DR RANDERA: If I can ask Mrs Morake now to stand to take the oath, please.
EVELYN M MORAKE: (Duly sworn, states).
DR RANDERA: Thank you, Mrs Morake. Are you all right, Mrs Morake?
MRS MORAKE: I am okay, thank you.
DR RANDERA: You seem to be in a lot of pain. Mrs Morake, would you prefer if Cynthia was the only person who spoke and you just listened?
MRS MORAKE: She can carry on with the speech, because she witnessed everything, she is actually the complainant, she was not present when I gave the statement.
DR RANDERA: Mrs Morake, will you please put the mike in front of Cynthia then.
Cynthia Kedibone Morake, Commissioner Yasmin Sooka will be helping you in telling your statement, and I hand you over to her. Thank you.
MS SOOKA: Thank you. Cynthia, I would like to welcome you to our proceedings today. Before you begin to tell us about what happened on that day, tell us how old you were, whether you were at school, whether you were working at the time, please. If you could give us a few details about yourself.
MS MORAKE: I was not schooling, I was staying with my
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mother.
MS SOOKA: How old were you at the time?
MS MORAKE: I was 18 years old.
MS SOOKA: Were you a member of a political organisation, were you a comrade?
MS MORAKE: There were no organisations, therefore I didn't belong to any organisation.
MS SOOKA: Do you want to tell us about what happened to you?
MS MORAKE: On that day in 1986 there was a song, then after the song, I was not there, these children who were singing passed through our gate. They were passing at our gate with my sister. I was standing at the gate with my mother and my sister. Then after the lights were off, then we went into the house, then we slept. There was no problem.
At about three o'clock in the morning one man entered the house with a White policeman. When he entered he said he wants Kedibone. My mother said here she is. Then she lighted with a torch. Then he told me that what did I do. I said I did not do anything. Then he said were you there when the youth were singing. Then I said no, I was not there. Then he said come, you will talk at the office. Then they took me, they put me in the police car. I didn't know who hit me on the head. After I was hit they took me to the police off. Thereafter they locked me up. We were five ladies. Thereafter they took us to the police station at Makwassie. That is where we were interrogated. They were hitting us with open hands.
What is painful is that we were beaten by Whites with balaclavas. They were tall, they were hefty, we didn't know them.
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MS SOOKA: Take your time.
MS MORAKE: Just a second, please.
MS SOOKA: It is all right, she can take her time. Cynthia, take your time, don't worry.
MS MORAKE: Our mothers came to look for us. They brought us food. In the afternoon at about three o'clock to Stilfontein. When we arrived there they threw tear-gas at us. Then we went to Stilfontein. We arrived there at about six o'clock. Then they took our names down. They asked us our age. Thereafter they beat us. Then they took us to the cells. We didn't know the Stilfontein town. I didn't know which cell did we go to, but it was the open one which was open. It had no lights. All of us went in there. Then they were beating us in the dark. Then they said what do you want to do in a dark cell. But we didn't know where to go.
They took us out and then they separated us. They took the boys to another room and us to the other room. The other day they poured water over us. Then they made us to sleep on the floor. They poured water over us. From there they made us stand and poured water over us. They made a circle with cars and then they were beating us with plastic batons.
On Saturday they released us. They were beating us again. They told us to go home on foot. Then we met a certain man who took us. That is the end.
MS SOOKA: Thank you, Cynthia. I am just going to ask you a few questions so that we can make sure that we have got your story down clearly. If I hear you correctly, you say that you, your sister and your mother were standing by the gate when the young people came past singing freedom songs.
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Is that correct?
MS MORAKE: Yes, it is true, they were singing freedom songs.
MS SOOKA: You yourself were not part of that group?
MS MORAKE: To tell you the truth, I was not even part of that group.
MS SOOKA: The name of the policeman who came to fetch you at night, who was that?
MS MORAKE: That's Scheepers.
MS SOOKA: And he took you to a police station before he took you to Stilfontein. What was the name of that station?
MS MORAKE: They put us on an open ground at Lebaleng.
MS SOOKA: How many of you were there?
MS MORAKE: We were ten girls, I don't remember how many boys were there, it was a group, there were many.
MS SOOKA: How long were you kept there before they took you away?
MS MORAKE: At the Stilfontein police station?
MS SOOKA: Yes.
MS MORAKE: We were taken on Thursday in the morning, at about three o'clock in the afternoon we were taken to Stilfontein. At Stilfontein we stayed for three days there.
MS SOOKA: During that time did they allow you to make any telephone calls to your mother or any other person?
MS MORAKE: Since I left my mother, when she came to see us on Thursday morning.
MS SOOKA: In your statement you say that you were tortured at the Stilfontein police station. Could you tell us exactly what that torture was?
MS MORAKE: I have continuous headaches, I still have a mark here on my head, because they hit me with something, I do
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not know what it was.
MS SOOKA: Did they hit you with their hands or did they hit you with this plastic baton on your head?
MS MORAKE: They used that plastic baton, I think on my head and then they were using their hands and feet to assault us.
MS SOOKA: How many of them were there?
MS MORAKE: Where?
MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on).
MS MORAKE: I don't know where those policemen came from, they were in large numbers, they were heavily built, very tall.
MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on). When they poured water over you, is this outside of the cell, because you mention that they formed a circle with cars?
MS MORAKE: It was behind the cells on the lawn. We were made to lie on the lawn. They took us out of the cells, in the back yard of the police station. We were lying on the lawn.
MS SOOKA: With your face down?
MS MORAKE: Yes, we were lying face down and they were pouring water on our backs.
MS SOOKA: What did they use to pour the water?
MS MORAKE: They used a hose pipe.
MS SOOKA: And afterwards they beat you with these plastic batons or the plastic sjambok or a plastic baton?
MS MORAKE: Those were plastic sjamboks.
MS SOOKA: How long were you at Stilfontein?
MS MORAKE: I stayed three days at Stilfontein.
MS SOOKA: Once you were released, did you report this to the police or did you go and see an attorney or did you have a doctor examine you? Can you tell us?
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MS MORAKE: Later on my mother took me to the doctor because of these terrible headaches. We were so scared of policemen we wouldn't even dare go to them.
MS SOOKA: What did the doctor say?
MS MORAKE: He said I have a terrible headache. He said my head got cold.
MS SOOKA: Do you receive treatment now for your headaches?
MS MORAKE: I have this continuous headache and every time I have this headache I have to go to the doctor, isn't it? And it is a terrible headache, I must say.
MS SOOKA: Cynthia, at the time when you were staying with your mother before this happened, were you working at the time?
MS MORAKE: I wasn't working. In the previous year I left school and I was schooling at Wolmaransstad. The school ended with Std 8. They did their Std 9 and I couldn't further my studies because my mother is just a poor woman.
MS SOOKA: Do you work now?
MS MORAKE: I am not working.
MS SOOKA: Does your mother support you?
MS MORAKE: Yes, she is supporting all of us.
MS SOOKA: Tell me, in your statement you talk about the policeman who took you, as being Piet Scheepers, and in your mother's statement she mentions the name of a policeman called April, who also assaulted you. Is that correct?
MS MORAKE: That's correct, April assaulted us at Stilfontein. When they released us, and told us to leave on foot, we met him on our way. He was driving in a van and we wanted to run away. He stopped us. He said you must tell my family at Makwassie that April has died and he has been killed by the comrades.
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MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on).
MS MORAKE: At the Coloured area near Klerksdorp.
MS SOOKA: Do you know whether this April still works in the police force?
MS MORAKE: I do not know, I since last saw him on that day.
MS SOOKA: Thank you, Cynthia. Mamma, Morake, do you want to add - sorry, Cynthia, do you want add anything to what you have said?
MS MORAKE: Are you referring to myself or my mother?
MS SOOKA: Cynthia.
MS MORAKE: I just want to thank the Commission, because we have been keeping these things to ourselves. We couldn't expose the kind of life we used to lead. Maybe after taking out this whole thing I will be very relieved. I thank you.
MS SOOKA: Mamma Morake, do you want to add anything or are you happy with what Cynthia has said?
MRS MORAKE: I just want to add to what Kedibone has just said. These things happened a long time ago and I am a bit forgetful, but she told me about the torture at Stilfontein, how they were poured with water. But there is another man called Thomas Mogatse of Makwassie who passed away. He was not a policeman, he was just a worker. But he was one of those people who was taken to point out our children. I was so scared of the police. I didn't want to say anything to the police. I just asked them what did she do. I said to them she was not present as they were chanting songs, because I was scared, I thought they would hit us all in the house. I don't want to say anything further, because she experienced the trouble from home to Stilfontein. And I want to thank you. And I want to thank you for your presence today. We, for the first time we listen to
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ourselves, but you know as I saw you, I got scared, because you know, we still have that legacy of being scared of people. But I want to thank you that I took out this heavy burden. May God empower you to help people in this country. Thank you.
MS SOOKA: Thank you, Mamma. Before we let you go I am going to ask the other Commissioners if they want to ask you questions.
DR RANDERA: Kedibone, you said that there was no organisation in Lebaleng, but on the day that you were arrested, the young people were singing songs in the street. What was that all about?
MS MORAKE: There were no organisations, they were just singing.
DR RANDERA: Was that usual?
MS MORAKE: No, it was the first time.
DR RANDERA: Were they celebrating anything on that day?
MS MORAKE: I don't remember, I can't even tell, but there wasn't any celebration. They passed in our street singing and thereafter it was quiet and we went into the house and we were relaxing. This thing started in the evening when we saw lights going off.
DR RANDERA: And all the questioning at Makwassie police station and at Stilfontein police station, at Makwassie I think you said that the people had balaclavas on, but they were big, heavy men, White people. Were they asking you to admit to something, did they accuse you of doing something? What were they torturing and assaulting you for?
MS MORAKE: The cause of the assault, I think, was just the freedom songs. I think the singing led to our assault.
DR RANDERA: Do you know what they were after? Or were they
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just trying to teach you a lesson for singing freedom songs?
MS MORAKE: I do not know.
DR RANDERA: You said that out of the group of young people that were arrested that night in Lebaleng, you were first taken to an open area. It was June and June is a very cold part of our year. How long did they keep you out in the veld or in the field?
MS MORAKE: What do you refer to, Sir, when you are saying the open field, what do you mean?
DR RANDERA: Sorry, you said to Commissioner Sooka earlier on, that when they picked up all these young people, before they took you to Makwassie police station, they took you to an open field. Is that right?
MS MORAKE: Lebaleng is the name of our township. They took us from the house and they took us to the office at Makwassie. Lebaleng, I was referring to the township.
DR RANDERA: Thank you. Now with all these young women who were there, was there any other form of torture that they used against you?
MS MORAKE: No, they only assaulted us an poured water over us.
DR RANDERA: And then at the end of that period, did I hear you rightly, that you were in Stilfontein.
MS MORAKE: Yes.
DR RANDERA: They just said to you get out, find your own way home?
MS MORAKE: That's what they said. And before they could release us, they assaulted us. I think each girl got five lashes and each boy got ten lashes and thereafter they said go.
DR RANDERA: Can you give us the names of any of these other KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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young people?
MS MORAKE: Yes, I can give you the names.
DR RANDERA: When you give your statement to the statement-taker, will you please add those names? Thank you very much.
MS SOOKA: Piet?
PROF MEIRING: Kedibone, only one question. You said that you still have continuous headaches and your health is not very good, but you do not have work. If work is found for you will you be able to work or are you unable to work?
MS MORAKE: I think I can work because it doesn't attack me every time, it is just on occasion.
CHAIRPERSON: Kedibone, I would like to thank you and your mother for coming here today to share what happened to you at your township with us. We hope that we are going to move towards a future where we can rely on those who are meant to protect us, to actually do so. We are sorry that at such a young age you had to go through what you did, because there is no doubt that the beatings have had an effect on you, as well as the treatment that you were given. We are grateful that you have given us the names of those who were involved in this, and the Commission will be investigating that. Thank you for coming today to share with us what happened with you.
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