hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-06-26 WORCESTER 3 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56158&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/worcest/closing.htm CLOSING STATEMENT MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA I am really very humbled by some of the stories that have been shared here this morning, older men who are much older than many of us in this room. Parents, husbands, sons, the humiliation that they all suffered. We grateful that we have been taken back to that period. Ms Joseph has just recently shared with us the senseless death of her son, and the inexplicable way in which he died and only to be told I am sorry Ms Joseph, sorry is such an inadequate term and for somebody to say I am sorry, without any explanation to the killing, even the sense in which we are told that stones were thrown - these people threw stones, how could we ever use live ammunition when people are just throwing stones - what if they are throwing stones - is their sufficient reason for them to be shot at with live ammunition - never mind the fact that the consequences were death? I think it is particularly important for us to remember how courageous woman of this area has been as well. In spite of the fact that they were also subjected to a particular kind of humiliation for women to be abused and for them to have their womanhood thrown about or reduced to an unimaginable level - is something which many of us would never fully comprehend and would never fully understand what it means for those woman to have been reduced to the level in which they were pulled down by the Security Police and all the police who were torturing them. Theirs was a multiple kind of suffering, suffering the torture as in the physical torture but also suffering what Patti earlier on, Patti Esterhuizen referred to as an inner pain - these were very special people, they were very special woman. I think also it was important for us to relate to their kind of leadership that came out of this little Boland which is suppose to be the back of beyond. We are extremely touched by it and we are humbled and we share the pain that all of you have suffered. There are special thanks that we are going to make, I have been given a list here to say thank you to specific people. Firstly the designated statement takers who assisted us in making this weeks events possible. We are truly grateful to people from Zwelethemba, in Worcester, people from Montagu, people from Nqubela and a special thanks to Elizabeth Roma, Peter Swanepoel and Yvonne Siligem. We also wish to thank the Trauma Centre in Ashton/Zolani the Masekule Centre and Die Langeberg Gemeenskapsdiens for their commitment and assistance. We also thank the community briefers, the people who have assisted the witnesses from the time they started to make their commitments to share with us their pain. The community briefers are important because they are the ones who are their with the people, the witnesses, at base so to speak. They will be there to constantly check on them to see how things are throughout the hearings, they have been there to check on them constantly and immediately after they had given their statement, we really thank them - Clive Ceasar, Luyanda Mapekula, Sallvon Fransman and Mirriam Moleleki. We also wish to thank the Municipalities of Worcester, Nqubela, Robertson for their welcoming attitude and some of those who have been attending these hearings as well. We are really grateful to you for supporting the process that we are involved in. We wish to thank especially Mr Market and Ms De Vos. We also thank Freddie Fourie who rendered his assistance, we also thank Father Wyngaardt of Montagu, Patti Esterhuizen and [indistinct] Now all these people were themselves witnesses at this hearings, but they were very generous in containing the feelings of their compatriots during the hearings, people who had difficulties at certain times. It is amazing that in spite of your own suffering you can be generous with yourselves and offer that kind of special assistance, we really thank you. We also thank the First Aid Nurses, Shelly [indistinct] - Tillie [indistinct] from Zwelethemba for volunteering their assistance and being here to be present whenever they need arises, we thank you Shelly and Tillie for generously offering your services and being present with us throughout the hearings. Jurgen and his team for providing the sounds but also for going beyond the call of duty - many of us has experienced him as somebody who as been constantly available, not only in relation to the sound equipment here but when we needed extra assistance with other things, he was available to assist us. We thank him for being the kind of person he is and for being completely a part of this team, we really grateful to him. There is a special request for us to thank the caterers - thank you very much for ensuring that our witnesses are kept fed - well fed and thank you that you have been able to maintain our energy levels. Thank you very much. Could we stand as the witnesses leave the room please.