Special Hearings — Women's Hearings — 1997-07-29

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: Well according to me I think if I could   get a place to stay and get back my clothes or my property and the contents   of the house and be able to earn a living because I was assaulted and the X-rays   that I came with from Tanzania, from Wimbili Hospital where I was taken by Dr   Jimmy Mabaso, the Boers took all that and now I do not have any proof of the   injuries that I sustained during that time as well as the doctor's report that   gives details about the extent of my injuries. And thereafter I was put at a   certain farm next to Moolman and they said I should go and vote for my father,   Mandela, that was just before the elections.
 If there could be some consideration I would appreciate   to get a shelter. Everything was taken, even my assets were frozen in Swaziland   and I lost quite a number of documents as well as my ID. When I got to my place   there was absolutely nothing to my name. I was destitute, I had absolutely nothing   and I just couldn't start at any point. And the place or the site that used   to belong to me was now given to other people or sold to other people.
 If I could be restituted and get the things that I need   or that are necessary in order to subsist I would appreciate that. I am staying   at another woman's place now and she harasses me at times. She treats me as   her garden boy and she makes such petty complaints. She treats me like a slave.   She seems to be teaching me how to clean the house and how to do whatever she   wants me to do. I feel like a slave to another woman whereas I once had a place   of my own to stay and I also had a property of my own. This is what disturbs   me even more and it makes me not to be able to sleep.
 One other aspect is that after I had submitted the statement   to the Commission about two weeks ago I received a telephone call from Matthews   Phosa, the Premier of Mpumalanga, who said to me whatever I was going to say   before the Truth Commission about the members of the ANC he has a right to protect   them against whatever I was going to say, and that I was powerless, there was   nothing I could do. 
 One also phoned me and told me that I am useless, I am   just a vagabond and he told me that I was going to die in the street just like   a stray dog that has been struck by a car. He said why wasn't I there at the   Ermelo Truth Commission because they were there to offer their apologies. That   is when I realised that the statements that I had submitted in Ermelo was somewhere   within my enemies. That is where they were reading it at will and doing as they   pleased with it. 
 That is why I said this is the opportunity for me to address   you. I do not see you as children, but I see you as mothers to your children   that I am telling you this. This is something that I have never said before.   I have never told it to anyone but I feel my soul would be freed if I do tell   somebody about the harassment and the torture that I went through.

MS MKHIZE: We have already asked you quite a number   of questions. I am just going to be very brief and ask you two questions.
 You said that the work you were doing helping the ANC you   were showing people routes at the Border Gate, can you tell us as to how you   executed your duties and how you knew as to the safety of these routes?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: (The speaker's mike is not on. The first   part of the speaker couldn't be picked up by the Interpreters). What I used   to do I would go to that place first and try and see as to how safe was the   place, and I would go across the border and I would travel a long distance up   to the city to try and see as to the safety of the route that I was going to   point out to the comrades. I would look out for the police, for soldiers or   any type of obstruction that could possibly be there. And I used to have a roster   that I got from a certain Charlie guy at the Border Gate as to what time the   soldiers and the police patrolled the area. I had this timetable with me. I   also used it and I would be at a certain place stationed there to try and check   whether the roster went accordingly and how true were the times. If there was   a conflict with regard to the times I would regard that place or the route as   being not safe. There isn't even a single comrade who was killed after I had   pointed out a route to them. It was the very first time for the seven comrades   to be killed after I had pointed out a route.

MS MKHIZE: Do you perhaps suspect that the timetable   that you so trusted was probably changed in order to try and destabilise you   so that you could get into trouble maybe?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: I wouldn't say the timetable was changed,   it wasn't changed, but the mistake was made by my fellow workers. The one who   came and said the people should be taken to the place. I only knew that when   I came back from exile as to who gave them our information as to the fact that   there were seven people that were going to be sent at a certain time, and the   first person who came to me, Delisa(?) told me that I should go prepare the   route, he was on his way to Nhlangana to take his girlfriend there. When he   got to Nhlangana he phoned and at the time I was in danger myself. Luckily I   did not go to where there was a lookout, I went through another route because   I had quite a number of secret routes that I knew because I was born in Piet   Retief and I know some secret places, and this Boer told me that they had been   told by a certain person who had come to me to tell me that I should point out   a route. He is the one who sold me out.

MS MKHIZE: Lastly do you ever hear or go to the Motsanyane   Commission?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: When did that start?

MS MKHIZE: The Motsanyane Commission was also formed   to address the atrocities that happened in exile.

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: No I have never heard of it, absolutely   not.

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Mazibuko thank you very much for coming   to tell your story. It's always painful to talk about things which have in fact   been done to you by the people whose cause you also follow and this issue of   people being accused of spies is a very difficult one, because the way in which   people lived in the last number of years have been such that if somebody said   you were a spy then instantly you were actually cut off from your comrades and   it was very, very difficult to get your story believed.
 We will investigate this matter and we will certainly ask   the ANC for information on your particular matter so that we can actually establish   how and why it is that there was this thought that you were a spy.
 We also will try, you have given us the names of the people   who you allege have actually done this to you and we will see what they have   to say about the matter as well.
 But we thank you for coming here today to share your story.
 Is there anything you would like to say before you actually   leave?

LITA NOMBANGO MAZIBUKO: I would appreciate it if the Commission   could help me because I am suffering. I can't make ends meet. I live like a   wild animal. At times I do not have a place to sleep. I do not have clothes   to wear. If I could be helped in that regard.
 Even at the women's meeting they do not call me because   they say I dress clumsily and therefore I am not fit to attend such meetings.   If the Commission could help me speedily because I am in dire need and I am   desperate.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. The Reparation Committee in   fact makes recommendations to government about a policy on reparation. The head   of the Reparation Committee is here and she will certainly take note of your   request. Thank you very much for coming.