Human Rights Violation Hearings — Johannesburg — 1996-05-03

PROF MEIRING: Tony was with you at that stage and I can imagine that it affected him very much. Would you like to tell us a little bit Tony and about what happened afterwards to him?

MAVIS MSOMI: Tony was not in Swaziland, he wasn't staying with us, he just disappeared and we didn't know where he was at that time and he didn't even attend the funeral.

PROF MEIRING: We want you to tell us about Tony too and what happened to him afterwards.

MAVIS MSOMI: A boy arrived at home and he said to us he'd been to a place where Tony was, and he said to us Tony is mentally disturbed.  We had better go and fetch him because he is unwell mentally, so we went to find him.

PROF MEIRING: Do you have any idea what caused that, was that because of ill treatment or was he ill from the start?

MAVIS MSOMI: The only information that I have is, we went to a doctor  and he told us that Tony had a very severe depression and I realised that this led to his mental disturbance.  He really cared for his family and it's members, after hearing about Moosa's death he may have thought that he'd never see the members of his family again and this might have worried him a lot. To be away form home as well might have contributed to this mentally disturbed state.

PROF MEIRING: And so you went and you fetched him yourself, you brought him back home and what is happening to him today?

MAVIS MSOMI: He is undergoing treatment even now.  Every month he gets counselling at the hospital and he gets injections.

PROF MEIRING: Thank you so much for sharing your story about your two children with us.  May I ask a very last question, you are at a hearing of the TRC, do you have any suggestions what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission can do for you and your family?

MAVIS MSOMI: I want the Truth Commission also to help the people who have lost their loved ones, so that our families and some of our friends could realise that their deaths were really a mistake, we'd like a memorial of some sort. Whether a monument containing their names, so that we can all realise that their blood which has been spilled wasn't done for nothing.  It should be seen that their blood was for freedom.

PROF MEIRING: I thank you very much, I hand over to the Chairperson.

DR BORAINE: Mrs Msomi, I don't want to  keep you long, it's been a very difficult time for you and also just telling the story, you relive it again.  But I want to ask you one or two questions about your son Tony. He joined the ANC?

MAVIS MSOMI: Tony was at school and they recruited them at school and said they were going to give them further training overseas, that's how he left. But he didn't tell me anything, he didn't tell me if he had joined any organisation or anything, I just knew that he had received a scholarship, he was going to study overseas.  When he had left he didn't even write any letter, he sent us a card once at Christmas, that's where we saw the fingerprints of his hands but there was no address, nothing and we realised that he was still alive, but we couldn't write back to him.
 I can't remember where the card originated from because it was a hand post card, there was no stamp, if there was a stamp I would have realised where it came from. I think there was somebody who might have been coming to Swaziland that he gave this card to.

DR BORAINE: Did your son, Tony ever describe the ill-treatment that he received?  You told us that he was depressed, that he was mentally disturbed, did he explain how that came about or what happened to him at all?

MAVIS MSOMI: Up until today Tony doesn't talk a lot, he's a very quiet person, very withdrawn, he doesn't tell us
 what happened, when we ask him where he's been, which places, he just doesn't tell us.  He only says he went to Morogoro where there's a school and he doesn't go further.  I think his mind stopped, he really doesn't tell us anything about what happened.  Even if I want to ask him what else happened and what he did there, he won't tell us.  We really tried to talk and have conversations with him, but since he had joined the organisation, did he also want to join as a soldier, he just laughed and said, no. There's nothing else he told us.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Msomi I also just want some clarification about Tony, you said that you brought him back to South Africa in 1994, but before that you heard that he wasn't well.  Can you tell us when you heard that he wasn't well the first time?

MAVIS MSOMI: If I'm not mistaken, I can't remember that well but around 1990, between 1990 and '91 or rather earlier, round about 1989, '87 or '89 there were lots of boys who were coming to Swaziland, coming from that side, they would say to us, Tony's there but he's not well.

DR RANDERA: ...(indistinct) she looked after him in all this period from 1987 or '89 to the time that he was brought home? And did he ever receive treatment during this time?

MAVIS MSOMI: The person who was looking was the person that he left with, it's Tim Maseko who was on that side as well, but the person who told us about his treatment was Dr Makwena whom we found in Zambia.  He told me he remembers him, and that he got some treatment for depression.

DR RANDERA: So these people were all members of the ANC?

CHAIRPERSON: Mama we thank you very much, even though we try to sympathise, we will just be repeating ourselves and people are beginning to wonder if I'm telling the truth because I'm telling the same story to everybody and our nation is saying, swallow this difficulty, may God bless you, put oil on your wounds, because it is a pain that many people have gone through, thank you.
HEARING ADJOURNS FOR TEA