special Prison Hearings 1997-07-21 THE FORT - JOHNNESBURG 1 MR ANDREW MASONDO https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56358&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/special/prison/masondo.htm CHAIRPERSON In welcoming you here to-day I remind all of us of the need which is shared by children on the one hand and prisoners on the other. Children are perhaps the most vulnerable in our society and therefore are wide open to abuse and neglect and many gross human rights violations take place against children. There are some special names that I would like to mention. Firstly Cathy Cathadra who is the Chairperson of the Ex-Political Prisoners Association, we are delighted that he is free if you like, to be here today. Lala Chiba, Barbara Hogan and of course the Mayor who I have already welcomed. Mr Masondo I would like to welcome you very warmly, we are very glad to see you and we hope that you feel comfortable, a little more comfortable than you did when you were on Robben Island. I also hope that you will find this opportunity of some help as well. Please be seated. MR MASONDO Thank you. DR BORAINE</B> Mr Masondo will you take the oath or the affirmation? MR ANDREW MASONDO (sworn states) MR DLAMINI</B> Good morning Mr Masondo. MR MASONDO Good morning. MR DLAMINI</B> MR MASONDO Firstly I would like to make a point about the prisoners in Robben Island. I happened to be one person who enjoyed both sides of that prison. I was amongst the first ten MK members on Robben Island so most of the MK people who were there were my guests in my Republic. I want to say that whilst we are going to talk about the human rights violations it would be unfair to the men I was with on that Island to portray them as just simple victims who passively accepted human rights violations. I can safely say for most of us who were there it was the continuation of the struggle. I can also say that a great deal of the penal reforms that took place in this country were as a result of the sacrifices of the men who were at Robben Island. I remember when Neville Nfigile ... and I were communicating to them and I said, here we have men sitting and see each other grow. That was the impression you got when you got into that prison. The other thing that I also want to put on record about the prison is the role that the politicians played in that prison. In other words, whether we were PAC or whether we were ANC, we believed that the struggle continues, we believed that we must have an underground organisation in that prison because I was taught by Govern that wherever I am there must be an ANC branch, therefore when I got to the Island I made sure that I gave them the structures of the African National Congress. I was arrested from Fort Hare, I remember I actually was not allowed to be a member of MK by the leadership but I just found myself being a member. Govern had said I should have nothing to do with that organisation but it was difficult not to be part of an organisation that believed that we must do something to change the situation that was killing our people, both psychologically and physically. So in spite of the fact that I was a lecturer in the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics, I happened to also be amongst the first two Blacks to study Applied Mathematics Honours at Wits. I was part of Umkonto weZizwe and at first I was asked to just form units of Umkonto weZizwe by the late Minnie, Umkaba and Keingo but then I realised that you cannot tell people to sacrifice their lives without showing them how to do it. That is how I also became active as a Commander of that region. Robben Island was a place where apartheid like in all prisons, was carried out. Before we talk about the day to day human rights violations of individual prison warders, the mere fact that you were Black your clothing was different as if the weather treated you differently. Your food was different as if you became hungry in a different way. It was not a mistake that the situation in that place was like that. I remember the nicest piece of bread that I ate after two years of not eating bread was when I went for a further charge and my wife bought me brown bread and vienna sausages, I just dealt with the brown bread and I forgot about the sausages for the time being. The food was a problem because you were with comrades, in fact I think it was even more painful for people like Kacy and Lalo who as comrades found that they could actually eat bread. Even the amount of sugar in your porridge when I was still in the main section, was different. The Black got a teaspoon and the others possibly got two teaspoons. The meat was half of that which the others got so it was institutionalized. When we wanted to, we were not allowed to even read the Bible by people who very, very serious about being a Christian state so again we had to battle so that we could read. Fortunately after a time we were allowed to study and again our spirit of improving, we broke all the rights of Colleges, we used lectures of various colleges to teach people even without the permission of the authorities. The actual human rights violations amongst the human rights violations that we had was basically the humiliation. You know you would wake up in the morning, they come to your cell, the main section before I went to join the other people in the civil cells before the new prison was built, whilst we were in the D Group section because that prison was actually an ultra-maximum security prison. There are only two of them, Barbeton and Robben Island. That place was actually regarded as a place for the worst criminals and amongst the worst criminals were ourselves. I think Johnson will remember when they dug a hole for him in the Landbouspan (Agricultural Team), they covered him and when it became a little bit hot, he wanted water so they just pissed in his face and they said look at them, they were very, very, amused because that is how they amused themselves. MR DLAMINI</B> MR MASONDO MR DLAMINI</B> Mr Masondo just a moment. I would now like to hand over to the Chairperson as there might be questions, Mr Chairperson? I know about the time but there might be questions. I want to just to underscore what Mr Masondo said in his conclusion. In his statement the last paragraph says, I wish for a prosperous future for this land. I think those are great words especially coming from somebody who has suffered in this way, thank you. DR BORAINE</B> Mrs Seroke? MRS SEROKE</B> Mr Masondo you say that you joined Umkonto in 1962 and later on you were arrested, why were you arrested, what had you done? MR MASONDO MRS SEROKE</B> Why did you do this, what was your mission and what was your ambition in doing this? MR MASONDO MRS SEROKE</B> Thank you. MR MANTHATA Mr Masondo perhaps this is a follow-up of the question raised by Joyce, did anybody or was anybody killed in the pylons that were blown up? MR MASONDO MR MANTHATA</B> Was this deliberate that they could not distinguish between Polko and MK? MR MASONDO MR MANTHATA</B> And this arose out of the extreme fear they had in terms of the resistance that was carried up by the two organisations? MR MASONDO MR MANTHATA</B> MR MASONDO MR MANTHATA</B> Thank you. DR BORAINE</B> Mr Masondo thank you very much and thank you especially for your enormous generosity of spirit having suffered enormously and constantly working for the good of your country, thank you very much. MR MASONDO Thank you.