during the time of the funeral, how did you cope knowing that you were carrying this baby that was no longer alive?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: That terribly affected me.  I could not eat, I lost a lot of weight as a result of that.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Damane, you have come to tell this story to us.  What are your expectations from the Commission?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: If the Commission could help me with my elder child's education, because I am not working.  He is in standard nine at the moment.  It is difficult to pay the school fees.

JUNE CRICHTON: How old was he when his father died?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: Five years old.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Damane, is there anything further you wish to add to your testimony?

NOSIPHIWO DAMANE: No, for now I am through.

JUNE CRICHTON: Thank you.  I am going to hand you back to the Chairperson in case my colleagues want to ask any questions.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you June.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Damane, we would like to thank you for your statement that you have given to us, for the courage you have had to bring it to us.  We share, from this distant place, some of the pain that you had to bear in carrying this child and we trust that having shared your story with us and with the nation you will now find peace and that the requests you have made to the Commission will be considered by the President.  Thank you for your story.  You may stay seated while the next witness is heard.  Thank you Madam Chairperson.