hrvtrans CLOSING STATEMENT BY PUMLA GOBODO MADIKIZELA 1996-10-16 WINELANDS 3 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56117&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/wineland/closing.htm MS GOBODO We have now come to the end of the Paarl Hearings. It is with a very deep sense of sadness to be leaving this town. We came very much a part of it. But I would just like to briefly - I would like to just briefly thank the people that came forward and shared their stories with us. It is terrible to hear that people were treated so badly. It is terrible to think that your mother or your father could be mishandled by just young men. One young man said here yesterday he is the son of the lady who we started with today. This man was talking about his brother who died in the army. This young man says he was taken to the border - from the border to a township in Crossroads. When this was told to me, I realize that all this stories that we heard about the violence in 1980, that these were youngsters that were chased by police for no apparent reason - together with soldiers. It is clear then that the apartheid regime is a deceptive one. They are told that - the soldiers and the police of the day are told that they should kill people for deceptive reasons. They also believed those reasons that were given to them. He says that as I reflect and I look at the damage I am absolutely shocked that what do our elders - why did our elders - do such evil and - and deceive us like this. He says that he is sorry even though he did not kill anyone, but to be part of such groups makes him question himself a lot. What was the Government trying to achieve with all this evil? This all goes to show that the previous Government had no respect for peoples lives. These are very deep lessons that we have learnt. Especially for those people who are carrying scars not only physical scars but psychological scars of one kind or another. There are a lot of people I will not be able to give you the number, but to think that such - so many young people died. When I think of Andile Ndelisa and Vuyo who were here yesterday - who wanted to share of their pain, I thought to myself such young children who have lost their lives. Why is this, why does this happen? Why do thirteen-year-olds and sixteen-year-olds just die - just like that. There are a lot of people who have come here whose children died in exile therefore you can never really completely heal because you want to at lease see the corpse. What kind of Government is this that says even at the moment of death you cannot see your child. This is the very Government that says we cannot regress and refer back to old wounds. That we are not going to do. Some people criticize us saying that we are witch hunt . The people who think that the Truth Commission is a witch hunt should look no further than themselves to discover the witches within themselves - the internal witches - that harbour their - their minds. And exercise those witches so that they can then move forward and see the light. Many people have come forward here. Yesterday we heard from the NG Kerk that - they confessed that they had lived - they lived in a lie. They did not know it was a lie. Now, they are in the light, they have taken out the witches within them. What I want to say is that people should in introspect and take out the darkness within them. What I want to say lastly is that people complain. They say that we are a Commission of tears, a climax Commission as some newspapers say, it is inevitable. People will cry if they talk of their pain, but I think their real problem is that a lot of our people do not understand if we talk about these things in an emotionally charged context and of cause our context in this country is highly charged, therefore I think it is logical to expect that we should engage our emotions when we talk about our - our history. And then it is important therefore that when we engage this history, we engage not only our intellect but our empathy as well. I think all those things are important in order that we move forward. Not only for the sake of the work of the Commission but for the sake of the work that will take place among ourselves as citizens of this country. Thank you. VERY DISTURBING NOISE IN BACKGROUND - CANNOT HEAR MS GOBODO AT ALL We grew up in the culture of Ubuntho???. What kind of life will South Africa have if people will detach themselves from the injustices of the country? It is scary that people will refuse to be disputed. I think it is important to be vigilant and be aware of our rights in the present Government. I will thank heartedly a lot of people from Paarl. We they were very co-operative. There are people here who I mentioned: Mr Cussons - head of the police division. Mr Anthony Souls from the municipality. We thank Mr Nick Clause. You might be surprised how we were able to have our cultural display, he helped us. We thank him very much. - [indistinct] exhibition which is still running, it will be running for a month. And among the items that are displayed at the exhibition is a display around the story of Wallace McGregor. Ms McGregor has a suitcase in her possession with - which is at the exhibition, a suitcase that she received after her - her son died. She was never able to destroy this clothing. The exhibition is also about displays with the violence that occurred in Paarl. Marietjie Victor helped us. David Freedman Susan Botha We also which to thank: The Superintendent Marais Captain Carstens Again and his team for providing a security. We thank you Solly for the sound as well. You are probably somewhere around. Thank you for responding to our needs on a [indistinct] VERY DISTURBING NOISE IN BACKGROUND - CANNOT HEAR MS GOBODO AT ALL The Traffic Department - we thank the Traffic Department - and we thank the ambulance units for being available on call for us. Manchuru Java Simpeho Ntitchwa Those two people were very generous with their time and with their energy and ideas. Thank you very much. Elizabeth Cloete who is our Logistics Manager in this team, has asked me to give a special thanks to all the additional staff that our Regional Manager, Ruth Levin, sent to assist her. We thank you very much for making this hearings possible. And finally, on behalf of our team: Dr Wendy Orr Viola Lengner Who is a briefer and who was a very important link with the Stellenbosch University. The statement takers Sixhibo Mduvane Kelvin Osh And finally Fred Erasmus - who is our support services person. We thank you very much for coming here and for gracing this occasion. Thank you so much and we appreciate that you have been able to bear with us all the things that we have had to carry as a team - as members of the Commission and we would like to invite you to share with us at a distance and hold hands with us as we move forward to realize the vision of reconciliation. Very lastly the panel who joined us from the various parts of - from the various regions outside of Cape Town, we really appreciate you being here. Thank you Dumisa Ntsebeza for being here the whole time with us from the beginning of the week. Thank you Piet for not only sitting at the hearings, but for sharing with us all our concerns and for assisting us in reaching out to the community - the larger community in Paarl. Glenn, thank you so much for coming and being with us for the last two days. And thank you so much Denzil for coming and being here. Somehow I feel that you had to be here because you are part of the Human Rights Violations Committee - which is a committee that is responsible for the Truth Commission hearings - but none the less, thank you so much for coming. Thank you. I will give Wendy a opportunity to speak. DR ORR But then to the people from your community: From Paarl From Mbekweni From Stellenbosch And they are: Fred Imquantana and Johan Swanapoel from Stellenbosch. Stick Lundo and Mteto Williams from Mbekweni. Thank you very much to all of you. I also then want to say that although the hearings are over, the Truth Commission is not abandoning this community. We will be coming back in November to hold a follow up - what we call a challenge workshop - in which we will work through with the community. Issues which were raised, problems which have been unearthed and we will try to devise a way forward together. MS GOBODO Could you stand as the witnesses leave.