Amnesty Hearings — Thohoyandou — 1999-06-28

MR MEYER: Yes, let's not talk about that now.  So, you're saying now that when you refer here to Park Station, that was at the stage after they had already tried the earlobes and the toes and what have you, then they went and they attached it to your private parts, that is where the Park Station comes in?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: Yes.

MR MEYER: But then why do you mention later on the part that I read to you
"Well, they tied those electrical devices on my ears."
And this you mention after you mentioned Park Station, but now you tell us that Park Station was, or the private parts session was after the ears and the toes?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: Basically these people, as they by their own admission, they tortured me that whole day on and off and they would pull these wires from point A to point B, point C to point D.  It's not as if they were just specifically methodological.

MR MEYER: Dr Farisani, I put it to you that you're telling lies to this Panel.  At no stage where you used the word Park Station do you mention anything about electrodes being attached and, the only time where you talk about the electrical devices is on page 123 where you specifically say that they were put onto your ears.

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: The whole truth is the torture squad, by their own admission, used electrical devices on the parts I've mentioned, including the private parts.

MR MEYER: No, no, they never admitted that they used that method on your private parts.  That's the whole problem.  In your evidence before the HRV Committee, your evidence corresponds with what they say, the electrical devices were attached to your ears.  And now today, you come and tell us no, they were also attached to your private parts.  Something which you've never mentioned before.

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: I repeat that they tortured my private parts.

MR MEYER: And another thing which you said in evidence-in-chief is that they also or Mr Ramaligela jumped on your private parts, do you remember saying that?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: Yes, he did.

MR MEYER: Yes.  This is another thing which was never mentioned before the HRV Committee, what's your explanation for that one?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: If that has been omitted, it is nothing more than an omission but the fact of the matter is that Ramaligela jumped on my private parts at Masisi.

MR MEYER: Dr Farisani, I still can't understand how it is possible that something which you referred to here today as the most atrocious part of the evidence of the applicants, namely the assault on your private parts, you just omitted three years ago when your memory should have been fresher than today.

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: I repeat what I've said before ...(intervention)

MR MEYER: Yes, you cannot give an explanation, is that correct?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: I've given you an explanation which you find difficult to understand and to accept.

SISI KHAMPEPE: Mr Meyer, have you had recourse to page 122 of the transcript in his evidence which is not, I should concede, crystal clear, but which does address the issue of dancing up and down?  That is Mr Ramaligela, I think it's incorrectly spelt out but there is a reference to Mr Ramaligela having danced up and down and saying he wants to destroy his family.

MR MEYER: Yes, I've noticed that, Mr Chairman.

SISI KHAMPEPE: You have.

MR MEYER: Yes, but my submission is that it's got nothing to do with his private parts whatsoever as I read it.

SISI KHAMPEPE: Yes, shouldn't you probably draw his attention to that and probably get him to explain what he meant because that to me is not clear, I don't know what he understands by, I mean what he wanted to say when he says somebody was dancing up and down and saying he wanted to destroy his family.  I don't know how you can dance up and down and saying he wanted to destroy his family, I don't know how you can dance up and down someone wanting to destroy his family and what family was he referring to?  I would be happy if that can be canvassed to him.

MR MEYER: I'll ask the question, Mr Chairman.  Just have a look on page 122, Dr Farisani.  Do you have it before you?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: Yes, I do.

MR MEYER: You mention there that Ramaligela and I take it that that refers to Ramaligela was
"Just dancing up and down and saying 'I want to destroy your family.'"
The Panel would like to know what you meant by that.

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: It means that Mr Ramaligela, after together with his team forcing me on my back, raising my legs, he jumped up onto my private parts saying 'I want to destroy your manhood.  You will never function with your wife again.  And you'll feel like a small bull and we're going to destroy these cells of yours which make you feel like a little bull.'  And he tried over and over again and I frustrated him because every time he tried, I would roll over.

MR MEYER: You never mentioned that either.  Are you satisfied, Judge Khampepe?

SISI KHAMPEPE: Yes, that has been clarified because I couldn't relate the dancing up and down to the destruction of his family.  If his family meant his manhood, I now understand in what context the use of the word family was made in that sentence.

MR MEYER: I see.  If I can just have a minute, Mr Chairman.  So, Dr Farisani, can I then assume that your explanation for not mentioning the whole thing about your private parts to the HRV Committee was that you simply omitted it?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: It was an omission and I think I was speaking in Venda that day, I do not know how the quality of translation was like, reading by what I have read, the quality is quite poor, translating my Venda into English but I've said there's collaborative information of many people to whom I've shared this information about my private parts, including the police themselves.

MR MEYER: Yes, well, that ...(intervention)

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: So, it's not as if I created something this morning.

MR MEYER: ...information is not before us.  Well, for what it's worth and I think it's been already testified to in the applicants' evidence-in-chief, they deny ever touching your private parts or injuring them in any way.

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: They did not only deny that, I don't think they admitted placing the wires on my toes and on my thighs.  It's apparently very embarrassing for the applicants to admit interfering with what in Venda is called 'Butzhimo,' the most sacred part of a person's body, his private parts.  But all the people I've talk to since my torture till today, they know that this evidence was alive and as existing as from the days of that torture.

MR MEYER: You've said that on 25 November, I think it was, you were given stationery to write a farewell to your family or something to that effect, is that correct?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: To my family, my bishop, my friends and relatives.

MR MEYER: Now, you refer to 'they' gave it to you, can you be more specific, can you remember who did that?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: That day, Mr Ramaligela, Mr Managa, Mr Nesamari were present, there might have been others but those three I remember specifically.

MR MEYER: Yes, present when you were assaulted?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: 25 November did not involve assault, it involved interrogation at the end of which they were not satisfied with my statement and they decided enough is enough, 'You're no longer fit to leave, now to exonerate ourselves, we want to kill you, you chose,' Mr Ramaligela said ...(intervention)

MR MEYER: Dr Farisani, just answer my question, who gave you the stationery to write the message?

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: Mr Ramaligela in the company of his colleagues.

MR MEYER: I want to put it to you that Mr Ramaligela and Mr Managa will deny that they were involved in that exercise.

CHINOANE SIMON FARISANI: It's their democratic right to deny but it remains the truth