TRC Final Report

Volume 4

Chapter 9

Subsection 6

■ EVIDENCE AND EMERGING THEMES

47 Statements and testimony provided surprisingly little evidence of violations against children under the age of twelve. It is unlikely that this was a result of under-reporting, as violations perpetrated against the very young have tended to invoke the strongest condemnation. By far the largest category of victims to report to the Commission fell into the thirteen to twenty-four age bracket (see figures 1-4). For this reason, some adaptations to the accepted definition of children and youth were made for the purposes of this report. Children between the ages of thirteen and eighteen experienced violations equivalent to their nineteen to twenty-four year old counterparts, and it was considered that a more appropriate unit of analysis could be achieved by combining these age categories to include young people between thirteen and twenty-four years of age. This reflects, first, the fact that this age group was a clear target for gross human rights violations in South Africa and, second, the fact that those who were more likely to be victims of random violence were those who found themselves in exposed situations. Younger children were victims of random violence but were less likely to attend marches or demonstrations, which is where the largest number of random violations occurred.

48 Figures 1-4 reflect evidence gathered by the Commission with respect to the types of violations investigated. They do not reflect a universal experience of violations; only those that were reported to the Commission. Many South Africans who experienced human rights violations did not come to the Commission and are therefore not represented. Many parents testified on behalf of their children. Significant, too, was the fact that many women and girls chose not to testify about violations they themselves had experienced. They spoke instead of the violations committed against others, notably their fathers, sons and brothers. The figures must, therefore, be read within the framework of the Commission’s experience rather than analysed as definitive figures of all violations experienced in South Africa from 1960 - 1994.

Killings of children and youth reported to the Commission

49 Figure 1 represents the number of killings reported to the Commission. The left side reflects female victims and the right side male victims. Based on the graph, few children under the age of twelve were killed. The majority of victims of killings reported to the Commission were young men between the ages of 13-24. This can be seen as a reflection of the perceived threat posed by young males to the state, but is linked with other ‘gendered’ issues about women and their willingness to testify about their own abuses.¹⁰

50 At the Mmabatho hearing, Ms Mary Dikeledi Moreti told the Commission about the day her child was killed. Early in the morning of 28 November 1985, her house was attacked and destroyed by the police, who suspected the family of harbouring ‘terrorists’. “Only the toilet was still standing. There was literally nothing in that yard, only the toilet.” Her small child was caught in the crossfire: “there were small children in the house, innocent children, like Ronnie who died at the age of five.”

51 Ms Joyce Mthimkulu told the story of her son, Siphiwe Mthimkulu, at the Commission’s hearings in Port Elizabeth in June 1996. The case of Siphiwe Mthimkulu details the tragic layers of abuse that were endured by many activists. Siphiwe was a determined political activist in the Eastern Cape from the age of seventeen. His activities centred on his objection to Bantu Education. His participation in COSAS brought upon him the wrath of the regime. He was detained numerous times and subjected to severe forms of torture. He was shot in the arm and faced constant police harassment. To protect his family from harassment, he was continually on the run and, when he did return home, he lived in a dog kennel.

52 In 1981, after his release from yet another arrest, his health deteriorated rapidly and he was diagnosed as having been poisoned with thallium. His body swelled, his hair fell out, he could not urinate and he was confined to a wheel chair. Despite the poisoning, he fought to recover and began slowly regaining his health. Throughout his convalescence, Siphiwe continued with his political activities and filed a claim for damages against the police in connection with his poisoning. In 1982, he left his home for a check up at the Livingstone Hospital. He never arrived and it was later revealed that the security forces had killed him.

53 Mr Lulu Johnson, testifying at the hearing on the death of Siphiwe Mthimkulu, described the reality of death many young political activists faced. He referred to the case of Mr Xolani Wonci who was shot by the police. He mentioned the killing of Mr Lungile Tabalaza who ‘fell’ to his death from the fourth floor of the SANLAM building. He spoke of Mr Xolile Maneli who was reported by the police to have committed suicide whilst in custody. Many other killings of children and youth were reported. Some were killed by the security forces; others were killed in random shootings and in intra-community conflicts in the latter part of the mandate period.