Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-05-08

DR BORAINE: "On Tuesday, the 3rd of April 1984, at about 7.30 in the morning a powerful blast rocked Durban.  Three people were killed and several injured.  I was a student at the time and was a freelance reporter for several newspapers, and was also co-ordinating a newspaper in Durban.  I took some time off from classes and went along to take photographs of the bomb for my newspaper.  It was late in the afternoon and there were several bomb scares in the area.  I left the blast scene and went to investigate or write on a bomb scare lower down the road, when somebody stopped me and asked me if I had heard what had happened.  When I said no they told me that my sister-in-law was indeed injured in the blast, but they could not find my brother.  He asked me to rush to Addington Hospital, where my sister-in-law was.  Upon arrival there I asked a nurse where my sister-in-law was.  She then broke the news to me that my sister-in-law had died in the blast, and that they could not find my brother.  I then rushed to a telephone and tried to contact my family and other relatives.  Every phone was engaged until I managed to get through to my office, where they confirmed that members of my family had died in the blast.  When I got home I found hundreds of people there.  Everyone was

DR BORAINE: /"hysterical.

DR BORAINE: "hysterical.  We suspected that my brother was also killed, but we were unsure.  A few hours later I went to the Gale Street Mortuary to identify them.  The mortuary attendants told me that my family members' bodies were not there, but that they had two African victims in the morgue.  I pleaded for about an hour for them to allow me to see the bodies.  When the attendants eventually allowed me to see the bodies, to my horror I found two badly- burnt and disfigured bodies on a tray.  I took a long time to identify my brother and sister-in-law.  I identified my sister-in-law by her thali, a sacred string she wore around her neck.  I had to look at my brother for a long time to ensure that it was indeed him.  I later made certain statements to the media condemning the P W Botha Government, and placed the death of my brother and sister-in-law on the hands of the Nationalist regime.  I called on them to unban the ANC and other banned political organisations, and to allow all exiles to return home.  I also called for the release of Nelson Mandela and other political leaders.  I called on the Nationalist Government to earnestly begin talks to stop the carnage which was at that time engulfing the country.  I said we could not allow innocent people to be killed by these types of atrocities.  I understood that the ANC was to have made a statement the day

DR BORAINE: /"after the

DR BORAINE: "after the blast, and was waiting for the cadres to report back to the ANC headquarters in Lusaka so that a full statement could be made.  I have no doubt that the ANC planted the bomb that killed my brother and sister-in-law.  The ANC knows full well that they planted the bomb on the Esplanade, and that they refused to accept responsibility because of certain statements I made.  The ANC has a duty to accept responsibility for the blast.  They created an orphan in the name of Terence sitting here by me.  The ANC also caused the death of my father, who worked for the railways at the time, and who had to pass this death spot several times a day.  My father was a humble man who was an ordinary labourer, and was fit as a fiddle.  His job forced him to cycle past the spot daily.  He could not bear passing the spot, and six months later after my brother died he too died from a stroke.  My mother, shattered by the death of her eldest son by the hands of another person, suffered a stroke and died 12 years later.  She was a helpless woman.  She cried for her children every day until the morning she died.  I want to at this stage mention that we had one of the biggest funerals for my brother and sister-in-law.  It was the biggest funeral in the Indian community.  They were the first victims of a bomb blast in Durban.  The ANC played no role in this funeral.  They never

DR BORAINE: /"offered

DR BORAINE: "offered us any money, no sympathy card, nothing.  They knew full well that they had planted the bomb there, and knew that they were to take responsibility for this.  The only organisation which sent us a telegram of sympathy was the Azanian Peoples Organisation, AZAPO.  It is sad that even people who are now in Parliament, and people who knew us so well, failed to arrive at the funeral.  They failed to even pass a word of condolence.  To date nothing of this nature has happened.  I understood later that two days after the blast Comrade Oliver Thambo went Radio Freedom and apologised.  I don't know if that is true.  I only heard about this.  He was in London at the time, and a London newspaper carried a report that the victims of the blast were carrying a bomb in their car when it exploded.  The ANC was in London, and did nothing to clear the names of my brother and sister-in-law, or the other person that was killed.  I approached a few senior ANC members in the country regarding the bombing and possible monetary help.  This was futile.  None of them even came back to me.  Many of those people, I may say, Mr Chairman, are sitting in Parliament who were activists at the time when I was an activist in Durban.  The P W Botha Government at that time created a State President's Fund for victims of the blast, and I made an application for help, but they

DR BORAINE: /"refused

DR BORAINE: "refused to help us.  The refused only because of the statements I made against the system, and for calling for the release of Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC and other banned organisations.  We want to know the person who planted this bomb.  He must tell us why he did so.  He must tell us why he did not warn bystanders to flee the area.  He knew the bomb was lethal.  He must apologise for what he had done.  I want to say that my family had brought up my nephew totally without any support from the State or from the ANC.  The ANC had a duty to support my family, or at least inquire as to my nephew's wellbeing.  They did not.  Had I not denigrated the Nationalist Government, and placed the death on the hands of the Botha Government, we would have benefitted from the State President's Fund.  I made a statement.  The statements I made were totally in conflict with the political beliefs of other members of my family and relatives.  I was branded a traitor and a betrayer.  How could I support the ANC which killed my brother and sister-in-law?  I was called upon by many political bodies to support them in other racist elections to keep the blacks and the Africans out of the political arena.  This I did not do.  It was against my beliefs, and I could not betray the black struggle.  I was completely ostracised from my family.  I understood exactly how my

DR BORAINE: /"relatives