hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-10-15 WINELANDS 2 CT/00260 SIKOWUKOWU MALUNDA SIKOWUKOWU MALUNDA SEVERE TORTURE & DETENTION https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56121&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/wineland/ct00260.htm MS GOBODO Thank you very much, could we please proceed. We will ask the briefers to prepare for Sikowukowu Malunda. DR ORR Umteto can you help Mr Malunda to actually put the earphones on. Mr Malunda can you hear me through the earphones? MR MALUNDA [indistinct] DR ORR I want to say welcome to you and to your wife who is sitting next to you who has come with you today. Please would you stand to take the oath. SIKOWUKOWU MALUNDA Duly sworn states DR ORR [indistinct] now going to ask Adv Denzil Potgieter to help you to tell your story. ADV POTGIETER Thank you Wendy, good morning Mr Malunda, welcome. Your testimony relates to a personal experience that you had during the State of Emergency in 1986 when you were detained - arrested and detained on the 24th of June in that year, is that correct? MR MALUNDA ADV POTGIETER Thank you, would you like to tell us what happened to you after your arrest up to the time when you eventually released. MR MALUNDA Then the police came with my child who was telling them where I was. They came and took me and they released the child. They put me in the "Mellow Yellow" - the police Casper. It was me and Benn Konene who were taken by the police. When I was inside there were other policemen inside this police Casper. There was a man by the name of Randindi which was a black man - the only black man among the white police. There was a dog - a bid dog, I was bitten up in that "Mellow Yellow" - in that police Casper by this man by the name of Randindi. He was still beating me - he was doing everything. There was a Sergeant by the name of Gana - a black Sergeant. Sergeant Gana told Randindi to stop beating me. Then he left me alone, still sitting in this police van - it was about 20 minutes - me and Benn Konene. We went to town with this van where the other policemen were there. I was taken to - to the second floor. I was injured in the head, I was full of blood all over the body. They were assaulting me - they assaulted me for the whole night. They would leave me and go the Benn Konene to assault him. Were clothes - our clothes were in [indistinct] . This took place for the whole night. Swanepoel, Gasi and Randindi were doing what ever they like. They were assaulting me, when they realized that this snake was not harmful they took it back and they - they brought me a dog. They locked me up with that dog - the jacket that I was wearing was new. By being a member of UDF can you see now the benefits of being a member. Why did you join the UDF in the first place? I was taken out from C Court - I was taken to the Regional Court. I was released and I was not told whether I was guilty or not after four months. That was on the 25th of September, meaning I spent four months in that Court. I went out, I made some effort to try and clear my name. I went to Stellenbosch to see an attorney, I told him about my case and I was not guilty though I was assaulted and now I - I was claiming because I spent time in jail for nothing. They refused to go to court instead they sent some amount - some money about R10,000-00 whereas our decision with my attorney - I was going to claim 90,000 to clear my name. They gave me this 10,000 and that was the end of my case. ADV POTGIETER Can I just clarify a few of the issues here, when you were arrested and detained in 1986 you were - you referred to your daughter so you were married at that stage and you had a family, is that correct? MR MALUNDA Yes, I was married, I had children. ADV POTGIETER And how old were you them? MR MALUNDA I was 48 years old. ADV POTGIETER And now were you involved in - in politics, were you involved in the political structures which existed at that stage? MR MALUNDA Yes, I was involved in politics. ADV POTGIETER And in which structures were you involved? MR MALUNDA I was a member of the UDF. ADV POTGIETER Were you an active member? MR MALUNDA Yes, I was representing the block that I was staying in, I was a committee member. I was a committee member of a plan - a plan Mandela. ADV POTGIETER Now, when these police arrested you what were they questioning you about, what information did they want to get from you? MR MALUNDA They wanted to know whether I - did I have any information about UDF by the time. I denied anything - I denied anything concerning UDF at the time. ADV POTGIETER And eventually it appears as if they charged you for attempted murder on this Nodobeco Konquso but nothing came of that case - it seemed as if you were - you were never convicted - you won that case? MR MALUNDA ADV POTGIETER The police who arrested you, were they from the Security Branch - Security Police? MR MALUNDA Mr Swanepoel and Gasi were investigators who were in charge of that State of Emergency at the time. ADV POTGIETER MR MALUNDA Victor was there - he was present. ADV POTGIETER of information. Now ...[intervention] MR MALUNDA Yes, I once saw him this year. ADV POTGIETER It is - it is quite an amazing experience that you have - that you have related to us. This snake that the - these police produced and that they wrapped around your body and around your neck would you like to describe it to us - what did it look like? MR MALUNDA This snake was the kind of snake which looked harmful but maybe they tamed the snake that is why maybe it was not dangerous to me because I could see that it was one of the dangerous snakes. Maybe it was tamed. ADV POTGIETER What did it look like? MR MALUNDA It was longer - it was about 2 m long - it was thicker - it was thicker this size - it was thicker. ADV POTGIETER MR MALUNDA It was bad - I was not happy at all. I was not expecting this - I was not expecting, among al the other things I was not expecting a snake especially from police. Since after that my health deteriorated - I took time to recover - I took time to be in my own condition. ADV POTGIETER Have you recovered fully from - from all of this. The experience, the injuries and so on? MR MALUNDA After all that I recovered and I felt better because I went back to work - I was working since then but at leased I felt better. I recovered meaning that I - I recovered and I went back to my normal condition. ADV POTGIETER MR MALUNDA That dog was biting me - he was biting on my thighs, I had some wounds - I had some wounds on my thighs. They wanted me to cry, they had just playing with me - the police were playing with me. ADV POTGIETER [indistinct] biting you, were you still naked? MR MALUNDA Yes, I was still naked. ADV POTGIETER When you were detained with Mr Benn Konene and appears as if Mr Konene was also assaulted. Now - now where is Mr Konene at this stage? MR MALUNDA ADV POTGIETER MR MALUNDA The only help that I got from this doctor was not the one that I was satisfied with because it was a white doctor and he was showing me that he was a racist and it was a doctor - a white doctor who used to hate UDF. ADV POTGIETER And just finally Mr Malunda you said that you were in custody - Police custody from the time that you were arrested in June until the 25th of September of that same year, 1986. Were you denied bail or what happened to you? MR MALUNDA I - I asked for bail, they refused me - they said that - there was money that my friends could bail me but they refused. ADV POTGIETER And why did they say why should you not get bail? MR MALUNDA ADV POTGIETER And this charge - the so-called charge that they had against you, just nothing came of it eventually? MR MALUNDA They just released me, there was nothing else after that. ADV POTGIETER MR MALUNDA It was very painful because I was always thinking about my children because by that time there was nobody who was buying food for them. There was no money to buy food. Secondly there was no way of paying my accounts, there was no way at all of paying my accounts. I felt very bad because instead of going forward I was going backwards. ADV POTGIETER One must assume that when you were eventually released on the 25th of September it must have been very difficult to get going again? MR MALUNDA Yes, I was working very hard to pay my accounts, it was very difficult - it was very difficult. I was in a very difficult situation. ADV POTGIETER I thank you very much Mr Malunda, thank you Chairperson. MS GOBODO Thank you Denzil, anyone, Brenda? MS WILDSCHUT Mr Malunda we apart from the other information that Adv Potgieter gave you with regard to the Investigation Report we would like to also just point out that according to your investigators all the police records at the police station here were destroyed up to 1990. So all the information with regard to your arrest and you interrogation is not available to us because the records are destroyed. MS GOBODO We - many times we are moved into associating the suffering and pain that witnesses have gone through with heroism but that I our interpretation of what people go through. [indistinct] heroism and yet there were many moments of venerability that people go through and we loose sight of that venerability. This is why that sometimes when people come up here they are moved to tears because remembering the pain and suffering brings back the memory of the humiliation, degradation and the loss of dignity that they had to go through. We thank you very much, we promise that we are going to try and make - and do something about all the files that are lost right now. We are going to try and get a clear picture of what happened, thank you very much. We would like to propose that we [indistinct] REV XUNDU And he therefore could not go back to the college because he had exsorceted his finances. This is what he was trying to say - at the time he was asking that this Truth Commission should give some compensation to him after investigating about this matter. And make some recommendation to the State President about his contribution so we thank him for that. MS GOBODO [indistinct] your statement and for misrepresenting your intentions. I therefore also [indistinct] now on stage please with the briefer, thank you.