Amnesty Hearings — Vanderbijlpark — 1999-05-13

MR LAX: It's clear this person is not that clear on the issue.

MR STRYDOM: What I want to put to you is that she didn't got to the police to complain about the fact that she was attacked and seriously injured and her case was not put against the people that were charged subsequently in the Supreme Court of South Africa.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Mr Strydom, if the police were effective during those days we would not have been attacked and now I wonder to whom would we report the attack.

CHAIRPERSON: Isn't this a matter that can be objectively ascertained by having a look at the indictment?  Does anyone have a copy of the indictment?

MR STRYDOM: I've got a copy.  I've checked, there's no such a charge.  All I want to know is if she gave evidence at any of these criminal hearings.

CHAIRPERSON: Well from the look of things she didn't.  Let's move onto another question.

MR STRYDOM: Yes.  When did you tell your legal representatives that are representing you at this stage, that she was injured?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: ...(no English interpretation)

ADV SIGODI: Sorry, we have not heard the interpretation of the witness' answer.

INTERPRETER: The witness did not understand the question quite well in Sotho when I put it to him, so I was just repeating the question to him.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I think long ago last year when we met with them, and other meetings where I met with them, even here at Iscor.

MR STRYDOM: Because I want to put to you that your legal representatives gave us a memo, a memorandum setting out what happened at the various houses in Boipatong on that specific night of the 17th of June 1992, and according to the document that was given to us, with reference to a 684 Mosheshwe Street, it's only stated
"smashed windows'
... nothing is said about the injury to your girlfriend. Can you give any comment?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I said I have full evidence, even the blankets with the holes in them.  I said there were three blankets with holes and three sharpened instruments, so-called ...(Sotho).

MR STRYDOM: Did you give a written statement to the people there at the Goldstone Commission?  Apart from handing in the weapon, did you give a statement?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: That is correct.

MR STRYDOM: And in that statement did you mention that you were part of a group of people that patrolled the township that day?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Strydom, so as to know where we're going, I understand that you may be laying a foundation, is it going to be the applicants' case, at least those that you represent, that the girlfriend to Mr Rahantlhane was not stabbed as he has testified?

MR STRYDOM: No, Chairperson, that's not the case, what I'm trying to establish is if she made statements, so that we can get hold of them.  If she was stabbed one expects that she made statements and we want to find out where those statements are.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, indeed I understand all the inquiry, but what's the purpose of that inquiry?  I mean, is it going to be the case that the events that he is testifying to did not happen?

MR STRYDOM: No, that's not the case.  What I'm trying to establish is if she laid charges and if she made statements, so that we trace those documents.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, I understand it.  Because if it is not the applicants' case that she was not injured, that the events that he has described did not occur, then where are we going?  Let me see whether I can assist you.
	Mr Rahantlhane, we understand from your evidence that you took the two sharpened instruments to Pretoria, I think you said.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: That is correct, Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  Now do you know, or did you hear of the Goldstone Commission?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I know of it.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  Do you know whether your girlfriend gave evidence before that Commission?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I know of the one in Johannesburg where I accompanied her.

CHAIRPERSON: Would that be the TRC hearings?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay.  Now do you know whether your girlfriend made any statement, either to the Goldstone Commission or the police?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I only know about the Goldstone Commission.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  What about the police, do you know whether she made any statement to the police?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I do not think so.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, yes.  Does that make you happy, Mr Strydom?

MR STRYDOM: I'll take it from there.
	You say that you were patrolling the street, why did you patrol the street, against what?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: We have already heard through the grapevine that Boipatong might be attacked.

MR STRYDOM: But wasn't it a normal situation during that period to patrol the streets on a daily basis?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: No-one would go on patrol without nothing happening.

MR STRYDOM: Isn't it so that during that period a group known as the Self Defence Units were patrolling the streets?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I was on the patrol, but I was not part of the unit, only as a resident in the area.

MR STRYDOM: So do you say that such a unit existed, but you were not part of that?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I told you that I do not know of such,  I was involved in sporting structures.

MR STRYDOM: So don't you know - have you ever heard of the Self Defence Units or not?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: No.

MR STRYDOM: Did you build barricades in the streets and dig holes into the roads?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: That is correct.

MR STRYDOM: What was the purpose of that?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: As Mr Nosenga stated that they used to shoot people, driving by and shooting people and we realised that it will be difficult for them to do so if we dig holes and barricade the streets.

MR STRYDOM: Was that to prevent the police from coming into the township, or other attackers, or other people?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: It was to prevent the attackers, not the police.

MR STRYDOM: What time did you start your guard?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Late in the afternoon at sunset.

MR STRYDOM: You mentioned earlier that you already, that you heard through the grapevine that the township would be attacked, who told you what?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: When I say "through the grapevine", the source is unknown.

MR STRYDOM: But you must have heard it somewhere.

CHAIRPERSON: His source is the grapevine.

MR STRYDOM: Yes, Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: As I understand it a grapevine is an undisclosed source, or it's a rumour that you pick up somehow.

MR STRYDOM: I'll ask the question the following way ...(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: Unless of course grapevine in these hearings has a particular meaning that I'm not aware of.  I know that there's been talk of a microwave and the green beans ...(indistinct)

MR STRYDOM: Why did you get the feeling that Boipatong would be attacked that night, or didn't you?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I am still asking myself the same question.

MR STRYDOM: Now you started the patrol at sunset, how long thereafter did people arrive there who said, I think you said: "Hamba lala"?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: It was at about a quarter to ten or ten to ten because at five to ten I was already in the house.

MR STRYDOM: What I want to know is, how can you estimate the time with such precision?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: What do you mean?

MR STRYDOM: Why do you say it was that time, on what basis?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: You requested me to estimate the time, according to me it was something to ten because at 10 o'clock I heard the news on the radio.

MR STRYDOM: So at that stage you did not - when the warning was given you did not look on your watch or anything of the kind, you just worked it back because you heard the news at 10 o'clock, is that what you're saying?