hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-08-12 BEAUFORT WEST 1 CT/00370 GERALD KLAASTE GERALD KLAASTE DETENTION & TORTURE https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=54959&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/beaufort/ct00370.htm MS BURTON Good afternoon, Mr Klaaste MR KLAASTE Good afternoon MS BURTON Can you hear me all right? MR KLAASTE Yes. MS BURTON Thank you for sitting in front of the microphone, that will help us to hear you. Is this a member of your family who is with you? MR KLAASTE Yes - yes it is a family member. MS BURTON But you are the only one to speak, is that right? MR KLAASTE No, she is only here for support. MS BURTON Will you stand please then to take the oath. GERALD KLAASTE Duly sworn states MS BURTON Ms Seroke is going to assist you in telling your story. MS SEROKE Good afternoon, Gerald. MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE MR KLAASTE It is - it is - a very good person - very - someone very close to us in our relationship - I know her very well. MS SEROKE MR KLAASTE Yes, we were at the same school. MS SEROKE Did you know him very well? MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE Can you tell us then what happened on that day. MR KLAASTE We had a meeting on a Saturday were we got together as a group and decided that we will - going to commemorate the 16th of June - commemorate the shooting of so many of our people were where - they were trying to force things down upon our people and really it was nearly impossible to do anything. And we decide that - decided that we are going to our church leaders and ask them to announce in their churches, on Sunday, that that Monday we would ask the people to wear a - anything black, be it a tie or anything black to show solidarity and sympathy with the victims. So the Monday we were a group of eleven children. I was in matric in that year and we were at a friends place in Bontheuwel and we had just torn off a piece of black cloth and tied it around your neck. And we went into town to try and express this message. The afternoon we returned to the same house, but then already the safety - the security police had visited the town and made as if it belonged to them. But that day, in the afternoon, we were arrested with these rifles and taken to the police station. And when we got there the local police assaulted us and really assaulted us. Please excuse my language but that is exactly how they treated us that day. They took us one by one, interrogated us, they put me in a dark room before they interrogated me. And they made use of Sergeant Coreeges, who was a farmer - he is no longer in the police force - they made use of him to interrogate me and he hit me that day, just so that he could know who was the chairperson of the organization and everyone knew who it was, wanted to know who the management - the executive - of the organization was. MS SEROKE [indistinct] UNKNOWN Go and sit. MS SEROKE When you decided to [indistinct] to wear these back ties and black clothes and they came to that house and arrested you. What ells were you doing other than just having those black ties? Were you singing freedom songs - you know, can you tell us what happened when they came to fetch you there? MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE Would you say it was very peaceful? Can you describe how they did this and what they used to beat you up. MR KLAASTE They hit us with their fists and they kicked us. I still have a scar next - near my eye. MS SEROKE Can you describe this black - this dark room they put you in and what happened there? MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE When you were transferred to Victor Verster in Cape Town, was there a court case before then, and were you trialed? MR KLAASTE There was no court case and we were never visited by any attorney or legal representative. MS SEROKE [indistinct] MR KLAASTE We only received one visit from S Moosa while we were at Victor Verster. MS SEROKE When you came out from prison, nobody ever explained why they kept you there? MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE You say that when you went back to school, you had to repeat matric. What was your state of health, what impact did this detention have on you? MR KLAASTE It was - it damaged me to a grate extent emotionally because there you were confronted by students who called you a jailbird and so on. MS SEROKE MR KLAASTE Are you referring to my school mates or people who would taunt me? MS SEROKE Who were those who taunted you? Were they colleagues or just people in the township? MR KLAASTE MS SEROKE What are you doing now? MR KLAASTE I am a teacher. MS SEROKE So you managed to complete your education after your release? MR KLAASTE Yes, this is after I went to work for the organization for a year. MS SEROKE Thank you very much. MR KLAASTE Thank you. CHAIRPERSON There are people who admire us and people who want to say that they are very grateful that there were people like yourself. And we hope that the police force will experience the transformation of our country and except that we will except them as those who will protect us and not hurt us. Thank you very much. MR KLAASTE CHAIRPERSON MR KLAASTE I would just like them to come forth and say why they did what they did. CHAIRPERSON Let us just explain what our decision - what decision we as a Commission took at the beginning that we wanted people who never got the opportunity to tell their stories - a lot of our people believed for a long time that they were nothing. That they should get the opportunity to tell these stories to us here, and as you have seen, today too, that it was always - wherever we have had our sittings - that people would say that they are grateful that they have received the opportunity to reveal the secrets in their hearts. But what you have just requested is only fare and we hope that those concerned in the police force and so - in the police force and so forth will come forward themselves, but should that not happen the Commission has the authority to make them come and tell us their stories. Because so many - in so many cases the witness would come before us and say we would like to know. And perhaps it is so that members of police forces and others would be able to come and reveal that truth. In our quest to establish the truth. Thank you very much.