Human Rights Violation Hearings — Worcester — 1996-06-24

ADV POTGIETER: Now this - the solitary confinement, the torture that interrogation, has it affected you in any way and presently still or not?

MR DYABOOI: What I can say is the after effects where that, I have been affected psychologically I - went I say I have been affected psychologically I am not a psychiatric patient, but if you can ask any person who was detained under Section he will tell you the after effects of that - anybody who was detained under that Section never comes out the normal person again.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] - now just some more details about the charges, eventually when you were taken out of Section 29 detention - were you then charged with terrorism?

MR DYABOOI: Yes it was under the Terrorism Act and later in our trial, we defied and we refused to go to the Court of South Africa because we were feeling that the Bophuthatswana homeland was an independent state and then we felt that we have to attend court hearings at Mbato.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] - well you were tried in Worcester in the Regional Court is that correct?

MR DYABOOI: Could you please repeat the question.

ADV POTGIETER: Were you eventually charged - is it correct in the Worcester Regional Court?

MR DYABOOI: Yes it was here in Worcester the Regional Court.

ADV POTGIETER: [Question not  recorded]

MR DYABOOI: It was the terrorism case which I was appearing for.

ADV POTGIETER: Did the police find any - any weapons on you - any arms on you when you were detained and arrested at the border?

MR DYABOOI: No they didn't find any weapons - they just arrested us.  The only thing that we had in our possession was the passports only.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] also that you - you never left the country, you were arrested as you were about to leave.

MR DYABOOI: Yes it is so.

ADV POTGIETER: [Question not recorded]

MR DYABOOI: In the beginning I was sentenced for six months for contempt of court as I was informed by Van Wyk.  Secondly when I was about to finish the sentence I in trial, I was sentenced again for four years and six months.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] for terrorism.

MR DYABOOI: Yes it is for terrorism.

ADV POTGIETER: Mr Dyabooi have you got any request that you want to make to the Commission?

MR DYABOOI: Yes after this hearing of the Commission I would like to meet the Commissioners so that we speak something in camera.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] - convey your request in private.

MR DYABOOI: Yes I would like to speak privately with you.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] - thank you very much for your evidence.

DR BORAINE: Thank you Mr Potgieter are there any other questions - Ms Burton.

MARY BURTON: Thank you Chairperson - Mr Dyabooi you seem to us to be a very strong person but I am sure you are right, that people who have been for a long period in solitary confinement carry the results with them for a long time.  But thank you for coming today.
 You are not the first person to have mentioned the special branch offices in Worcester here,  and I just wondered whether for people who are not from Worcester you could explain to us - there - this is not the police station, this is a special branch office is that right?

MR DYABOOI: I didn't quite get the question properly.

MARY BURTON: You - when you were questioned,  you  were taken to a building which you said was the special branch in Worcester.

MR DYABOOI: Yes.

MARY BURTON: It was a different building.

MR DYABOOI: Yes it was a different building.

MARY BURTON: [indistinct] about a special branch building and the people have mentioned Sanlam is that the same place?

MR DYABOOI: I am not quite sure, but if you know Worcester it is just next to the CAN building, it seems as if is a big building, its just next to CAN.

MARY BURTON: Thank you.

DR BORAINE: Dr Orr.

WENDY ORR: Mr Dyabooi you were very severely tortured when you were detained under Section 29, did you see a doctor at any stage during that time?

MR DYABOOI: o you mean during the period when I was serving under Section 29?  If so, I was just taken to the doctor in Hottentots Holland Hospital so thereafter I was never taken for medical attention.

WENDY ORR: Did you ask to see a doctor on any other occasions?

MR DYABOOI: Yes I did, I was at Brandvlei maximum at the time, I was undergoing a hunger strike and then I was demanding my release because Nelson Mandela was released at the time and some of the political prisoners were released.  So during the 17th day I went - I demanded that I should see a doctor, but this was - I was denied.

WENDY ORR: Thank you.

DR BORAINE: Ms Burton.

MARY BURTON: You did mention that you were - went to the Hottentots Holland Hospital at one stage?

MR DYABOOI: Yes I did.

INTERPRETER: The mike is not on the interpreter cannot interpret properly.

MARY BURTON: My question was whether Mr Dyabooi had been to the Hottentots Holland Hospital and what treatment he received there.

MR DYABOOI: I was just given tablets - I told them how I felt and then I was - tablets were prescribed for me.  The Security Police were waiting for me and they were guarding me, so the doctor just obeyed their orders - only tablets were prescribed for me.

MARY BURTON: Was that during the time when you were being held at the Strand police station?

MR DYABOOI: Yes it was then.

MARY BURTON: About the end of 1987 or the beginning of 1988?

MR DYABOOI: It was at the -before Christmas 1987.

DR BORAINE: Mr Dyabooi before we ask you to leave the witness stand, are you living in Worcester now?

MR DYABOOI: Yes I stay here in Worcester.

DR BORAINE: And are you employed - and if so, what are you doing?

MR DYABOOI: No I am not working, I am unemployed.

DR BORAINE: There are many-many people like you unfortunately so how do you manage, do you have family, who cares for you?

MR DYABOOI: Yes I have my elder brothers, I staying with them.

DR BORAINE: I am very glad that you got somebody there next to you because you've been through a very grim experience.  We have listened to many people in many parts of the country and solitary confinement is a form of torture even if they don't lay their hands on you, it's a form of acute torture as you have experienced, to deprive people of human companionship or company is unnatural.  
 But you have endured solitary confinement and physical assault and you are going to need lots of help and lots of care and I am very glad that you have a family who can help you.  I hope very much as we all do, that as you tried to pick up the pieces and start a life again, that you will be able to find work and that you will be able to find meaning in life, and one of the things that this Commission is trying to is to try and help the process of healing - the healing of the mind, of the body and of the spirit and we hope that by your being here today, not only have you helped us, not only have you helped many people in this hall and many people who are going to read about this story and watch it on television or hear it on radio, but we hope very much that this healing will help you to.  That by telling and sharing some very deep and painful memories that it will not just bring back bad thoughts but rather release them so that part of the healing can begin.
 There is no magic we understand that, but we hope its a beginning and we want to thank you very much for being with us and we have listened to you very carefully and we wish you well, thank you.