Human Rights Violation Hearings — Venda — 1996-10-03

RUSSELL ALLY: Good afternoon Mr Munyai, thanks for coming.  Mr Richard Lyster here is going to assist you with your evidence.  Before that I will ask him to administer the oath.  Thank you.

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: (sworn states)

MR LYSTER: Mr Munyai, you are a school teacher, you're 32 years old and you live in the Maqwonde area is that right?

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: Yes.

MR LYSTER: And you have come to tell us about three separate incidents in which you were first arrested, detained for a three month period and then the other two incidents relate to severe beatings, assaults on you by the police and the defence force, is that right.

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: Yes, it is true.

MR LYSTER: Tell us about those three incidents in your own words, just giving a bit of back ground first about what you were doing in 1989, to which political party were you affiliated to if any and just give us an idea of what was happening here in Venda in those days.

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: In 1989 I was not affiliated to any political organisation, but when people were celebrating their independence here, school closed and children were not going to school.
 In our village at Maqwonde, schools were not continuing VENDA HEARING TRC/NORTH WEST
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at that stage.  Who was the Headmen at that stage, he was trying to force the children to go to school, but then the students refused.
 Then the Headmen took the message to the police, saying that there are people who are influencing the students for not going to school and the Headmen said they wanted to kill him.
 It is then that people were starting to be arrested and I was one of those who were arrested.  I was taken to Tendo police station.  In arriving there, I was pressed in the interrogation room, then I found some people who named themselves such as Bootsha and a certain man who was a good boxer.
 And I was forced to take a statement and then he came and read the statement and said what writing this is.  Then he told me to write something which is true and then there was nothing which I wrote again.
 That was here in July, August and the end of August.  I was arrested from July and I remained there in Tendo police station from July up to early October at Tendo police station and no charges was laid against me.
 Then whilst staying there, we were staying under bad conditions.  Where you could find that there was no water to bath, sometimes in the toilets we used to take those old blankets so that we can drain water, so that we can wash ourselves.
 We were not provided with tissues or toilet papers.  When we asked for tissues they said we must use the way in which the Indians used to do, that is we must use our hands to clean our anus.
 Then we stayed there for a long time and decided not to
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eat food there or, we spent ten days on hunger strike.  I still remember some young boys who were there and some who were a little bit older, became ill and they were taken to the hospital and due to that, we were released on the 15th of October, this is what happened in 1989.
 Then on the second occasion it was in 1990.  Immediately after the release of President Mandela, when people were happy, one of the people who were very happy, fell from the car which was driven by the police and that person died.
 While we were attending his night vigil, the whole home was surrounded by soldiers and the house was surrounded because it was alleged that we were there to dishonour the dead.  It is then that some, including myself, were arrested by those soldiers.
 We were laying on the boot of the car which was present and we were sjamboked in our buttocks and we were thoroughly beaten by fists and we were deported to the police base as Sebatsa.
 We were injured and we would receive no treatment.  And we were taken to a certain room with our clothes off, we were naked and we were poured with cold water from the store room.
 Here on the floor, there was no dry place.  The place, the whole place was wet.  Early in the morning, at about five o'clock we were taken to Tendo police station.
 Up to there our names were listed there and we were detained at Makado police station.  There we stayed for a weekend and we were released the following Monday.
 Then we came back and we were not told the reasons for being arrested.  The last incident took place during the 
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same year, in 1990, when there was a strike for the teachers.
 Being so, we have organised for a meeting before we could hold a meeting, when the meeting was going to take place the following day, the warrant arrestor was released in which some of the teachers were expected to be arrested.
 We have received the information, the information leaked and we were arrested before and by the following day we had decided to make a sit-in in our schools.
 Being there, doing that, we were - tear gas were thrown and we ran away, here at Tandosopinq Centre, we held a short meeting.  After that meeting we started singing.
 The police then arrived, tear gassing us and the Defence Force were also there.  That is where I was definitely hurt because I was sjamboked as I was running.
 There was somebody who was calling me on a loud haler, but I don't know who the person was.  He sjamboked me in such a way that I fell.
 I was kicked like a ball.  Whilst there, somebody tear gassed me again, I was kicked again and I got hurt.
 Some of the evidence as you can see, I don't have the full dental formula, my mouth got torn and it was just - my eyes were swollen I couldn't even see.
 It was difficult for me to see if I could open my eyes, that is why I had to rush towards the grass and one woman who I cannot recall now, found me and pulled me to the road and there was a car, who belonged to Shumanile Dozela, who took me to Dr Kumnow who treated me on an injection.
 I was then taken to Hufule.  On arriving there, I realised a lot of people were realising that I was feeling pain.  They stitched me on the mouth, by Dr Thompson.  From 
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there I was taken, the ambulance had to take me to where they had to check my eyes and (indistinct).  I stayed there for about two weeks, receiving treatment on the eye.
 My eyes, up to now, are not quite all right, because I feel as if there is something inside and the kind of glasses that I used to wear, were different, but now, I am wearing the glasses which are going to make it easy for me to see.
 Even my body, I still have a lot of pain the way I was kicked.

MR LYSTER: Thank you very much Mr Munyai.  Now you said that in 1989 before the first, before you were detained for that 3 month period, that you weren't affiliated to any particular organisation at all.  And you were then detained.  Why do you think it was that you were detained, what led the police to detain you for that lengthy period?

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: What I think contributed was that the one who was a Headmen at Maqwonde, could have been the one who made it possible that I got arrested, because when the schools had stopped, when the school kids were not going to school, the children refused or resisted the (indistinct) against the Headmen and he suspected that I could have contributed in influencing such kind of things.
 Then he might have sent my name to the police station.

MR LYSTER: And what was the general feeling amongst the children.  Why did they refuse to go to school at that time?  Was it because they objected to the independence celebrations which were happening?

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: Yes, truly.

MR LYSTER: Did that period in detention have the effect of politicising you?

THILWAIWI MUNYAI: I couldn't hear it clearly.
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