hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1997-05-22 ERMELO 1 BONGANI PARIS MKHIZE https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55077&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/ermelo/10ermmkh.htm MR LEWIN Ladies and gentlemen it has been a long day but I would like to ask you all for forbearance and patience please. We have one important further witness to hear and that is Bongni Paris Mkhize. I ask him please to come forward. Mr Mkhize, can you hear me through the headphones. MR MKHIZE Yes, I can hear you. MR LEWIN DR ALLY Could you please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you are going to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. MR MKHIZE (sworn states) DR ALLY Thank you. MR LEWIN Thank you very much and I will ask Doctor Randera please to lead you in your evidence. DR RANDERA MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA Bongani, tell us what happened to you after that. Did you go to the hospital ? What injuries were left with ? MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA MR MKHIZE No, I had a marble eye at that time and the marble time came out at this stage but I had been injured in a car accident before. I lost the marble eye after the incident. I lost money as well as a watch in the forest where they were beating me up. DR RANDERA Bongani, how old were you at the time ? You say you were a standard seven student. How old were you ? MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA You said you went to the Piet Retief police station with your father. What was the response of the police at the time ? I understand there were a few subsequent visits as well. MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA Now, the police that you identified, the statement that you made, no court case was ever held. Am I right in believing that ? MR MKHIZE No, nothing came out of the case. I was never called to court. DR RANDERA You did, or your mother subsequently did take civil proceedings against the Minister of Police at the time. What was the outcome at the time ? MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA MR MKHIZE No, I have no knowledge thereof. DR RANDERA Bongani, in your statement you also say that Nofumela and Coetzee were part of the group that took you out of the taxi and then subsequently were involved in your torture. How did you come to find that out ? MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA Bongani, my last question to you. After the torture were you able and also as I said earlier on, your father died two months, not much longer, two months after this horrific incident you were involved in. Two months later he was shot. Were you ever able to finish your schooling ? Tell us what has happened to you subsequently, as a person. MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA MR MKHIZE DR RANDERA Thank you, Bongani. MR LEWIN Tom Manthata ? MR MANTHATA Bongani, would you say that the police stopped harassing you after making that statement ? MR MKHIZE No, they never harassed me thereafter. MR MANTHATA Thereafter, were you staying at home with the family ? MR MKHIZE Yes, I was. I was staying at Driefontein. MR MANTHATA Where you part and parcel of the Driefontein Commission that was resisting resettlement of removal ? MR MKHIZE MR MANTHATA My question is not whether you were a leader but whether you were in that community and part of the community that was resisting to be removed. MR MKHIZE Yes, I could say that. MR MANTHATA Would I say you were at the gathering where you were confronted by the police to disperse ? MR MKHIZE MR MANTHATA MR MKHIZE MR MANTHATA Where you the eldest son in the family ? MR MKHIZE Yes. MR MANTHATA MR MKHIZE That is true. MR MANTHATA At community level, what became the rule of your family after the death of your father ? MR MKHIZE My mother is the one who was attending meetings and she was also talking on behalf of the community of Driefontein. I could say she was a leader of the community of Driefontein. MR MANTHATA If I heard you well Paris, it seems most of the people who were torturing you even trying to overrun you by car, were Whites ? MR MKHIZE There was only one White policeman, the rest were Black. MR MANTHATA MR MKHIZE Yes, I could say that is true. MR MANTHATA MR MKHIZE MR MANTHATA This has happened without necessarily a formal gathering which could have been at the core a gathering for reconciliation. It just happens naturally. Do you understand it to be sensible ? MR MKHIZE MR MANTHATA Thank you, Paris. No further questions. MR LEWIN Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen before asking Reverend Kumalo to actually close our session here in Ermelo. I would just like to say thank you very much to you for having been here and I have some special words of thanks that I would like to say on behalf of those of us here on the panel and in the Commission. Hearing closes with a hymn and a prayer.