Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

CHAIRPERSON: (Incomplete) ... apologise for a few bottlenecks that have caught up with us this morning.  There has been a breakdown with the logistics team that has been bringing some of the things that we are going to be using.  For instance, the candle that is usually ceremonially lit, and is burning throughout the proceedings, is still to come.  That will be dealt with as and when it comes.  And secondly headphones will be distributed to you shortly, and I would like to make some remarks relevant thereto.  The headphones have got, for lack of a better word, stations one, two and three.  Now, I am made to understand that at two you will get an English version, and at three you will a Zulu version.  No request apparently was made to the translators for an Afrikaans version, and we are sorry about that, and there will be no Afrikaans version on the earphones.  May I also request that at the end of each hearing, or at the end of the proceedings, when we go out either for tea or for lunch, the headphones should be left at the places where you are sitting.  They won't be of much use to anyone ... (inaudible) ... with the decorum that it obviously deserves.  And this is for very many reasons.  One of them is that we need to give the witnesses the respect and dignity which they deserve, and which the Act has emphasised they should be given.  And that would be to give them an unhindered opportunity to testify without feeling harassed or intimidated.  And this usually happens if people are either whispering or are talking audibly.  So, what we would do in a court of law from the point of view of conduct of ourselves inside here, we should do here as well.  Secondly, whenever the witnesses walk either in or out we are to accord them the respect that they are entitled to by standing up, and lastly I would appeal to all of us, including Commissioners and committee members, to switch off all our cell phones during the course of the proceedings.  They sometimes are fairly disruptive.
(Transcriber's Note:   Speaker continues in Zulu, initially without interpretation.  Interpreter then continues as follows.)
(Incomplete) ... and in channel three you get Zulu.  There has been no special request for Afrikaans, so there will be no translation into Afrikaans.  May you please forgive us, if you speak Afrikaans you will have to listen to English as well as Zulu.
One other thing.  When you leave, either for tea or for lunch, please leave the devices on the seats.  Don't take them with, because they won't be any use anywhere else except here.  They are specifically designed to be used here for interpreting purposes and for nothing else.  Sometimes people forget these devices, they take them with.  We request you to pay particular attention to that.
Lastly, we will request you that if you have a cellular phone please do switch it off during the proceedings, because they tend to be very disrupting when the witness is giving his or her testimony.
As I have said before we request you to be very patient because some of the things that we use for the proceedings haven't yet arrived.  The car that was supposed to have brought them has broken down, and we were making attempts that these should be brought.  They will be brought in in a while, for instance the candle that is supposed to burn throughout the proceedings isn't here, but we will start shortly.
We shall request Dr Khosa Mgojo to open up the proceedings with a prayer.  I hand over to Dr Mgojo.  Firstly shall we call upon the witnesses to come to the stage.

KHOZA MGOJO: Let us pray.   Oh Lord, you are the Lord of Lords.  You have brought us here, oh Lord.  We have come from different places.  When we were in Egypt, where we were having problems, now we have arrived at a time where we must move on with our lives.  We have come to a time where we have our wounds to be healed.  Will You stay amongst us, Lord, here are your people in front of us.  They have come to relate their stories, to tell us what they went through with their families.  We wish that You may give them courage, give them strength, so that they might be able to say whatever they need to say without being afraid.  We wish, oh Lord, that You keep the Commissioners as well as the committee members strong, as well as the briefers, so that we may be able to go forth with the work that You have assigned to us.  We thank the people of 'Maritzburg, Lord, for having come to us.  May You bless this hearing.  We thank the presence of Comrade Dumisani Sebeza.  May You please strengthen him because he is in the place of Bishop Desmond Tutu and Alex Borain.  May you give him the intellect, the wisdom that you gave Solomon during the olden times, to continue with this hearing.  We beseech You, oh Lord.  Amen.