Human Rights Violation Hearings — Bloemfontein — UNKNOWN

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... stop you again there. You've given us the fulldetails of the story you told them, and in the interests of time I am goingto ask us to carry on and speed up a little bit. The story you've told themis recorded here, and after that story was given to them they seemed to haveaccepted that story, and then you were sent to a prison.

WITNESS: Yes, I stayed there.They didn't allow us to call it a prison. That was Camp 32.

MR LAX: Camp 32, thank you.

WITNESS: It's a camp outside Kibashe. It's inthe bush. They call it Camp 32. I was there at that time.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... were made to do hard labour, and you were beatenfrom time to time, is that correct?

WITNESS: Yes, that is true.

MR LAX: Now, you've also told us that in 1988 you became unwell andyou developed hypertension.

WITNESS: Yes, it is true.

MR LAX: Just tell us a little bit about your treatment and so on. ---As we were still there we were given tablets, Diazapan. That was what they weregiving us for hypertension. I continued being like that. My condition didn'timprove. Even now I am still taking the treatment.

MR LAX: Now, in 1988 and 1990 you were taken to Gokalota town, is thatcorrect?

WITNESS: Yes, we were taken from Angola, the bases of ANC, then we weretaken to Uganda. Just outside there there was a camp where we were taken to.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... when the ANC pulled out of Angola.

WITNESS: Yes.

MR LAX: And you say that you were released in 1991, and then you resignedfrom the ANC and you returned home, is that correct?

WITNESS: Yes, that's correct.

MR LAX: Now, somewhere in here you mentioned that you were tried ata tribunal. If you can just fit that in for us, because it's not clear exactlywhere it fits in in the time frame.

WITNESS: Before we went out of Angola in 1988,if I remember quite well, we were taken. I think we were 21 or 22 from thatcamp. We were taken to Luanda. When we got to Luanda we were given charge sheetsand they told us that there was going to be a tribunal. On that day of the tribunalthey told us that we would get attorneys from the ANC who would represent us.We waited for the tribunal. On that particular we were taken to - initiallywe had cleaned a hall where they said the tribunal was going to be held, butlater on we were taken to a house. We got in there one by one. They would tellus to stick to our stories. They said, "Whatever you said at the camp

MR LAX: /"you stick

MR LAX: you stick to it, and if you don't stick to that story you knowwhat's going to happen to you. If you stick to your story we'll be lenient toyou." When we got in there with all the counts that were listed on the chargesheet I had about six counts listed. I don't remember some of them. One of themwas infiltration, then other one was trying to desert the organisation. I don'tremember the other ones, but they were six in all. So we appeared in front ofthe tribunal. When I got in there they just read the record that I had writtenat the camp. They asked me what I expected from them. From there you went backoutside. We were taken back to the camp thereafter, after the tribunal.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... outcome of the hearing or anything?

WITNESS: No,we never go it.

MR LAX: Now, you said that you resigned from the ANC after you werereleased in 1991 and then you returned home, is that correct?

WITNESS: I got outof the ANC in 1991 when I got to Tanzania, and I arrived home in 1992.

MR LAX: And then you applied to rejoin the ANC once you came back,is that correct?

WITNESS: Yes, it's true, because when I got here I realised thatI wanted this matter to be investigated further, so - I just want to explainthat little part. I started in Uganda when they had just unbanned the liberationmovements. I said to them, "I want this to be reinvestigated because it wasn'ttrue." I realised that the ANC had been unbanned, though there was a difficultyto investigate the matters back home. So it was going to be easy now since theunbanning. They made me write my biographies, but nothing happened thereafteruntil we came out. When I arrived in South Africa I said I felt that I had been treated unfairly by theAfrican National Congress, so I reckoned that I wanted the matter to be reinvestigated.I wanted the truth to come out. I wanted my name to be cleared, because theallegations were not true. I realised that I should go back to the ANC, becauseif I was outside it would not be possible for me to clear the matter out, soI re-applied in 1992.

MR LAX: Okay. What would you like us to do for you about this terriblestory that you've told us?

WITNESS: What I would like the Truth Commission to dofor me is that I would like the truth to be revealed. I want the ANC to comewith the truth. I want further investigations to be done. I want them to digout for the truth. I want to know whether it's true what they are alleging.I want my organisation to apologise for the appalling treatment that they gaveme. I want them to apologise, because I wanted to go to school but I could notgo because of the treatment that they gave me.

MR LAX: Thank you, Mr Bolane. What we will try and do from our sideis try and investigate the matter to the extent that it's possible. We alsounderstand that the ANC will be coming with their own submission, where theyintend to deal with a lot of issues that happened in some of the camps, andwith a bit of luck they might tell us something about your story, or we maybe able to uncover something about your story as well. I hand over to the Chairperson.

MR LAX: I just want to clear one thing. There's no time, I know that.Mr Bolane, there are strange names here to me, the people who are mentionedhere in your statements. Are these people South Africans? Names like Jomo, James, Kwesh,Abba, Pro, P4. All those people, are they South Africans?

WITNESS: They are all SouthAfricans. These are pseudo names, because when we were outside we were usingpseudo names. They are South Africans, all of them.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... people.

WITNESS: I know some of them. They are here.I don't know their real names. I only know them according to their pseudo names.Some of them are in top positions here.

MR LYSTER: Thank you, Mr Bolane, for giving us thatstory. Thank you for being patient and having waited all day to give this story.It's clearly a story that you needed to tell very badly, and we are glad tohear it. It is a sad story, and it is sad that you, having left the countrywith such enthusiasm, should have returned a disillusioned and a sick personas a result of what happened to you, and it seems to me that your life has changedsubstantially as a result of that decision that you took to go into exile. Thosethings should never have happened to you, particularly at the hands of an organisationwhich has always had such strong views about that sort of arbitrary violence.
I note from what you said in your evidence that you have rejoinedthe ANC, and it does indicate that there is some reconciliation between youand that party, and we can certainly continue a mediation process between yourselfand the ANC if you wish. We can arrange that for you. Furthermore, if you requiretreatment, further medical treatment - I note that you are getting treatmentfrom the Botshabelo Health Clinic. If you are not satisfied with that treatment you may be able to get treatment through theroute that we have organised with the Ministry of Health here in Bloemfontein.
So thank you once again for coming in and for telling us yourstory, and we wish you well. Thank you very much.