hrvtrans 1 V CALU, HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1996-08-28 UITENHAGE 3 VINCENT LUNGILE CALU https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55994&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/uiten/calu.htm CCHAIRPERSON: We are going to ask Mr Vincent Lungile Calu to come forward. We are going to hand you over to Ms Maya who is going to lead you with questions. VINCENT LUNGILE CALU: (sworn states) MS MAYA: Thank you Mr Chairperson. Lungile, how are you? MR CALU: I am fine, thank you. MS MAYA: You are going to represent yourself and tell us a story about the time you were a member of the UDF and you say you were arrested several times and tortured in police custody, what was actually happening, and what was the reason for all of this? MR CALU: In 1985, I don't know whether to say that I was lucky or unlucky, but I got affected and I became one of the members of the structures for the youth. I therefore had to go away from my home in Uitenhage, to I had to go in hiding in one of the houses in Nobuhle. I used to spend nights in various places and briefly, I would say that in 1986, one day, I was tired of sleeping all over the place, and I decided to go and sleep at home and it was on a Saturday and yet, I was wrong because these policemen came and it was in the morning, very early, at about 3:00, and I heard my mother saying Lungile is not here because she knew that I was not sleeping there and she wasn't aware that I was there, so these police came and my mother said that I wasn't UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 2 V CALU there and there was three of us sons there. When they came in, they asked for Umhlahla, then I said, no, I don't know such a person. Then they asked my brother, where is Umhlahla, my brother denied, and my other brother too denied. MS MAYA: Who was Umhlahla? MR CALU: Umhlahla is me, I am Umhlahla. Then, these whites asked who exactly amongst you is Umhlahla, and everyone denied, infact, I wanted any one person who was going to point at me, and these policemen were almost tired of asking of this Umhlahla and I heard them saying in Afrikaans that they should go and call someone from outside, and so this person came. My brothers at the time, lived in Molapo, and this Molapo men came in and said to me, you are Umhlahla, and I was discouraged and then I didn't say anything, then these policemen said get dressed. MR MAYA: Were you arrested? MR CALU: Yes, I was arrested. Outside our house, there were a lot of cars and I got into a car, and there was a driver sitting in front and a space here in the middle, then I was asked to sit there in that space. Then they asked about the gun that they said that I had, then I said that I did not have a gun. They asked this repeatedly, then they asked for Lungisile, then I said you arrested Lungisile last week, so I don't know why you are asking me about Lungisile. Then they asked me, do you know anything about Bee's? Then I knew about Bee's, but I didn't want to say that I knew them, because I was scared that perhaps they meant something else. I didn't answer them. Then, they handcuffed me with my hands at the back, and UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 3 V CALU I was sitting in this space, in this car and they asked whether I was going to tell the truth or did I want them to bring in the bee's. Then I said that I don't have any other truth, I do not have any gun. Then one other man who was there, there were some some people, one of them was Dumse and these people were informers and they were there. So they blindfolded me with a towel and they made it stiff so that I was not able to breathe. My whole body trembled and I thought perhaps that these were the bee's that they had mentioned earlier and some other times they would make this knot loose and they would ask me to tell the truth, but I insisted that there was no other truth that I could tell. Then they took this thing, and they put it here in my testicles and I had a feeling as if my testicles were being twisted and being pulled because I kept on saying I don't know, I don't know, very fast. MS MAYA: As your body was trembling, what were they doing? MR CALU: They were administering some electric shocks. MS MAYA: Who was administering this electric shock? MR CALU: I couldn't see because they had blindfolded me with a towel, but I could feel me whole body trembling. MS MAYA: How long did this take place? MR CALU: For about 15 minutes, but they would give me a relief and once again. Then in this car there was Ngobe, there was Nokasi, there was Dumse. Then they asked why Pinkise had been arrested, then they said that Pikinse was brother to Nokasi and so ultimately Pikinse was released. Then one White man asked that I should be released and then one said Ngashla was the commander of the action committee that does this toy toy. UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 4 V CALU They took off my hat and then one person was insisting that I be released and they asked to release me and they asked me to go away and I went home and found my mother. MS MAYA: Then, when was the next arrest? MR CALU: I want to say what I want to say before that. It was early on a Sunday. I then consulted Dr Moodley, using someones medical aid card because I was on the run. Dr Moodley examined me and asked what had happened to me. Then I told him that the police had electrocuted me and he explained to me several things saying that these people had exceeded in their administering of the electric shock and so Dr Moodley asked me to take out two of my teeth that had been damaged, so I had them extracted on Monday. So I again went into hiding and the police still kept on looking for me. Then in 1987, we had escaped once more and I was in Port Elizabeth living in Betram Street. Then my aunt who came from Zwide, and she told me that she was sick and had they had not gone to work and she was saying that she must consult a doctor. This whole day, the policemen had been moving up and down here in Betram Street, but, I had a hope that they did not know me, but I was wrong. Then there was a car facing our house. It was parked in Matitiba, facing our house. My aunt asked that I should not accompany her because there were policemen, but I refused. Then, as soon as I got to Betrom, I saw some cars that were speeding towards me and the policemen jumped out and they were facing there fire arms towards me. They searched my whole body, they searched me thoroughly, they took a walkie talkie and they asked what was me name, and I told them my name was Mongezi, and I could see that they were communicating. UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 5 V CALU MS MAYA: Did you know these people who had arrested you? MR CALU: No, I did not know them. They took me to the house where I came from and they again searched the house. They did not tell me what they were looking for. Then, this Black man said to me, these men are looking for a firearm. MS MAYA: Did they get the firearm? MR CALU: No, they did not get any firearm from me. They took me to Louis Le Grange. MS MAYA: What did they do to you there, did they interrogate you there? MR CALU: No, they said, yes, this is the one. This is the one we are looking for. MS MAYA: Who said that? MR CALU: Jagter said this. That is a Uitenhage detective who is now a Captain in Le Grange. So, I spent the night there. The following morning, I was called at about 6 o'clock in the morning and I went up to the seventh floor where they were seated in a round table and they asked whether I had a firearm, they asked this question repeatedly and I told them that I did not have one. Then, they took out a parcel and which had some soil inside and they asked me, do you know anything about this? I looked at it, and I could see that it was mine, and then I was scared. MS MAYA: Did you know this parcel that was shown to you? MR CALU: Yes, I knew that it was mine, but to them, I denied that it belonged to me. I then identified this parcel. Then, they opened this parcel. It had some bullets for a 9mm fire arm, there were 45 of these bullets. Then they opened another plastic, there was a magazine with 15 UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 6 V CALU bullets and a magazine and they asked, where is the main part of this cassette, then I said to them, I know nothing about this thing. They asked about the bullets of the 9mm, I said I knew nothing about it. Then they said Lulamile, your sister said that these belonged to you, and I denied it. They kept on interrogating me, trying to get the truth and then one Coloured person, who's name was Campbell, because I could understand them as they were speaking Afrikaans, that I heard that his name was Campbell, then he again asked me, do you know anything about the bee's, and then I said that I know the bee's. But I said to him that I know nothing about bee's. Then he made me sit down, I want to demonstrate how he made me sit down. This is how I sat, and there was a stick just layed here on my hands. I had to hold the stick. They call this action of sitting the helicopter, so they would cover me with plastic and tie it very tight, so as to suffocate me. They again used the thing a doctor uses when he is trying to determine your blood pressure and they tightened it and I was hanging in one of the tables, and they would do this for five minutes, then relax and then go back once more and all this time, they were asking me who things these were. So, they ultimately said that these things belonged to me, then they asked with whom was I staying, then I said I was staying with Aubrey and Tini, because if they wanted to go there, they were not going to find them. Then they kept on torturing me for about 10 days, following the same procedures as that on the third day. I appeared in court and there was an allegation that I owned all these things, that was in May. UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 7 V CALU Then, from the court, I was locked in, in Algoa Park and I was there for three days, and then transferred to La Grange. For this whole month, people at home did not know anything about my whereabouts. Then, on the 5th, I saw someone in court and sent a message to my family that I was in Le Grange. And then Vanessa came on the 5th, saying that it is long that they had been looking for me. Then, Vanessa said she was late and promised to come back the following day and she came and already was from upstairs and Vanessa said, you are being charged in this way, and she told me what I was being accused of, And I had to appear therefore on the 24 June, and my advocate was Mr Pillay, and Mr Pillay got information from Campbell that a certain Mr X had informed them with information. The following day, they took my sister and made her to agree that I was responsible for all this and they belonged to me and this case was postponed and anyway, I was found not guilty. MS MAYA: Now, did you ultimately admit, do you ultimately know who brought this parcel to the police? MR CALU: Even now, I am still wondering about who brought this, because when we were hiding these things, there were three of us, it was me, Abrey and Kiki. So I was worried when this parcel landed in the wrong hands, landed in the hands of the people who were not there. MS MAYA: Where are they now? Did you ask them about this parcel? MR CALU: What about it? MS MAYA: That who actually took it to the police. MR CALU: People say, I noticed this. Jagter said that all comrades are working for us and he said to me, in 1986, I UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 8 V CALU once planned to get to Durban, and I denied because I had not gone there. We had planned to go there, but our plans got aborted. So, I did not follow the comrades, but I was very happy that this person was found and I was not the informer. All I knew was that this Mr X was one of my friends. MS MAYA: Then, how has this torture affected your health? MR CALU: When the police tortured me, they affected my health. Some other times I feel that my body becomes painful even if it is in the morning. They did not only electrocute me, but the kicked me as well, but what mostly effected me was the electric shock that I was subjected to and it caused a lot of damage. MS MAYA: What is your request to this Commission? MR CALU: I didn't mention, here when they were writing this statement, that I would like this Commission to take note of this, that this was not done to me because I was Ngahle, but they were trying to damage the idea that we as Black could think we could liberate this country. So all this happened under the conditions of discouraging the various structures and they various organisations that were fighting for freedom of this country, all this was not directed to me but it just happened that I got affected. It was politically motivated. Then, I am asking this Commission, I know that there isn't much that it can do, but I recognise it as it was appointed by the government, perhaps it has the power that we as all the victims here in South Africa, could especially those who got disabled during this struggle, because looking at the other countries, I find that incidents of this nature, were happening, but their governments did attend to UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 9 V CALU their victims, and those people got some compensation because these people did give their lives in this battle for the people. If perhaps I had not joined the struggle, perhaps my mother would still be alive, she died because I was arrested, repeatedly, and this greatly affected her life. MS MAYA: Could I ask you that you should allow me to help you so that we could conclude. Your request is that there should be projects for job creations, those are the people who could not further their education because of the tortures of that time, and even those who are still at school should be assisted to go back to school and even those who are disabled, should be assisted through, because they definitely had some goals. So if they were to be assisted to achieve their ambitions, you would feel very comfortable? MR CALU: Yes, I did say so. Thank you. MS MAYA: Thank you.