Human Rights Violation Hearings — Tembisa — 1996-11-26

MBAMBASE MARTHA MALULEKE: I thank you for affording me this opportunity to come here and say the part of my life that I have experienced.  I must confess that I don't know the truth about my son, but I will just tell you how he left the country.  The last time I saw my son was in 1987.  He disappeared.  He was attending school at Tembisa High. On
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his disappearance I looked for him not knowing where he went.  I couldn't sleep because he was not used to sleeping out or sleeping at his friend's houses.  He would sleep at home daily. Because at home we were ANC members we thought that this child must have skipped the country with other children.  We looked around but found out that he didn't leave the country with the ANC members, as an ANC member.  Now we lost hope not knowing where we could look for him.  When we really looked for him we found out that there's a small group of PAC members who lived in our section.  They disappeared on the same day he disappeared.  We thought he left with this group of young boys.  A letter came after two months to our place.  This letter was written by one of the children that left with him.  He wrote this letter on behalf of all the children to all parents saying that we must not be surprised, we are not arrested, we are in the neighbouring states but we are not going to tell you where we are.  We are just informing you that we are well and alive.  We will come back when we come back at our own time.  We lost hope. We didn't know that the child had joined the PAC because we knew nothing about the PAC within the family.  There was nobody to ask.  We just left everything as it was.  I would just explain however the dates are written on my statements.
 In one year we received a letter from Zimbabwe.  This letter was written by my son.  He has completed his training in Tanzania, he is now in Zimbabwe.  He said he will come back home, please send me some clothing.  He did describe what we must buy for him and send them by post.  We bought the clothing in a hurry, very delighted and sent them to him.  He phoned us because we did provide telephone numbers 
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and informed us that he received the clothing that we sent to him, however I will return back home to Soweto, not exactly at home.  Not knowing at whose place in Soweto he would arrive I accepted that statement from him.  He did arrive back home, went to Soweto at about eight o'clock.  We were not expecting him.  Three people entered the house, they were not known to us.  I could not identify him.  The children said this is our brother.  When I looked at him I found that it's him. Then I felt strong and I was happy.  I am a brave person, even better than his father.  I accepted these children, let them sit in the dining room, I talked to them.  They said to me we are leaving now, we are not going to sleep here at home. I said that is not possible.  They said we cannot sleep here because people might have seen us, now how will it be if they have seen us?  I said you had better leave in the morning because I would not sleep if my child would leave home tonight.  We stayed there with his father.  At five in the morning they left home.  We were a bit happy because we did see our son alive.  They left.  He phoned us from Soweto saying that he's going back into exile.  He said I will still keep contact with you.  I don't have much problems. I am in Harare at the moment.  
 After some time and he did arrive.  When he arrived I said your grandmother is sick at the hospital.  He came back, talked to his father, said I will leave tomorrow, I will go to the hospital in Hammanskraal I want to see my grandmother.  He left for Hammanskraal with his colleagues that he arrived with at home.  I don't know whether they were escorting each other or what.  They left together for Hammanskraal.  He went to the hospital, visited his grandmother and then came back home.  When it was time for 
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him to come back home he went to Soweto instead of home.  When I heard that they have arrived in Soweto they didn't even spend two weeks, they left.   Whether they were sent on a mission they never explained to us, these PAC members where these children were headed.  
 I was working in this spaza I saw a car arriving and from the car alighted two boys and this young daughter who stays in our street.  He showed them where I stayed because they did go to the house but didn't find me.  When they arrived they said there is something that we have to talk to you about.  I was very happy, I didn't have a problem, I didn't suspect a thing.  I offered them chairs, let them sit down and they informed me that Patrick has passed away.  I asked them where did this happen?  They said he was shot in Pimville or Edendale, somewhere there next to Lesotho, next to Groustad.  I said to them how did you know that Patrick has passed away?  He said that elder brother who was in their company was looking for his brother also in Pimville.  They were found together because they were friends going everywhere together.  We found them together at the mortuary.  I was looking for my sister at Grosdal mortuary.  I never asked what happened.  In fact he informed me that he didn't have proper evidence as to the children being taken to the mortuary.  
 I asked him who did the children know in this place.  This person didn't want to explain what was taking place.  He said his sister's son went there to visit the family relatives and my son accompanied them because he was already in Pimville where he used to stay.  After having explained to me I was a bit confused then.  I didn't ask a lot of questions.  I left with them.  When we arrived at the house
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his father was already hysterical about the whole matter.  There were about two boys with him.  They were shot, both of them at this White man's farm, but of these two one was shot in the leg.  He crawled and hid himself where the police could not see him.  They thought he was dead.  One of them ran away.  He arrived here well and uninjured.  He said I didn't even know that the rest have been shot dead.  
 I asked him what was taking place?  He said there were four of us.  Where we were headed we were going to get some documents which he explained but I didn't understand what documents they were because they had already their training from exile. They were just waiting to be released to come back within the country to perform their missions.  I said to him then and there now what means of transport were you using, he said the motor vehicle.  When we arrived somewhere along the route we were stopped.  The car was shot at so we had to alight from the car and run into the veld.  Well they crawled as trained soldiers from exile, then until they reached one White man's farm.  They asked the servant there saying to her that they are tired, we have been running for quite a long time on foot, they said we are tired and hungry could you offer us some food.  This servant said you can come in and have some food.  She said to them I want to talk to my employer.  Maybe if I allow you to sleep here without having informed him I will be in trouble.  I will just have to inform him that there are people who are hungry and they are tired.  Then when she went to this White man and talked to him that there are people who say they are tired, they are from far away, they still have a lot of ground to cover from here.  This farmer said to her go and tell those people of yours they must just disappear at the wink of an eye. 
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 This woman went back to the children and said the farmer says you must just leave this place, he is going to phone the police.  They left.  The White man had phoned the police.  It was just open veld.  They just walked ahead.  A police vehicle appeared.  They didn't know whether they were just ordinary people suffering, they just took them as terrorist and they started shooting at them.  They started shooting.  This other one followed my son. The other one was shot in the leg.  The fourth one ran away and escaped.  Then that's how he survived.  
 What struck me is that when his father went to the mortuary to identify his son's corpse - before I come to that one there were two policemen who came from Groustad if I get the name right.  Now his father left with those to the mortuary to identify, then they released the corpses for Joburg.  They gave them the clothes that they were wearing.  Now this boy has asked them if you did search their clothing that they were wearing, they replied no we did not.  They said to my husband your son's clothes must be searched.  In his pockets or in one of the pockets of his lumber jacket there is money, there is money in those pockets.  The organisation or whoever sent them to exile gave him about R13 000, but the money was not found in his pockets.  I don't know about the money whether they were lying or telling the truth I do not know.  What I know is his golden watch we didn't find it but as they tell us he had his watch and his gold necklace.  We don't know wether these people who murdered him or killed him or whatever come to see them, maybe they know his belongings.  Maybe they took them for themselves or they threw them away.  
 What hurts me the most is I know that as Black people 
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we are like animals to policemen.  Policemen, irrespective of colour, Black or White treat us as objects like we are not human beings.  What hurt me the most is the organisation.  My son undertook military training with the PAC, they even referred to him as a commander, but one thing struck me is that this PAC organisation never came to me to say this is our soldier, and this is one person who served us well.  The only person who came to meet us is Mhlambo.  On his arrival he came, it was about in November when he was already buried, our son, he came at a time when one of our comrades Chris Hani had died.  Then he passed by our house just to pass and convey sympathies to us saying that he knew this child, he underwent military training with him and how he completed his military training.  He didn't tell us what we must do and how we must do it during his burial as parents trying to convey their sympathies to us and gratitude, what we must do when he has passed away in this manner.  People even said if your son had joined the National Party it was going to be much better because the army would be here to bury your child.  At the moment you are struggling, nobody is helping you.  People who came here as members of other organisations were from the ANC, even the youth organisation of the ANC came to my house.  Even women from the ANC, even if PAC talks bad of the ANC however, because I was their member they came to my house.  I was very shocked by the behaviour of the PAC.  I cannot understand what kind of people they are.