CCHAIRPERSON: We are going to ask Mr Vincent Lungile Calu
to come forward. We are going to hand you over to Ms Maya
who is going to lead you with questions.
VINCENT LUNGILE CALU: (sworn states)
MS MAYA: Thank you Mr Chairperson. Lungile, how are you?
MR CALU: I am fine, thank you.
MS MAYA: You are going to represent yourself and tell us a
story about the time you were a member of the UDF and you
say you were arrested several times and tortured in police
custody, what was actually happening, and what was the
reason for all of this?
MR CALU: In 1985, I don't know whether to say that I was
lucky or unlucky, but I got affected and I became one of the
members of the structures for the youth. I therefore had to
go away from my home in Uitenhage, to I had to go in hiding
in one of the houses in Nobuhle. I used to spend nights in
various places and briefly, I would say that in 1986, one
day, I was tired of sleeping all over the place, and I
decided to go and sleep at home and it was on a Saturday and
yet, I was wrong because these policemen came and it was in
the morning, very early, at about 3:00, and I heard my
mother saying Lungile is not here because she knew that I
was not sleeping there and she wasn't aware that I was
there, so these police came and my mother said that I wasn't
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there and there was three of us sons there. When they came
in, they asked for Umhlahla, then I said, no, I don't know
such a person. Then they asked my brother, where is
Umhlahla, my brother denied, and my other brother too
denied.
MS MAYA: Who was Umhlahla?
MR CALU: Umhlahla is me, I am Umhlahla. Then, these whites
asked who exactly amongst you is Umhlahla, and everyone
denied, infact, I wanted any one person who was going to
point at me, and these policemen were almost tired of asking
of this Umhlahla and I heard them saying in Afrikaans that
they should go and call someone from outside, and so this
person came.
My brothers at the time, lived in Molapo, and this
Molapo men came in and said to me, you are Umhlahla, and I
was discouraged and then I didn't say anything, then these
policemen said get dressed.
MR MAYA: Were you arrested?
MR CALU: Yes, I was arrested. Outside our house, there
were a lot of cars and I got into a car, and there was a
driver sitting in front and a space here in the middle, then
I was asked to sit there in that space. Then they asked
about the gun that they said that I had, then I said that I
did not have a gun. They asked this repeatedly, then they
asked for Lungisile, then I said you arrested Lungisile last
week, so I don't know why you are asking me about Lungisile.
Then they asked me, do you know anything about Bee's? Then
I knew about Bee's, but I didn't want to say that I knew
them, because I was scared that perhaps they meant something
else. I didn't answer them.
Then, they handcuffed me with my hands at the back, and
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I was sitting in this space, in this car and they asked
whether I was going to tell the truth or did I want them to
bring in the bee's. Then I said that I don't have any other
truth, I do not have any gun.
Then one other man who was there, there were some some
people, one of them was Dumse and these people were
informers and they were there. So they blindfolded me with
a towel and they made it stiff so that I was not able to
breathe. My whole body trembled and I thought perhaps that
these were the bee's that they had mentioned earlier and
some other times they would make this knot loose and they
would ask me to tell the truth, but I insisted that there
was no other truth that I could tell. Then they took this
thing, and they put it here in my testicles and I had a
feeling as if my testicles were being twisted and being
pulled because I kept on saying I don't know, I don't know,
very fast.
MS MAYA: As your body was trembling, what were they doing?
MR CALU: They were administering some electric shocks.
MS MAYA: Who was administering this electric shock?
MR CALU: I couldn't see because they had blindfolded me
with a towel, but I could feel me whole body trembling.
MS MAYA: How long did this take place?
MR CALU: For about 15 minutes, but they would give me a
relief and once again. Then in this car there was Ngobe,
there was Nokasi, there was Dumse. Then they asked why
Pinkise had been arrested, then they said that Pikinse was
brother to Nokasi and so ultimately Pikinse was released.
Then one White man asked that I should be released and
then one said Ngashla was the commander of the action
committee that does this toy toy.
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They took off my hat and then one person was insisting
that I be released and they asked to release me and they
asked me to go away and I went home and found my mother.
MS MAYA: Then, when was the next arrest?
MR CALU: I want to say what I want to say before that. It
was early on a Sunday. I then consulted Dr Moodley, using
someones medical aid card because I was on the run. Dr
Moodley examined me and asked what had happened to me. Then
I told him that the police had electrocuted me and he
explained to me several things saying that these people had
exceeded in their administering of the electric shock and so
Dr Moodley asked me to take out two of my teeth that had
been damaged, so I had them extracted on Monday. So I again
went into hiding and the police still kept on looking for
me.
Then in 1987, we had escaped once more and I was in
Port Elizabeth living in Betram Street. Then my aunt who
came from Zwide, and she told me that she was sick and had
they had not gone to work and she was saying that she must
consult a doctor. This whole day, the policemen had been
moving up and down here in Betram Street, but, I had a hope
that they did not know me, but I was wrong. Then there was
a car facing our house. It was parked in Matitiba, facing
our house. My aunt asked that I should not accompany her
because there were policemen, but I refused. Then, as soon
as I got to Betrom, I saw some cars that were speeding
towards me and the policemen jumped out and they were facing
there fire arms towards me. They searched my whole body,
they searched me thoroughly, they took a walkie talkie and
they asked what was me name, and I told them my name was
Mongezi, and I could see that they were communicating.
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MS MAYA: Did you know these people who had arrested you?
MR CALU: No, I did not know them.
They took me to the house where I came from and they
again searched the house. They did not tell me what they
were looking for. Then, this Black man said to me, these
men are looking for a firearm.
MS MAYA: Did they get the firearm?
MR CALU: No, they did not get any firearm from me. They
took me to Louis Le Grange.
MS MAYA: What did they do to you there, did they
interrogate you there?
MR CALU: No, they said, yes, this is the one. This is the
one we are looking for.
MS MAYA: Who said that?
MR CALU: Jagter said this. That is a Uitenhage detective
who is now a Captain in Le Grange.
So, I spent the night there. The following morning, I
was called at about 6 o'clock in the morning and I went up
to the seventh floor where they were seated in a round table
and they asked whether I had a firearm, they asked this
question repeatedly and I told them that I did not have one.
Then, they took out a parcel and which had some soil inside
and they asked me, do you know anything about this? I
looked at it, and I could see that it was mine, and then I
was scared.
MS MAYA: Did you know this parcel that was shown to you?
MR CALU: Yes, I knew that it was mine, but to them, I
denied that it belonged to me. I then identified this
parcel. Then, they opened this parcel. It had some bullets
for a 9mm fire arm, there were 45 of these bullets. Then
they opened another plastic, there was a magazine with 15
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bullets and a magazine and they asked, where is the main
part of this cassette, then I said to them, I know nothing
about this thing. They asked about the bullets of the 9mm,
I said I knew nothing about it. Then they said Lulamile,
your sister said that these belonged to you, and I denied
it. They kept on interrogating me, trying to get the truth
and then one Coloured person, who's name was Campbell,
because I could understand them as they were speaking
Afrikaans, that I heard that his name was Campbell, then he
again asked me, do you know anything about the bee's, and
then I said that I know the bee's. But I said to him that I
know nothing about bee's.
Then he made me sit down, I want to demonstrate how he
made me sit down. This is how I sat, and there was a stick
just layed here on my hands. I had to hold the stick. They
call this action of sitting the helicopter, so they would
cover me with plastic and tie it very tight, so as to
suffocate me. They again used the thing a doctor uses when
he is trying to determine your blood pressure and they
tightened it and I was hanging in one of the tables, and
they would do this for five minutes, then relax and then go
back once more and all this time, they were asking me who
things these were.
So, they ultimately said that these things belonged to
me, then they asked with whom was I staying, then I said I
was staying with Aubrey and Tini, because if they wanted to
go there, they were not going to find them. Then they kept
on torturing me for about 10 days, following the same
procedures as that on the third day. I appeared in court
and there was an allegation that I owned all these things,
that was in May.
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Then, from the court, I was locked in, in Algoa Park
and I was there for three days, and then transferred to La
Grange. For this whole month, people at home did not know
anything about my whereabouts. Then, on the 5th, I saw
someone in court and sent a message to my family that I was
in Le Grange. And then Vanessa came on the 5th, saying that
it is long that they had been looking for me. Then, Vanessa
said she was late and promised to come back the following
day and she came and already was from upstairs and Vanessa
said, you are being charged in this way, and she told me
what I was being accused of, And I had to appear therefore
on the 24 June, and my advocate was Mr Pillay, and Mr Pillay
got information from Campbell that a certain Mr X had
informed them with information.
The following day, they took my sister and made her to
agree that I was responsible for all this and they belonged
to me and this case was postponed and anyway, I was found
not guilty.
MS MAYA: Now, did you ultimately admit, do you ultimately
know who brought this parcel to the police?
MR CALU: Even now, I am still wondering about who brought
this, because when we were hiding these things, there were
three of us, it was me, Abrey and Kiki. So I was worried
when this parcel landed in the wrong hands, landed in the
hands of the people who were not there.
MS MAYA: Where are they now? Did you ask them about this
parcel?
MR CALU: What about it?
MS MAYA: That who actually took it to the police.
MR CALU: People say, I noticed this. Jagter said that all
comrades are working for us and he said to me, in 1986, I
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once planned to get to Durban, and I denied because I had
not gone there. We had planned to go there, but our plans
got aborted. So, I did not follow the comrades, but I was
very happy that this person was found and I was not the
informer. All I knew was that this Mr X was one of my
friends.
MS MAYA: Then, how has this torture affected your health?
MR CALU: When the police tortured me, they affected my
health. Some other times I feel that my body becomes
painful even if it is in the morning. They did not only
electrocute me, but the kicked me as well, but what mostly
effected me was the electric shock that I was subjected to
and it caused a lot of damage.
MS MAYA: What is your request to this Commission?
MR CALU: I didn't mention, here when they were writing this
statement, that I would like this Commission to take note of
this, that this was not done to me because I was Ngahle, but
they were trying to damage the idea that we as Black could
think we could liberate this country. So all this happened
under the conditions of discouraging the various structures
and they various organisations that were fighting for
freedom of this country, all this was not directed to me but
it just happened that I got affected. It was politically
motivated.
Then, I am asking this Commission, I know that there
isn't much that it can do, but I recognise it as it was
appointed by the government, perhaps it has the power that
we as all the victims here in South Africa, could especially
those who got disabled during this struggle, because looking
at the other countries, I find that incidents of this
nature, were happening, but their governments did attend to
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their victims, and those people got some compensation
because these people did give their lives in this battle for
the people. If perhaps I had not joined the struggle,
perhaps my mother would still be alive, she died because I
was arrested, repeatedly, and this greatly affected her
life.
MS MAYA: Could I ask you that you should allow me to help
you so that we could conclude. Your request is that there
should be projects for job creations, those are the people
who could not further their education because of the
tortures of that time, and even those who are still at
school should be assisted to go back to school and even
those who are disabled, should be assisted through, because
they definitely had some goals. So if they were to be
assisted to achieve their ambitions, you would feel very
comfortable?
MR CALU: Yes, I did say so. Thank you.
MS MAYA: Thank you.
