hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-06-26 WORCESTER 3 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56162&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/worcest/ct00236.htm CASE NO: CT/00236 VICTIM: NYEMBEZI MAKHUBALO VIOLATION: TORTURE/DETENTION TESTIMONY FROM: NYEMBEZI MAKHUBALO MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Good morning Mr Makhubalo, could you first take the oath? Doctor Wendy Orr will be the facilitator. DR ORR Good morning Mr Makhubalo, we are very honoured to have one of the veterans of the struggle with us here today, thank you very much for coming. Would you stand to take the oath please. NYEMBEZI MAKHUBALO Duly sworn states DR ORR MS BURTON Good morning again Mr Makhubalo, I want to welcome you here today and remind the members of the public of the events of March 1960. Are you able to hear all right on the headsets. MR MAKHUBALO Yes. MS BURTON Good - in March 1960 Worcester was very active in the campaign for the burning of the passes. At the time people outside of Worcester were not really very much aware of this, because it was not widely reported in the newspapers around the country. But it was clear that the residents of Worcester were really angry about the Sharpeville and Langa events and they were very active in the events that were organised following the Sharpeville massacre and the burning of passes campaign which was led by Chief Lutuli. And its in that context that Mr Makhubalo has come to tell us of his experiences at that time. I think when the history of South Africa is told that resistance to racial discrimination and racial separation will be a very important part of our countries history. MR MAKHUBALO What happened then was that the police arrived, they took us out and put us in the van from there we were put in the cell. We were taken one by one to a different place and asked what we thought we were doing. We said we were not trying to do anything bad, the only thing we were trying to do was to show that we were not approving of the dom pass and the other oppressive laws that operated at the time. We were then severely persecuted and then left alone again and then it would start again. It was very, very bad at that time in the townships. There was burning and all sorts of things going on at that time. One or two or three days afterwards I was here in Worcester once more and we were again under the extreme persecution of being chased from our houses. After this they never actually caught us again but the thing that they did was this, I lost my work because we were against the passes and we were trying to change the situation which made us carry passes, the place where I worked it was clear that for this reason I would not be employed there and that my work would end. So there I sat without a job and I also had to raise my children in this difficult situation. Things went on in this fashion but they never found us again, they were not able to catch us again. All of us have been affected in our bodies because of this terribly torture that we received at their hands thus far. MS BURTON MR MAKHUBALO MS BURTON You mention in your written statement that you still have problems with your ears as a result of that. MR MAKHUBALO I still have problems with my ears and doctors are my witnesses to this fact. At one point they wished to operate on me but it was necessary for my ear to be dry before they could do this operation, the water was still coming out of my ears. I went to Groote Schuur three times to consult doctors there. Once it became clear that my ear was dry, my family did not give permission for this operation because they thought that perhaps this operation would not succeed and I would be endangered. At this point I cannot hear with this ear. MS BURTON MR MAKHUBALO As we knew that we were completely against the passes and we knew that our action was so unacceptable to them that we could be killed if we were caught by them but we thought, let them kill us if they want to kill us because the situation that we are in is intolerable. The way that we lived was so terrible that we were willing to take these risks to get rid of the laws the were oppressing us. MS BURTON And then after a while when you lost your job, were you then later able to find work again? MR MAKHUBALO I did find work later and also when they started issuing new reference books. MS BURTON And now you are a pensioner you receive a pension? MR MAKHUBALO MS BURTON MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Thank you very much father, we thank you very much for your evidence. I just want to ask one question, did you come from Worcester? Where did you come from? MR MAKHUBALO I came from Herschel and I came to find work here in this area. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA I thank you very much and I thank you very much for the way that you have reported to us the way in which you were treated. That terrible time, that dark time in 1960 where so many people do not know these days what happened, especially the young people. They have forgotten the history of what happened in those days what people like yourselves were up against. We are therefore very grateful that someone like yourself has come forward to tell us what happened. Your particular story that you have told us we will be giving over to this Committee of Reparation and we will be returning to you when we have some idea of what we can do to assist you, thank you very much.