hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-10-07 KAROO 1 CT/01516/KAR BOOI MANTYSI ROSE MANTYSI SHOT AND KILLED BY POLICE https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55356&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/karoo/ct01516.htm MS BURTON Good morning, you are Rose Mantysi. MS MANTYSI Yes. MS BURTON Can you hear me all right. MS MANTYASI Yes, I do hear you. MS BURTON You are accompanied by a member of your family. MS MANTYASI This is my sister Vivian Hans. MS BURTON Thank you for coming and you are very welcome. Ms Mantysi please will you please stand to take the oath. ROSE MANTYASI Duly sworn states MS BURTON MS SEROKE MS MANTYASI MS SEROKE MS MANTYASI It was the 16th of June 1985. There were riots. The police were beating people up. They did not want anybody in the street. Elderly people or children. On Sunday on Street 9, my brother Andile Hans, was shot. He was shot by Gangi. My husband was in a house on Street 9. They then picked him up where he was shot. They took him to my house in a car. When they got there I asked who it was. They said it was Andile - he was crying. They put him on the floor. They took Andile to the hospital. On the way back, they were stopped by police. They stopped the car that my brother had been driving. They asked him where are they from - where are they going. Did they not know that they did not want anybody in the street. They then explained that they taken Andile to the hospital - Andile who was shot. In the van at the back there were other police. They then said, here is Booi Mantysi. He is the man that we want. They roughly took him out of the car. This is what Booi Mantysi related to me. They held him by the chest. They asked him what he wants amongst children. Booi Mantysi then asked what children are you talking about. They told him if you get out of your house - out of your yard - we are going to shoot you. Today is the day that you die. I do not know the name of the police, but they were white policemen. We were all in shock - my sister-in-law was there as well. They said they shot him at Street 9. I was in shock - I asked is he dead. They said no - he is still alive in hospital. They told me that I can go the following day. I asked why did you not bring him to me. I want to see how you shot him. They said they had shot him amongst children - he was throwing stones at our van. I got into the car - the car turned - drove past my home - got to my house. When we got to my house, my sister then started crying - I cried too. I felt that something was wrong. When I was inside the house, they told me that the nurses did not treat my husband. By the time he got there he was dead - it is my brother that they treated. MS SEROKE Were the shootings on the 16th of June 1985? Ten years after the June 16th that happened in Johannesburg. Were they commemorating the 16th of June 1976. MS MANTYSI It is the police that were shooting. Shooting at the people. All I could hear were this gun shots. MS SEROKE Were they just shooting - were they shooting because of riots or what? MS MANTYSI No, there were no riots - at least as I perceived. MS SEROKE When they kept on saying that your husband was working with the children. Was he a member of an organisation?MS MANTYSI Yes, DARA. MS SEROKE Was he really working with the children or was he just a member of the organisation. MS MANTYSI MS SEROKE After you had refused to sign the papers for the post-mortem, did they do it on their own accord, without your signature? MS MANTYSI Yes, they did. MS SEROKE In your statement, no inquest was made. And up to this day you do not know who shot your husband. MS MANTYSI MS SEROKE There is a group of people investigating evidence that is in your statement. I am going to read a report that they have written in connection with your brother. There was an inquest in actual fact. I am going to read it first in English. There will then [indistinct] The finding of the inquest was that no person was responsible for an act or omission amounting to an offence with regard to the death of the deceased. A statement was taken from a constable Barnard who shot him. Did you ever have any dealings with the constable? MS MANTYSI No. MS SEROKE It is said here that constable Barnard shot your husband. And the inquest said that he did not make a mistake - by shooting him. You said that all your children are still at school. Only two are working. MS MANTYSI I have five children at school. The one is in standard nine. His name is Sipho. Sivuhile is in standard five. Nondomise in standard four. Abongile and Anale are in standard three - those are my twins. MS SEROKE You are not working. MS MANTYSI No, I am not working. My leg was injured - I could not carry on working. MS SEROKE Do you get a pension? MS MANTYSI MS SEROKE What you are telling us is very painful. I am going to read a conclusion that was made by the investigators. I am going to read this in English - it is going to be interpreted for you. This is another case of failure by the Justice Department or of the South African police of informing the family of the deceased as to the judicial process. They were uninformed as to their rights and had no access to legal aid or representation. After there had been an inquest - this means that the authorities did not even have the respect to tell you properly, with dignity - what happened to your husband. How do you survive at home, considering that you have so many children and you are all living on R540.00. MS MANTYSI I struggle a lot - this money is just for the food. I cannot buy clothes for my children. If I had been working, maybe things would be better. MS SEROKE What is your interests now. What do want the Truth and Reconciliation Committee to do - Commission. MS MANTYSI I want to know who shot my husband - because I do not know who it is. My children want to continue with their education, even the two that are no longer at school. It is because there is no money. They want to continue with their schooling. MS SEROKE Today for the first time you know who shot my husband. Now that you know, what do you think you want to do about that. MS MANTYSI MS SEROKE Can you not forgive, even though you know who it is? MS MANTYSI MS SEROKE Thank you - we will go back to the Chairperson now. ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI Yes, my brother was shot - his name Andile Hans. ADV POTGIETER And was he also shot by the police or who shot him? MS MANTYSI Yes, he was shot by Gangi, a policeman. ADV POTGIETER And was there a court case in connection with the shooting of your brother? MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER [Indistinct] at home with your parents or with yourselves or what. MS MANTYSI He was staying with my parents - I stay in my own house. ADV POTGIETER And if - if there were in fact court proceedings in connection with his shooting, you would have known about that. MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI I showed the Magistrate the letter telling him that I had been called, but no-one has dealt with me - everybody is leaving. That Magistrate said to me - he said I must go and ask my lawyer. He did not say anymore - I left and went home. ADV POTGIETER So did that letter tell you to come to court on a specific day. MS MANTYSI That letter had asked my to go to the Magistrate. ADV POTGIETER And did it tell you when you must on what day you must go to the Magistrate. MS MANTYSI There was a date - it was on a Friday. ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI It was in the morning - they normally start at nine. I went even earlier than that. I waited, thinking they were going to call me, but they never did. I just waited and waited - they never called me - they did not call me at all. ADV POTGIETER [Indistinct] until the afternoon. And then - sorry you go ahead. MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER [Indistinct] you then had to - when you realised that nobody is calling you - you then had to take steps to try and find out what was going on. MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI He said nothing - he just said I must ask everything from my lawyer. ADV POTGIETER [Indistinct] at that stage - you were there on you own. MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI He might have been there, because as I arrived, his car was leaving going towards the township. ADV POTGIETER Do you want to tell us something about the funeral. MS MANTYSI I wanted my husband to be buried on the Monday. The police refused. They said he must be buried on the Sunday. He was buried on Sunday. The police were everywhere in the township. They had guns guarding us, but they did not do anything. ADV POTGIETER Is it correct that your - at one stage the body of your husband was removed from De Aar and in fact taken to Bloemfontein, without you knowledge or your consent. MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI Please repeat your question. ADV POTGIETER MS MANTYSI ADV POTGIETER Thank you very much Ms Mantysi. MS BURTON MS MANTYSI Yes, it is the same brother that had been shot. MS BURTON Does he have any injuries still as a result or has he completely recovered. MS MANTYSI MS BURTON [Indistinct] the company knew today, is that right? MS MANTYSI No, this is my sister. MS BURTON We have listened carefully to al that you have told us and we have taken note of the struggle that you are having to bring up your children without your husband and breadwinner to support you. At the end of our work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it is part of our job to present a report to the President and to make recommendations about ways in which some reparation can be made for what people lost in the past. And maybe one of the ways that people can be helped is by enabling children, the next generation to have a proper education. And I hope that maybe at that time something will be able to be done to assist your family. We know that it has been very hard for you to come and live all that painful time in your life and we thank you very much for coming here today - thank you. MS MANTYSI Thank you.