Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pretoria — 1996-08-14

DR BORAINE: ... is as important as anyone elses.  The first one who came today, the last person and those who will come many, many times all over the country.  Everyone has their own unique story and we are very grateful to you for coming today.  Mrs Maseko you are going to tell the story of your son, Phillip, who was very cruelly killed, but before you do, could you please stand to take the oath.

ELIZABETH MASEKO: (Duly sworn in, states).

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much.  Please be seated.  Mrs Maseko, Mr Tom Manthata was going to assist you yesterday.  He is keen to do that today and I am going to hand over to him now.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Mrs Elizabeth we are thankful that you come here.  We could have had you here yesterday and spoken to you, but since we did not have time yesterday, even today we would like you to tell us about Phillip.  Tell us who killed Phillip, what did you do to know who killed Phillip and also tell us what is it that we can do for you.  Your statement is of big magnitude and I would like you to briefly say what went wrong with Phillip.

ELIZABETH MASEKO: Actually one day while I was sitting I saw two policemen coming to my house.  It was a black policeman and a white policeman.  When they entered the house they greeted me.  They said where is your son?  I said to them I do not
PRETORIA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
2 E MASEKO
know where he is.  They said to me if you find him just take him to the police station.  I said to them where am I going to get him because he disappeared for four years now because I do not know where he is.  It was a white person and a black person and the other one was a CID.  I do not know where he stays.  When they left at 11 o' clock they said you should send him to us.  It is four years now since he has left.  
 During the evening I went to my father and told him that there were police who were coming here to look for my son because they never found him and we never found him.  That evening we went to bed at 11 o' clock.  We heard a knock.  I was the only one who was to open the door.  My husband use to not open the door.  They said to us we are police, just open the door.  I opened all the doors.  When I opened the second door I could not believe my eyes.  I saw soldiers, were about 200 having firearms.  They were wearing balaclavas, they were wearing camouflage.  Some of them just stormed into the house.  The barrels of the guns were facing right at the house.  Some of them they climbed on top of the house.  
 When I went back into the house to dress they said, you woman, just stand where you are.  It was from 11 o' clock until six o' clock in the morning.  They used my telephone, they used their own telephones.  They said I should just stand there, I should not move.  I asked them, I requested them to go back to the room to go and dress and they refused me that permission.  They searched the house.  When they left I could not even know, the paintings were all over the room.  They said where is your son?  I said I do not know.  They searched the house, they could not find him.  I stood 
PRETORIA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
3 E MASEKO
there from 11 o' clock until six o' clock in the morning.  At quarter to six one of them used my telephone speaking to the other one who was having something like a cellular and they said we have found him.  They looked at me, they took my telephone and put my receiver and put it down.  From 11 o' clock to six o' clock they were using my telephone and they said to me now go to bed, go to bed, it is all over.
 When they left there were so many with many cars, white cars.  There were landrovers, there were dogs.  I looked through the door, some of them were coming.  My house is still leaking, why, because they removed all the corrugated iron.  After they have left, at half past six, I heard a van, a police van coming back and one policeman came into the house.  I did not look at him and he said to me, your son is dead.  They have already killed him and I said to him just go and show me where you have killed him.  They directed me where he was killed.  They said at seven o' clock just go there, just go and fetch your dog.  You were trying to hide him, now we got him on our own, now he is dead so you can go and fetch him.  
 Then at seven o' clock we left with my husband.  We went at the 16th, the way they directed us.  We found many people on the street.  They were looking at, they were surprised.  When we arrived there we saw one policeman who was standing in one of the houses.  That house was riddled with bullets and then we asked that policeman that we are coming to fetch the corpse.  Then he said the soldiers took him.  We could not enter the house.  There was, there were bloodstains all over the house.  The beds were upside down.  You could not even enter the house because of the smell of teargas.  The police said we should scrub the house, why, 
PRETORIA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
4 E MASEKO
because the owner of the house is not there.  I took a pipe, I was trying to weaken the teargas.  There was blood all over and then I scrubbed the blood in the house and cleaned the house.  I started washing the blankets.  There was no one in that house and then we finished.  
 They put the corpse somewhere.  I do not know whether they put him inside the mortuary.  We buried him, he was rotten.  They said we came to your house and asked your wife to point your son.  Now you know where he is.  My husband found a policeman who was there during that day in the evening who stay in D5.  I know the name.  I have written it there.  We asked them if they give us permission to bury him.  They gave us the corpse after six days.  They said no freedom songs should be sung during the funeral day.  The day of the funeral there were a lot of policemen with landrovers and dogs.  They were full inside the yard and outside and then the Comrades took the coffin.  
 When we arrived at the cemetery they were on top of trees with their rifles pointing at us and we were, the Comrades were just saying Amandla.  We came back, people ate after that.  When we wake up in the morning we were having a garden in my yard.  Always in the morning when we wake up we will find police tracks.  They said he was dangerous in the ANC, he was one of the dangerous guys in the ANC.  We did not know that a snake, I do not have anything to say.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Did you know that he was already passed away when the police arrived?

ELIZABETH MASEKO: Sorry.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Sorry.

ELIZABETH MASEKO: I do not know whether they were talking with him or not.
PRETORIA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
5 E MASEKO

THOMAS MANTHATA: The next, is that when they come and said you must come and collect your son's corpse?  Do we understand each other?  Was it like that?  You speak here of your grandson.  Did I understand you correctly that he was with one other person outside the yard?  What happened to that child?

ELIZABETH MASEKO: This child left with his uncle.  When they reached this grandson's place at the border they said we are going to Maseko because he was an ANC member.  They sent them back from the border gate.  This grandson of mine of four months was left with me and then I brought him up ever since.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I thank you Mama.

CHAIRPERSON: Any further questions.  Russell.

RUSSELL ALLY: Mama, your son left in 1979, he left the country.  Did he, the first time that you heard about your son again, was that in 1983 when he phoned to tell you about his child or did you have any other contact with him before that?

ELIZABETH MASEKO: We never met because we did not know where he was, but we had hope that it was not only my son who left.  A lot of parents missed their children at that time because they have left.

RUSSELL ALLY: And your son went to join the ANC.  He went to join Umkhonto.  Is that correct?

ELIZABETH MASEKO: Yes, it is true.