Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-25

OLEFILE SAMUEL MNQIBISA: I think I must read all the letters from point A to B, so that you understand what I underwent. Please bear with me.
 My letter is published in a British Journal Searchlight SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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South Africa, No 7, 1991.   It is entitled "The case of Samuel Mnqibisa, Lt, Malagasi", which is my nickname. 
"The chief rep ANC of SA Dar-E-Salaam, 7.2.1991.
 To whom it may concern.  
 This is to certify that I Sasmuel Mnqibisa, alias Elton Ligasi, am resigning from the ANC from the date above. This follows my detention and harassment by ANC security based in Plot 18, (indistinct).  The officers are Daphta and Cliff. They accuse me of propagating against the ANC.  I was detained at ANC prison in Plot 18 from 19.1.1991 without trial. I managed to escape on the night of 5.2.1991.  
 I am presently in hiding, afraid of the ANC security hyenas.  The conditions at that prison are horrible.  My cell was 2,5 by 2 metres and I was provided a two-gallon plastic bucket as my toilet. I bath and eat in that cell.  The sponge and blankets to sleep on are terribly dirty and smelling very badly. I was not allowed to talk to other prisoners or anybody passing by my window side. The door is locked with a steel bar across. My Tanzanian wife was barred from visiting or talking to me.  She always manoeuvred, even during the night, to come and say hello to me. I decided to
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stop her coming there, avoiding further repercussions.  Permission was also not granted for my four-year-old daughter to enter my cell so that I kiss and talk to her. I usually spoke to her through my cell window.  She always insisted my step-daughter to accompany her to the prison to see her daddy.  This was my chance to forward messages to my wife Prudence.
 During my interrogation I was told to co-operate so that other methods are not applied to extract information from me. I co-operated in order to save my skin from these two-legged hyenas.   This was a threat against my life in a democratic liberation movement.  
 I was forced to write things I didn't say, in what they termed, in big letters, my own confession. I must acknowledge that if I happen to disappear your security organ will be held responsible. I mention this because of my experience in the ANC.  
 I have served the ANC for six years in the Army, MK and eight and a half years in the civilian field.  I feel this is enough and have observed stagnation for too long in the ANC.  
 I am also asking for my protection from the Tanzanian Government.
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The UNCR and British Embassy."
Thank you.
 The last one, this is No 8 of June 1992.
"Two letters written to Mandela, the President from former MK soldier"
Myself. Written in Dar-E-Salaam, Tanzania, 1991.
"Searchlight South Africa, No 7, July 1991, published a letter of resignation from the ANC by Samuel Mnqibisa, explaining the character of his imprisonment by the ANC security department in Tanzania in 1991.  Further letters give a picture of the political climate in the ANC camps during their advent.  The second in particular is a revelation about the prison in (indistinct) in Zambia, run by the Zapo, then in alliance with the ANC, indicates the manner in which loyal guerilla fighters such as Mnqibisa were abused.  Mnqibisa's colleage, Bunny Molekwane, narrowly avoided sharing the same fate in Zambia. He is remembered as a respected guerilla commander in Umkhonto.  Coming from Soweto, Molekwane was aged 18 in 1976, the year of the Soweto student uprising. He took a leading part in the sabotage strike at Sasolburg - oil from coal plant - in 1980.  Participated in the bombing of the SADF headquarters at Voortrekker,
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Pretoria, and was killed in an attack launched from Mozambique on the fuel depot and military base at Secunda in the Eastern Transvaal. His other colleague, Kruschev, also known in MK as Jeremiah Mlonse, was killed in a skirmish with South African state forces in the Western Transvaal, in an operation mounted from Botswana."
Then my letter -
"Deputy President, ANC of South Africa, 2 March 1991.
Re myself -
"I, the abovementioned wish to inform the leadership of the ANC of the problem which led to my sudden resignation from the ANC on 7.2.1991.  I took this decision in order to save my life from the two thugs in our security department, namely Daphta and Cliff.  I am still regarding myself as a full member of the ANC.  I must point out that I didn't really resign but was side-stepping thugs who wanted to swallow me alive. I am ready and prepared to explain my problem to the ANC in the near future inside the country, where I will be free from physical and psychological harassment. I would like the two thugs in my presence to prove to the ANC about
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the allegations and malicious propaganda against me.  I must highlight to you Babba Mandela, that there has never been freedom of speech inside the ANC for all the years we spent in exile. We have been living under a state of emergency throughout, because of these thugs.  For instance, during my interrogation I was told to explain what was the reaction of the Dakar community when I allegedly addressed them, telling them that the leaders were sell-outs. This was one of the five questions I was told to write on what they termed my own confession.  I wrote anything because I was afraid of torture.  If we were in our country, I was going to take legal steps against them. I doubt that some of their security members are really serving the ANC.  The moment of listening to the rank and file is fast approaching, and one day the truth will break through.   Every member of the ANC who was in exile must be ready for accountability. Our parents love us and our people in general would like us to tell them more about what is the ANC.   I must also inform you Babba, that I never forwarded my resignation copy to the British Embassy as shown on paper. I devised this tactic of that these thugs must
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never think of kidnapping me when I move around Dar-E-Salaam.  Anway, if I have given that embassy a copy, that was the only way to secure my life from those barbarians. I am aware that they are going to shoot me inside the country to suppress information I will bringing forward to the people.
 I will rest in peace because my parents will know who took away my life.  
 We all have a task to scrutinise every member of the security to prove if they are for the ANC.  Some four to five years back a Tanzanian government rep who was also a soldier, in an ANC settlement near Morogoro, Mazimbo, discovered one comrade being tortured, tortured to death by three security thugs, named Stalin, Voose and Lancaster.  The court of law sentenced them to four years imprisonment. Stalin used to be boastful, saying they do this to defend the ANC.  This near sentence came about after intervention by former ANC security chief, Mozayo Paliso, who died recently inside the country.
 Some security members crossed the floor over to the regime after victimising lots of our comrades here. I can quote one named Mickey, who was a warder in our notorious prison Quattro in Angola.
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I was with Mickey in Lusaka in 1984, before he left for Lesotho on a mission.  Later we learnt that he surrendered to the regime, after entering the country.  Now can we say that such people are defending the ANC?  No, the two thugs in Dachau have put me in a very bad position.  I am fortunate becaase I married a Tanzanian woman. Her two sisters have offered me a room to sleep in, they feed me and help me financially."
I will now read the last letter, please.  Again to:
"Babba Mandela, Republic of South Africa, April 1991.
 Dear Father
 I hope and believe that you received a letter that I wrote to you on 2.3.1991, concerning my resignation from the ANC.  I also copied you my resignation letter I wrote to the ANC's chief rep in Dar-E-Salaam, plus a copy of the letter I wrote to the young devil in Dachau, named Jackie Morake, who is a co-ordinator there.  I want to categorically stress that I took this extreme decision because my life was in a serious danger. I was shot passport photos a week after my detention at Dachau prison. Those security hooligans wanted to smuggle me officially to ANC's
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second most notorious prison in Barrara, Uganda for crucifixtion.  Unfortunately for them I couldn't give myself up like Jesus gave himself up to the Jews. I am a MK cadre, know my movement and have had a bitter experience in the ANC. I was first detained in the ANC in Lusaka, December 1978, after a hot debate with four ANC MK so-called commanders in our residence Yellow House in Lusaka. This took place in a meeting we cadres had requested with those civilians, but maybe educated commanders. I refer to Kit Mokwape and Snoekie.  They reinforced themselves with the late Mfundisi and Solise Mulani, because they could not argue with us militarily.  The meeting was held in Yellow House and the aim was to come and iron out problems we faced by then.
 You will recall that we were just fresh from a tough military survival course in one of Zapo's camps outside Lusaka.  Some comrades among us were survivors of Ian Smith's military raids on a Zapo camp named FC, Frelimo Camp.  There were comrades with serious injuries from that raid.  Yellow House was a transit for trained cadres in the last preparation for infiltration into the country, to carry out urban guerilla warfare
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attacks.  As stated, the cadres requested the meeting to solve problems, being lack of medical treatment for the injured comrades and also of foodstuffs.  The course we underwent explains itself: survival course.
 Zapo camps had insufficient food supplies and the course rations your meals or you sometimes don't eat at all. So the policy in MK is that after training you are well-fed to recover strength. Our complaint was for enough food and medical care for the comrades.