Human Rights Violation Hearings — Venda — 1996-10-04

SIMON LUFUNO MARIBA: What happened is as follows.  It happened in March 1990, it was when the youth of the whole country were in a campaign to do away with apartheid.  What happened is that in the place where I stay during the youth's plan on doing that, on somebody who was being accused of being where I was, practising on the soccer field and then after coming back from the field, via one woman who is related to my
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friend, that there was going to be some people going, the youth from our country will be going to the witches and we were told not to involve ourselves in such cases.
 Thereafter we left from that woman's place to my place.  On arriving we settled, playing some music in my sister's house and Mandatiwane.  On arriving there, as we were playing that music, what we told ourselves was, we will never be involved in such activities.
 Whilst we were there, immediately there was a pandemonium.  That kind of a noise alerted us, made us to be aware and we had to watch, find out what was happening.  There were lights that was just on the neighbourhood and light was on Mr Msontole's house.
 But that didn't really bother us much, we sat there.  As we were just watching from that other house, on the vicinity of that other street, we saw - I in particular - saw a person running who supposedly was running away from somebody else.
 I though that it could be a person I knew because I had heard or leant that the youth were accusing someone as a witch.  And as we were sitting there, it never interested me.
 My friend said he was leaving for home, then that is where I parted with my friend.  I went to my sister's room and played my music.
 Just after that, that noise continued and approached my home.  It was so annoying and disturbing, we continued sitting there, later on I realised that the noise was on my neighbourhood.
 I  sat there in the room, I then learnt - heard a group marching to my place, I never went out, I was just not
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involved in such activities.
 It then happened that my grandmother had to come, because she realised that it was so difficult, otherwise she wanted us to get out and find out what was happening, because the youth was over zealous and envious.
 Then I went out just to find out what they were looking for, but then they were not in particular looking for me.  What they said was that my old father used to store diesel, because he was business minded.  What happened was, since I was not interested in involving myself and people who were talking to the elderly people looking for diesel, they elderly people said they were not interested in giving them diesel, then I went back to the room where I was.
 Later on I heard that very same pandemonium leaving the house.  When those people left, all the people who lived in a place decided to go to one room.  And then we went there.
 My sister too was there, she is quite old, although later on the very same noise was still continuing.  And the youth came back at my place, at my home.
 They were singing, well they were saying now they were looking for the occupants of the house, the people who were staying there, because they said the old man was killed.
 So they must, we must also join them.  I said I was not interested in, I tried all plans that God helped me not to associate myself with.  
 What happened was, although the door was locked, they tried to kick it open.  The way they kicked it, if at all we tried to resist, those people were going to try and maybe even burn the house, but what happened was one of the people I was staying with, tried to open and I went under the bed.
 It was right in the middle of the night and I got hold 
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of this old beds, you know they are this size, so that I shouldn't be seen.
 My little sister was led then they were not interested in this little sister of mine, they went for another one.  The other people, the three young brothers of mine and the other sister who was old, left with them.
 As they were singing and leaving the house, what I heard was very frightening and I believe that if I told, they thought I was around, they will do something wrong.
 And then they asked as to where is that other one man.  My other friend, Allerango said I know one man, one man is so frightened, he is always a coward, so he might be... I was so happy, although my sister didn't realise that I was under the bed, so there was a whisper, saying who was it, so I said, it is me.
 Now, why as those people were leaving, didn't you leave, I said, no I wasn't interested in getting involved.  What happened, if I want to go deep into what happened is that the following day it was sunrise, the police were just arresting at random.
 I was not so frightened, my mother was so concerned, she said it is better for you to leave.  It won't help at all.  As we were fleeing, I was in the company of other people.
 And we approached at Eskay Patel's place, it was a great distance, about 20 kilometres away from where I was staying.  Since I knew that I was innocent, I tried by all means that, even if I meet the police there was no problem as far as I was concerned, because I will have to commit myself to them.
 On arriving at Eskay Patel there were a lot of
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soldiers.  Then we, they asked us as to where we were coming from and I didn't even want to hide, I said okay, we were looking for you.  They didn't even wait for us, we were led to the hippo and we arrived at Njanani police station.
 On our arrival at the main entrance at the charge office, there were a lot of police men and women who were ready with sjamboks.
 We had to force our way through.  We tried to force our way and they were sjamboking us.  Some of us tried to hide ourselves under the counters.  From there at the charge office we were led to the other office.
 When we arrived there, we were still asking ourselves as to why they were beating us because we were not guilty and we were forced and taken together with a lady to the other office.
 I still remember very well the police who took me together with that other lady.  The other man is police Mahani and Mr Macoshu.  On arrival there as they were still beating us, they were beating us, harassing us and Mr Mahani while sjamboking us, the sjambok beat Macoshu and Macoshu because he was angry now, tried now to harass us endlessly.
 From there we were taken back to the other office where the other people were squatting as if, you know, they were just imagining somebody was not in the (indistinct) who was killed.
 On arrival there, they didn't even, the police who was on guard, didn't even want to know how many times I had been beaten.  It was just a quick sjamboking, harassing endlessly, even using spiked sandals, it was so painful.
 Since I was speaking this man (indistinct) realised that what I was saying, I was innocent and he called me, he 
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nicknamed me lawyer, and this harassment continued until it lasted for three days, days and nights.
 Even you know wires were used in beating us.  There were a lot of people harassing us.   After they realised that they were beating an innocent person, I was released.
 On my release they said they were taking me home on a van and I denied, I didn't want to, I said okay I have my own money, I would like to go home because I had been given R20-00 from home.
 On arrival at home, the pain never ceased.  I suffered mentally, I suffered physically at the police station and mentally.   The parents of the people who were involved, since I didn't know their own names, thought maybe I was there when such activities were taken and regarded me as a spy and I was labelled as a spy.
 And I was unaccepted, people never wanted to accept me.  I was in standard 10.  On my release I was made the President of the SRC at Modemesi Secondary School and I couldn't even concentrate on my studies since everybody was hating me and that really effected me so much that I never passed my matric.
 Whilst I was very intelligent, I used to take position one and I didn't pass.  I receive symbol F, it was so painful.
 There were allegations thereafter that the parents of people who were involved were saying I was not going to last, they were going to kill me and I prayed to God that people - it should not happen like that.
 Those people were never charged, because the State took me as a State witness, but those people were never charged and that was surprising.  What happened subsequently after
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those people had not been charged, I felt as a survivor, although I was hurt, they way I was mentally and physically disturbed and harassed, since then I was never accepted.
 I am not a happy person since then because I was trying to prove myself innocent and nobody understood me.  What I am trying to put forward here to the people at large is, even though the police people were doing these in order of the (indistinct) regime, it was not necessary for them just to beat somebody without getting information because some of us were not involved.
 But what happened was that they tortured us, they assaulted us, harassed us.  What I am saying today is the Commission, I want to stress this that it was painful.
 Since I am a christian and I am a church goer, I believe that they were made to do that because of the situation, the then situation, it was wrong.  Of course they had to know that if they have to come forward and account on why they did that, we had to forgive them.
 That is what I want to present today.  Because that is what is in my statement, thank you.