hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-08-13 BEAUFORT WEST 2 CT/00365 ROSY HUGO ROSY HUGO DETENTION https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=54957&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/beaufort/ct00365.htm MS BURTON [indistinct] ROSY HUGO Duly sworn states MS BURTON [indistinct] UNKNOWN The interpreters can not hear the victim. MS BURTON [indistinct] the evidence for Ms Hugo. DR RAMASHALA Thank you, hello Ms Hugo, can you hear me all right? MS HUGO I can hear you, thank you. DR RAMASHALA You have come to tell us about what happened in 1986 when you were a leader in the community, you were one of a council of ten. Will you tell us about what happened to you, please? MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA Ms Hugo, can you tell me why they - they might have come to arrest you. You were - you were in Murraysburg, you were - you must have been quite young at the time. What were conditions like there? MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA So this council of ten was an organization that was campaigning for better houses for people in Murraysburg, is that right? MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA And you were not involved in any other political activity? MS HUGO They chose me - they - I was elected onto the council of ten. DR RAMASHALA And for that you spent many months in detention? MS HUGO That is what they predicted, that they were taking us as the council of ten. DR RAMASHALA Do you give us, in your statement, the names of the people who arrested you, but you say that nobody ill treated you? MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA [indistinct] how old are your children? MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA [indistinct] are you working in Murraysburg? MS HUGO DR RAMASHALA Thank you very much. ADV POTGIETER Thank you, chairperson. Were the council of ten all people from Murraysburg? MS HUGO Yes, they were people from Murraysburg. ADV POTGIETER Were you elected at a meeting at - of the community? MS HUGO Yes, to the council of ten. ADV POTGIETER But at the time you were elected as a member of the council, what were you doing? MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER At the time that you were elected to the council of ten, were you employed by the municipality or...[intervention] MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER Were you always present when the delegation would be sent to the municipality? MS HUGO Yes, I was always present. ADV POTGIETER And the other 9 persons that were on that council, were they all arrested? MS HUGO They were all on the list. ADV POTGIETER And how many of the ten were arrested and detained? MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER So at the time that you were locked up on the 12th of June 1986, were there other members of the council of ten, who were arrested with you? MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER Did they eventually arrest most of the members of the council of ten? MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER Did you understand your arrest to be merely because you are a member of the council of ten? MS HUGO Let me put it this way - I would say it could be because the detective from ADV POTGIETER And the main thing that the council of ten was looking at was the housing plight of the people? MS HUGO Yes, the housing and the unfair discriminatory system. ADV POTGIETER MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER So did the council of ten - after your arrest was the council of ten dissolved - did it cease to exist? MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER So do you think that the reason that the police arrested you and a few other people was to disband the council of ten - to cease their activities? MS HUGO ADV POTGIETER And what has since happened to the complaints of the people about their houses? MS HUGO People are still battling, they are still oppressed, they still live in chanteys. ADV POTGIETER MS HUGO No, not as far as I know. ADV POTGIETER And you say that the complaints are still the same? MS HUGO Yes, everything is still the same. ADV POTGIETER Thank you MS SEROKE MS HUGO MS SEROKE MS HUGO Thank you.