| Time | Summary | |
| 25:03 | The Truth Commission’s Committee on Human Rights Violations also had hearings in the Boland this week. It was mostly the tale of two towns, Worcester and Ashton, a tale of conflict, division and terror. Harris Sibeko is our guide. | Full Transcript |
| 25:20 | This is the river that we used to cross at the time of the state of emergency, where the police were having their road blocks. We used to cross this river only because we don’t want to get in touch with the police. This is the only entrance to Zwelethemba. At the four way stop here is always where the vans of the police were standing, searching cars which are coming in and coming out, searching for weapons. We are talking now about the state of emergency, from 1976 till the uplift of the state of emergency. This is the Civic Hall. We used to have our rallies, our funerals, our functions of the struggle in this hall. It’s where we were tear gassed and shooting were taking place in this hall. | Full Transcript and References |
| 26:07 | Today, Harris Sibeko works in the ANC’s regional office in Worcester. // You see these stones around here, we were using these stones as weapons, because you cannot go to a gun with a knobkierie. We were using these stones, throwing these stones to the police and we were hitting the target. // Zwelethemba is still not at peace. Bullet holes remain a quiet reminder of what people had to endure. // This is only to show evidence that that time, it was a crucial time where people were living in a very, very bad condition. In other words, that time from 1976 to ‘78 it was just killing in Zwelethemba, the way the youth was dying like flies. And nobody could stop the police because they were so many police for us, you know. And we only started throwing stones to them, that’s all that we can do. And some of us were detained, and some of us were running out of town and hiding, some of them were going out for exile. | Full Transcript |
| 27:12 | Some preferred to stay behind. And this week they told the Commission of torture, of killings and of the pain that is so hard to forget. // He removed those electric wires from my neck and then they turned me on the other side. He opened my trousers at the back and then they took these electric wires, put them through my anus. They inserted them deeply. This continued for quite a long time. I can cite an example, it looks like a jack hammer. Usually it is used for drilling the walls or to drill the concrete. But if you looked at this one, you could see it had very sharp iron points. And then they took off my trousers. Please apologise me for my expression of these emotions. Then they switched on … also this jack hammer was being used to torture me. At the same time I had this plastic tube which was covered over my face, and even if I was trying to scream nobody could hear me properly. I had a nauseas feeling, it looked as if my intestines were going to come out. I was certain that I ...more | Full Transcript and References |
| 29:20 | He shocked me with this instrument, gave me electric shocks. And he asked me no questions, he just gave me these electric shocks. And then he said to me, yes I’m going to get you, I told you I was going to get you. That was his words. | Full Transcript and References |
| 29:35 | When I say I’m affected psychologically, I’m not a psychiatric patient. But if you can ask any person who was detained under section 29 he will tell you the after effects of that. Anybody who was detained under that section never comes out a normal person again. | Full Transcript and References |
| 29:59 | Miriam Moleleke had similar experiences but she stopped being a victim. // I want to say I’m healing somehow. Ek is gesond. Ek is OK. [I’m healthy. I am OK]. Ek het dit deurgegaan. Ek het gepraat daaroor. Ek het dit gevoel, maar ek het gese ek moet kans gee vir ander mense dat hulle dit moet oorwin. Ek wil nie alleen gesond raak nie. Ek wil dat ander mense ook moet gesond raak. Ek wil aan die einde van die dag ons land in ‘n peace process sien. [I lived through it. I spoke about it. I felt it, but I said. I must give other people a chance to overcome it too. I don’t want to heal alone. I want other people to heal too. At the end of the day I want to see our country in a peace process.] | Full Transcript and References |
| 30:36 | Not far from Worcester is the town of Ashton where most people depend on seasonal work on farms and the canning factories for a living. In the late eighties vigilantes called Amasolomzi took control of Zulani township. It all started when a group of parents decided that their children should be disciplined. // Dit was nie ‘n goeie idea op daai tyd nie. My plan was dat hulle moet terugstaan en los die kinders dat ons kan sien waar gaan die ding van die kinders na toe. Want die kinders het dit die eerste dag duidelik gese. Die ding is niks te doen met ons nie. Hulle baklei vir hulle toekoms. Ons moes maar net teruggebly het en gekyk het wat gaan aan, want ons het mos op die eerste dag gesien die ding gaan slegte nuus uitbring. [It wasn’t a good idea at the time. My plan was to stand back, to leave the youth alone and see where this thing goes. The kids made it clear on the first day that it had nothing to do with us. They are fighting for their future. We should have just stood ...more | Full Transcript and References |
| 31:32 | Mishek came in and Mishek started hitting me with a stick. I was surprised and asked. What is the problem? I asked Mishek, what have I done to you? Why should you assault me in such a terrible manner? He just insulted me and said. Your backside, don’t you know what you’ve done? I was surprised. I was taken roughly and I was grabbed and shoved outside of my residence. I could see Matroos that he was underground. Again I was hit on the head. There was also a policeman, Jonas Calata and they were both here. Hans is a policeman. My wife was crying continuously. You could see that they were armed, these policemen. I couldn’t balance very well and they pushed me out of my room. I was still in my short pants. I was half-naked. Kokoloi Matroos beat me continuously. | Full Transcript and References |
| 32:52 | When I see them, especially Mishek Jonas, I hate him a lot, the reason is what he did to me is unacceptable. And I can also say that he’s telling lies that he was not shooting at me. Because what he did to me is unacceptable and I dislike it. I didn’t like the way the vigilantes were acting against the community. | Full Transcript and References |
| 33:39 | They are still there in our churches, they still share the peace in our congregations with each other. Hulle aanvaar nog steeds nagmaal. [They still accept communion.] They’re still part of our daily lives. They live, apparently as if those incidents never happened. They’re not brutalised and brutally beaten up. I mean they were the extension of white law and order into the black community. And they did it more effectively, because they would know where to seek, they would know who to question, they would know who to interrogate, they would know which alley you would be running down if you were running away from them in a way that a white policeman didn’t know. So, they were more brutal and more effective. So, that kind of history … that obvious examples of your victims there in front of you. One … it was really precarious for one’s own soul sake to see how they understand how they might thought they were on the winning side, you know. Or really they were acting out of the ...more | Full Transcript |
