Special Hearings — Children's Hearings — 1997-05-14

CHAIRPERSON: (Incomplete) ... a hearing more in the nature of the kind of hearings that we've   had for adult people, so there will be a bit more formality, but we hope that   because we are dealing with youths and children that we will be able to keep   it in a much more friendly way.
 So once again I want to welcome all of you, especially those   of you who have come from far, and I want to just recognise Mr F J Mbanjwa and   Mr M J Makhatini, who are sitting over here. If they would just stand please.   They have brought a group of children all the way from Newcastle for us to be   here today, so we welcome them especially. We're going to start with a small   drama produced by children from Port Shepstone, and that will be followed by   a song from another group of children, also from Port Shepstone. So we will   start with that, and then we will get on with the more formal side of the hearing.   Thank you. After that these children over here in uniforms will come and give   us another rendition as well. They're in addition to the programme.
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CHAIRPERSON: (Incomplete) ... Mahawu High School from Ngonyameni,   and if we could just recognise the three teachers who have accompanied these   children, Ms Makeke Nxosana, Ms Thami Nkanye, and Ms Thobile Dludla.
We will now have the drama from the Port Shepstone children,   and if we'll just all settle down for a minute and then they'll start. 
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CHAIRPERSON: For those of you who are not Zulu-speaking
 /sorry,
sorry, if we could just have the - is the sound coming out   there?  Okay. Just so that you can all hear me, I'll just - I won't use the   system for now. I think my voice will project far enough. For those of you who   are not Zulu-speaking there are headphones which will carry an English translation.   We will only have English translation, I'm afraid. The main hall sound will   be in Zulu, so that whoever is talking in Zulu you will hear that without any   assistance from these headphones. So that only those people who are not Zulu-speaking,   if they could please use these headphones so that they can understand what's   going on in English. Even if the main speakers are speaking in English the translation   will go out to the hall over the main loudspeakers, so everybody will hear very   carefully. You needn't worry about that. Please do not remove these units from   the hall. They really do not work outside the hall, they are quite useless outside   the hall. They form part of a bigger system. They are quite expensive, so they   are absolutely useless to you outside the hall. Please don't walk out with them.   They are not a radio or a headphone system that you could use somewhere else.   They only work inside the hall as part of this arrangement. 
We are now going to continue with the main focus of our hearing,   and we're going to start with Ann Mackay giving an overview. Okay, I beg your   pardon, before we do we're going to light the candle, and then Dr Magwaza will   give a preamble to the hearing, an explanation of what this hearing is about   and what we're trying to achieve. That will then be followed by Ann Mackay,   who will give an overview of gross human rights violations and the impact
 /of that
of that on children. 
We will probably break for tea at about half past 11, for those   of you who have a programme - originally it was scheduled for now - and then   we'll see how the morning goes and decide when we will break for lunch thereafter.   So just so that people get a sense of what's going to happen. That's what's   going to happen now, and we'll break for tea at approximately half past 11.
If I could just introduce you to the members of the panel who   will be conducting the hearing. On my left is Professor Simangele Magwaza, who   is a member of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee of the Truth Commission.   Sorry, on my right, I beg your pardon. On my left is Mr Mdu Dlamini, who is   a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee, and I am Ilan Lax, as you   can see. I'm a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee as well. I hand   over to Dr Magwaza.

DR MAGWAZA: I am greeting all of you. I want you to   say good morning. I would like to start by acknowledging our Government of National   Unity, which has shown a very strong commitment to upholding the rights of the   children, the rights for survival, protection, development and participation.   Today we are here because we are precisely acknowledging the right of the children   to participate in matters affecting their own lives. Nevertheless it is a bit   disconcerting to observe that up to now children are still accorded a very marginal,   low status in society. The big question which I would like to ask today is where   are the adults today? We know we have had previous hearings, and the adults   have filled the hall. Why are the adults not here today? Is it because children   are not
 /important
important enough to them? That's a big question which I am   asking today.
In a similar vein we still find that children they are still   very disempowered, invisible victims of gross human rights violations, despite   the fact that thousands of children in this region have been violated directly.   We have seen children moving around with bullets wounds in their bodies, and   still many more children have witnessed atrocities, murders and assaults on   their parents. We would like to capture that experience today.
To date if we look at our TRC data which we have in our offices   we have noticed that very few children under 18 are reflected as having been   violated. We know that's not true. We know that for almost every adult that   has been violated probably two or more children have suffered. With all good   intentions we still find that adults who are traumatised they tend to respond   to their own trauma. They are very much concerned about their own trauma, and   find it difficult to avail themselves to the trauma of the children. Hence to   a large extent we find that most of the adults are not aware that children are   affected by trauma, that children do witness trauma.
I understand there's a problem with translation. There is?   Just be patient a little bit. (Pause) I can continue, but I feel that children   who have to hear - people who are here who do not understand the language will   have to hear every word of the proceedings today, so I will stop for a moment   until everybody can understand what's being said.

CHAIRPERSON: Can I make a suggestion that we have a little   song for a minute or two, if someone would like to lead us
 /in song,
in song, and then in a few minutes we should have the system   back working as planned.
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