hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-08-07 HELDERBERG TYGERBERG AND https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55191&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/helder/opening.htm ADV POTGIETER [indistinct] Nomfundo Walasa and Cheryl de la Rey good morning to you and welcome - thanks for coming to give us a context within which we will conduct our hearing today. Before your evidence is presented it is necessary for you to take an affirmation because what you would be saying would eventually form part of the record of the testimony and evidence that was received by the Commission. NOMFUNDO WALASA Affirms to speak the truth CHERYL DE LA REY Affirms to speak the truth ADV POTGIETER Thank you very much you may be seated - over to Glenda. MS WILDSCHUT My task is merely to invite the two of you to start your context statement, I believe that Nomfundo will be starting first. MS WALASO Cheryl will be starting first. MS WILDSCHUT Cheryl will be starting first - Cheryl if you could just try and speak as close to the mike as possible. MS DE LA REY In 1956 the march was to protest against the carrying of passes, since then woman in all sectors of our society anticipated in the events of our past. They have done so in community organisations - in the labour movements - in the factories - in youth groups - in the educational institutions - in families - in the home. August the 9th has become a day in the history of our resistance when we both women and men draw attention to the role woman have in liberating our society. Today we stand here having begun the process of rebuilding our society. In the Western Cape we dedicate this day of public hearings in the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hearing the voices of woman and we acknowledge the multiplicity of roles played in our past. Why specific focus on woman some may ask - is it not perpetuating differentiation separation which we have had so much in the past. But history shows us that unless we make special efforts to include ourselves in the writing of history our contributions - be that positive or negative - will be forgotten. Structural inequality ensure that what may appear to be free of gender bias is very often not. The equality clause in our new Constitution made specific reference to direct and indirect discrimination thereby acknowledging that if no conscious attempts are made such as we are doing today male experiences will be the dominant point of view - writing history essential to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Events like today mark our attempts to ensure that this never-never happens again. Today we publicly acknowledge that uncovering the truth is a gender process. Woman have participated in our history in multiple ways - today we draw attention to four categories of response from woman. First we need to note that woman have suffered as direct victims - woman themselves have been tortured - they have been killed. Woman have suffered as indirect victims, people they love have been killed - tortured and detained - our sisters - our mothers - our fathers - our loved ones. But we also need to recognise that woman have not only been victims - but they have also been perpetrators of human rights abuses. In fact we know that some woman themselves have been the torturers - the spies - the violators - some of them have been direct perpetrators. So woman too have been indirect perpetrators - they have supported those who perpetrate human rights violations. While some roles played by woman may not be a source of pride for us, we must not ignore the multiplicity of situations woman have occupied in relation to human rights violations. What this means is that depending on where woman were situated they would have experienced human rights violations differently and would have had different consequences. Today some woman have come forward to tell their stories, others have chosen to remain silent - this is their right and we respect it us such. Telling our stories have consequences too and these consequences are not outside of who we are as men and woman. Woman who tell their stories may face a variety of responses from their family, friends and the communities in which they live. Men and woman and in those communities. NOMFUNDO WALASO History then has documented experiences or suffering has been done or had done this in an ad hoc or add on like manner. Although it is important to acknowledge that layers of suffering mentioned above would have long and term effects for many woman if not acknowledged and addressed in both a gender sensitive and culturally sensitive way. It is equally important to note that survivors or victims of gross human rights violations can transcend horrific abuses with varying degrees of resilience and success. This is particularly so for those individuals with a strong and coherent set of believes either religious or political. That sustain an over arching sense of purpose and allow them to put the experiences they have into a perspective. Some woman are sceptical that the process will uncover the wounds that are healing and render them even much more venerable than they stared off with. We need to look at the loss of production because when woman were detained some of them were subjected to fosterilisation and some of them had to have abortions because of what they had suffered. And this - all these things happened during the years of the struggle. The use of symbolism and a [indistinct] as a way of distancing is also needed to be looked at how people speak in matter for [indistinct] in symbols in a way that protects them and also protects the people that are hearing their stories because those things can be used very powerfully. And also we need to gain an understanding of the powerful position explanatory models take in the various cultures that make people gain an understanding of why such and such happened to me at such and such a time. The role played by ancestors and such powerful spirits in the lives of the living and how individuals see their redemption in relation to this ancestors. In order to capture all these in the initial and crucial stages, a lot of training and educating of Commissioners, statement takers and all that participate in the process is essential, and also service delivers and these - this training and education needs to happen in a gender and culturally sensitive way. Statement takers need to be trained in gender sensitive protocols - witnesses and victims needs to be asked the right questions that will allow individuals to reflect their own real experiences. There needs to be an awareness of temptation to collaborate with silence by using generalisation when dealing with embarrassing and often sensitive subjects. And using [indistinct] that will render the experiences not very worthwhile. And people working in this field need to be briefed on how to speak and in terms of and also to be given communication skills in a way that will allow people to open up. We need to encourage women to speak of their own experiences and not allow either abuses to dominate their testimonies. Often their own pain is not reflected as they busy talking about what had happened to my son, what had happened to my daughter and what had happened to my husband. And in the end we need to find creative ways of making it easier for people to talk and I think that some of those processes mean that some people might find it much easier to talk in groups rather than to talk individual and they need to create such spaces. And the creation of safe spaces for people to talk will be a very - especially women, will be very useful in this exercise. And the reason why I have brought this person with me is because I want her to be my ears and eyes, because I want to understand exactly what had happened here. I want to come out of here understanding who and how you looked like and all of that. And I think for me that was very touching and perhaps speaks to the comfortableness that are felt in this forum to be sitting next to Cheryl and sharing this platform with her, because in a way I think it reflects the whole process of the fact that perhaps at the end of this process I will need her to reflect on the processes that has happened here today. Thank you. ADV POTGIETER I am now going to ask Glenda Wildschut to read us the role of cases for the day.