Human Rights Violation Hearings — Nelspruit — 1996-09-04

GEJANE PAULINE MBIBA: I want to thank you, more especially the new government in this new Africa, for having done such a good work.  We are in a confusing state of mind, where we are expecting peace and our minds and hearts were troubled.  We did not actually know what to do.
 Simon Ndowe is my child.  After he has joined the ANC, the police came to me quite often at home.  Police from Komatipoort, they took me, took me to Komatipoort station where I was expected to explain the thereabouts of Simon. I said to them I don't know. I knew very well about him, because at that time it was not allowed to utter a word about the ANC.  He said to me he is an MK cadre and he is going away.  
 In 1983 the same police came to my home and they wanted me to go back to Komatipoort again.  They came and found me at my employment, it was in March, on the 8th. They took me.  Then they said to me I must go and sign something at Nelspruit police station. They never told me anything, whether there is something that happened. I went with them.  On our arrival there at the police station, they stopped the car, just at a distance.  The white police said to the black police officer:  tell this mother that his child has hanged himself and he died at round about three o'clock, here in the cell.  They opened the door of the car. I went out of 
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the car.  They opened the door. I saw him and he was pushed in a caravan.  They said to me I must come closer to him. As I was looking at him I saw him, he had changed. I could not easily identify him.  He was bruised on the face.  The eyes were also closed and the jaw here was broken.  On the hands here you could see that it was bruised.  As I was looking at the nose I saw the blood coming out of the nose. I looked at the leg and the leg was also swollen.  I felt very sorry. I was actually touched.  As I was touched, the white policeman pushed me and I fell down. I got injured in one of my legs.   After that I did not know what happened.  I don't know actually, I fainted.  I gained my consciousness somewhere else, not near the place where the cops were.  I found myself now in another house and I saw a sister and then I said to myself where am I at the moment.  When I looked at myself at my shoe I saw a lot of blood on my shoe. I was surprised; where does the blood come from?  It was because of the injury I sustained.  
 Then from there the police told me and said you will never see your child again; as you have seen him, it is the end of it, you will never see your child again.  
 From there they took me to be under the sun, where there is no shade the whole day.  Everybody was passing there, was actually surprised to see me crying.  What has happened to me?  No food was given to me.  Since they took me in the morning up until late at seven in the evening.   The police came back again. The police took me from home. It was a black police officer.  They took me. It was round about seven at that time. They took me back to my home where they left me. 
 The children were surprised.  They did not know what 
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happened, because I left home and went to my place of employment. That worried me a lot to see that government did not take care of me.  The old government did not take care of me.
 From there it was obvious now that we need to do something now.  Then I went to my attorney Anthony Possa & Bissos. Those are the people who actually gave me assistance that I could get my corpse, my boy.  
 They said to me then well, I can get the corpse, but the post-mortem must be conducted on the corpse.  While we were there I went inside where the post-mortem was to be conducted.  They said I must open him. I looked at the corpse. Actually it was wounded, it was bruised.  That worried me a lot.
 Then from there I took the corpse. They asked me where are you going to with the corpse. I said it is not your business, it is my own business. I took the corpse with me and I put that corpse at the mortuary in Lekasi.  
 It was very difficult during those days.  People are questioning why should I go and put that corpse at the mortuary at Lekasi.  Those people actually who were to collect the corpse was very much difficult for them.  They said they would rather hire a Kombi.  There were a lot of policemen alongside the road, you know, watching where are we going to pass.  But God was with us. We managed to go through those police barricades up to Lekasi where we had to keep the corpse.  The question of a funeral, well, I did not see anything there.  
 Now from there, because I heard from the rumours that they saw - because he was a former teacher before, they said they saw him.  They watched him on TV, he wore one shoe on
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the one leg and the other leg was no shoe.  Some children said to me that oh, our teacher, Mr Ndowe has been arrested, he is in jail.  But I was told nothing.  People tried their level best to find out exactly what can be done.  There Mr Possa actually assisted us.  He actually acted on our behalf that we could see him.  At the end they agreed that well, he was arrested.  Then they said to me you must go and buy clothes, you must him shoes, you must buy him stockings.  My elder son went there to buy those things and the Bible. Because this boy of mine he was actually a Christian. He used to like reading the Bible. They took the clothes, but they could not accept the Bible.  That worried me a lot that while when my child was injured and wounded in this fashion, he could not be sent to the doctor.  They only called in the doctor and that doctor attended him while police were standing there.  Because he informed the police well, he is not well, because he was injured, wounded.  Dr Viljoen came there, looked at him, examined him and he only gave him some headache tablets. He only wrote on a piece of paper. There was no file that he gave him some headache tablets.  From there I heard that my boy has been sent to the theatre, three times.  But myself I was not told, being the mother of the child, that my child was also in detention or in prison. I was not even told that he is injured. 
 In fact, I am working in the hospital.  I know quite a lot of things. I know if police have got problems, maybe if they arrest someone, and maybe that person has been injured.  That person should be taken to the hospital and the police should be there. So I still say the old government was not fair to me.  It was not fair to me. Even now that thing cost me a worry.
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 On a monthly basis now I am taking tablets because of the heart disease. I am so pleased that the Commission is now here, that perhaps the Commission can help me to investigate the matter, what must be done. Because as far as I am concerned at that time I was able to work for myself.  I was able to look after the children.  The elder son had children. The elder one is two years old, six months, the third one was about, I am not sure whether it is six months or so. 
 Now this worried me a lot.  I had to go back. I had to go back and take responsibility of my grand-children, because there was no way out now, because they were actually children of my son.
 You can see I can no longer work. I don't know what to do now. I don't know what can be done by the Commission, and what the Commission can do for me in order that I should assist the children. I realise that not very long they will have to leave school because I am told that I will have to terminate my service next month.

MR LEWIN: Mrs Mbiba, thank you very much.  To be able to try and do something we need to have a full picture.  So if I could ask a few questions.  For instance, how old was Simon at the time in 1983?

GEJANE PAULINE MBIBA: He was 24 years of age.

MR LEWIN: You say he was an alleged member of the ANC.  Was he a member of the ANC?

GEJANE PAULINE MBIBA: Yes, he was a member of the ANC.