Human Rights Violation Hearings — Heiderveld — 1996-04-24

MR MALITI: Yes I know his name is Doti.  That day - he doesn't know anything because he ran.  He ran to Crossroads, and even today he is not well since then.

ADV NTSEBEZA: Just to clear something up, are you trying to say he was never well again mentally?

MR MALITI: Yes that's what I am saying.

ADV NTSEBEZA: Do you know what happened to him?

MR MALITI: He is now at Vredestad and he want's to come back to his house.  But he is still struggling to get it back, he is the Mayor.

ADV NTSEBEZA: Is there anyone among you who can still go back to Colesberg?

MR MALITI: No I don't want anything to do with Colesberg.

ADV NTSEBEZA: I heard that one of your wishes was that you would like to have her bones back.

MR MALITI: Yes we would like them to come back to Colesberg.

ADV NTSEBEZA: Among these people who are now out of jail, are they here?

MR MALITI: Yes they are all out of jail.

ADV NTSEBEZA: Do they still feel that Busisiwe's mother was an informer just because he went to buy meat?

MR MALITI: No I can't hear - I can't - I didn't hear anything about that, I don't know if that's how they still feel.  Nobody even bothered to ask for forgiveness.  When we saw each other, they just looked down.

ADV NTSEBEZA: I am very sorry that we have to ask you these painful questions, but I am sure that you also understand that we have a duty here to perform, thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, anyone with a question, Mary Burton.

MARY BURTON: Just one question, [indistinct] whether Fezile Maliti has - is still in Colesberg?

MS KEWANA: [No audible answer]

MARY BURTON: Can I ask the question again, I just wanted to ask whether your uncle Fezile Maliti is in Colesberg, whether he returned to Colesberg or where he is now.

MS KEWANA: He was still - he was in Colesberg, he just came last year and he says he is not going anywhere.

MARY BURTON: Thank you and may I ask another question.  You - as I understand your statement there were a number of possible reasons why there was this attack on your mother, because she had bought things from the shop although she had tried to make up for that, all because these were suspicions that she was a  an informer and also because she was related to a policeman.

MS KEWANA: Yes that is so.

MARY BURTON: And at the same time you - there seems to be a suggestion that there were somebody pushing them to do this, that it wasn't just any of those reasons only, but that there was also some pressure on those people to take this action.

MS KEWANA: Yes that's so.

MARY BURTON: And you [indistinct]  in your statement that those people were on the one hand working for the organisation but on the other hand also working for the police.

MS KEWANA: Yes that's correct.

MARY BURTON: That's also something you would want us to try and find out more about.

MS KEWANA: [No audible answer]

MARY BURTON: Shall I say it again, so you would like us also to try and find out more about that so we can understand better.

MS KEWANA: Yes I would be very happy if you can do that.  I would be happy if she would be buried again in Colesberg and then she would again get her own house.

MARY BURTON: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much - it's obvious to us that the things that we have to investigate - it's just ugly things and it's not just from one side only it's from both sides, this is why this Commission is an independent Commission.  It is not only pulled by one side - it is meant to investigate all these atrocities that had happened in this country.
We are promising you that we will investigate up to the roots of this whole matter.  Then we will be able to tell you why this happened maybe then we can be able to help you and try and bring your mother's bones back to Colesberg, thank you.

MS KEWANA: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: You may now leave.

MS KEWANA: No I haven't finished.   As she has said before, my - the question that I expected from you is that we are going to ask me what do I expect from the TRC.
My wish from the Commission is that my mother would be buried where she was born, and I would like us to get the house back, our own house back.  I couldn't finish my studies because nobody could give me money, now I had to work so that I can educate myself.  If I could just get something to help my family I will be happy with that.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, we don't really promise that we are going to do all these things, but we will try, thank you.