DR RANDERA: Chairperson, before we go on I would just like to welcome a number of people who are present here today. Councillor Jovane - would you please stand - welcome - from Stilfontein; Councillor Moleme from Klerksdorp, good morning and welcome to you; Mr Nick Mapele from the South African Communist Party; also Mr Z Kholweni, also from the Communist Party; Councillor Seboesengweng, good morning; Councillor Vubongo; Dizzi Sinde - the ANC Women's League.
Mrs Matete, good morning, welcome. You have come a long way this morning, you have come all the way from Leeudoringstad, just like the people before you, who came all the way from Makwassie or Lebaleng, which is just outside Makwassie. Prof Piet Meiring is going to be helping you with your statement. Before I hand over to him can you first of all introduce the young man who is with you this morning?
MRS MATETE: The one who is sitting beside me is my last born, he is Lister Matete.
DR RANDERA: Welcome to you too. Mrs Matete, will you please stand to take the oath.
MERRIAM M MATETE: (Duly sworn, states).
DR RANDERA: Thank you, Mrs Matete. Will you please sit down. Prof Meiring?
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PROF MEIRING: Mrs Matete, welcome from me too. I do hope you find this a good experience, telling us the story of you and of your husband. Before I ask you to tell about your husband and I just want to have our records corrected. How old are you? That information is not in the record, when were you born?
MRS MATETE: I was born in 1929 on the 6th of May.
PROF MEIRING: And have you been living in Leeudoringstad all your life?
MRS MATETE: I was born in Schweizer-Reneke and I was married to a policeman and we moved to Makwassie and from Makwassie we moved to Leeudoringstad. We moved to Leeudoringstad in 1957.
PROF MEIRING: How many children do you have?
MRS MATETE: I have ten children, five daughters and five boys.
PROF MEIRING: Good planning. (Laughter).
Just a last question. You are going to tell us about your husband, what work did he do? Was he a policeman?
MRS MATETE: My husband was a policeman in 1957 and we moved to Makwassie, he was still a policeman. The last transfer was to Leeudoring, where he met his fate and he was already discharged from the police services, he was discharged in 1960.
PROF MEIRING: Thank you very much. And now please tell us what happened in Leeudoringstad with yourself and also with your husband.
MRS MATETE: The problems started, he became the mayor after he was discharged. There was a crime that the rent is still paid. And he was against this money that was paid. He said no, other places are not paying this money anymore, and he
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said why do we have to pay this money here at Leeudoringstad. He was a very active member of the ANC Civic. Every Saturday at three o'clock we would come together as mothers and fathers and he was our adviser. He would tell us not to do anything that was against the law. He was the adviser.
One day as he was our adviser in our meetings, there were a few Coloureds who were protesting, asking what meetings do we hold, and we sent two of the CIDs, the other one said he was from Klerksdorp and the other one was Mamogoba. They arrived. They greeted us and we welcomed them and they took their seats. They asked my husband as to what he was doing int he civic, and he explained to him his role. They said please take one of your secretaries to bring us your minutes, we want to read them. This woman who was our secretary was Queen. They went to Queen and she brought the book with her, and the CIDs took the book. They perused through the minutes and they realised that it was not something that is not against the law. They greeted us good-bye. They said maybe when we come the second time around, it is not going to be in this way. They left.
My husband was the adviser of the Civic in the ANC. He was a very sympathetic person towards those people who were being manhandled.
PROF MEIRING: You say in your statement that during this time many residents were being forced out of the location to an open area, now called Mandela. Were those people who lived within the township and forced to squat outside the township?
MRS MATETE: I think the statement was not correctly written. But the people who were squatters in the yards,
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were being removed. The youth was saying they should vacate the yards and they should go and reside at the squatter camp called Mandela. It was on the morning of that day.
PROF MEIRING: That day, both you and your husband were assaulted by the police.
MRS MATETE: Myself and my husband and this one, we were assaulted by the police, because when they got into the house, they were dragging in two Hippos and Mauser cars. They used the back door, they didn't use the front door. They said on their arrival who is the owner of this house. The ones who were outside they said no, the owner of the house is inside. When he got out, they said are you the owner. He said yes. Just that answer. They started assaulting him. They said you are inciting a bad spirit among the people, and he fell on his back. That is where they assaulted him and they were tramping on him. Among them I could see a person, it is Kutumela whom I know very well and De Kock who was at Stilfontein.
PROF MEIRING: Were you yourself also assaulted that day?
MRS MATETE: I was also assaulted. But it wasn't on the same day. But on the day, the other day when I was assaulted, remember they took my husband with this boy to Digani and after a few days, they came and that is where Kutumela - it was very early in the morning. He knocked at the door and he said get out of the house, you think you are clever. He was just pulling me. We were using the front door and it was a rainy night the previous night. I was wearing a very light dress. He was grabbing me by my throat painfully and when he let loose of me I was very dizzy. I was taken without any clothes, they brought clothes when I was in their car.
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PROF MEIRING: To the police office or to prison afterwards?
MRS MATETE: They drove with me and they brought me to Klerksdorp CID offices.
PROF MEIRING: (Speaker's mike not on) ... to your house.
MRS MATETE: I was arrested with other boys and they were assaulted also. I requested one of the Black CIDs to call Mr De Kock. He said to me De Kock is not going to listen to your story, and I said please, just call him, and De Kock came. I said to him I understand that we are leaving for Wolmaransstad, can't you let me go and get clean clothes, because this is not enough for me. And he said go and get the red Kombi and I was glad because I realised that I actually saved these three Coloured boys that were assaulted. We were all taken in that Kombi to Leeudoring, that is where we slept in the cell.
PROF MEIRING: For how long did you stay in the cells?
MRS MATETE: The same day we were - we spent just one night. I think my husband spoke to Mr Motala who was a lawyer, because we were released and a Black lawyer came and we went with him to Wolmaransstad. Our case was just dropped.
PROF MEIRING: So there was no finding in your case. I want to add just one question. Your husband is now departed, he has died. When did your husband die?
MRS MATETE: He passed away in April 1994. After the assault he was crying of pain every time at the back and with kidneys it seemed he had a problem. He was blaming these people who assaulted him actually. He had been complaining until the last day.
PROF MEIRING: (Speaker's mike not on) ... the assault.
MRS MATETE: Yes, it affected me because my husband was the breadwinner and he was actually educating his ten children.
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And this affected us a lot really.
PROF MEIRING: Your health was not affected, you don't have back ache or any other thing that came from the assaults?
MRS MATETE: I was assaulted and such a young hefty man was really grabbing me with my throat. You know, as I grew up, I had mumps and they are still troubling me up till today.
PROF MEIRING: Mrs Matete, thank you so much. You have told us the story of yourself and of your husband, but I think that my colleagues at the table would like to add a few questions of their own. Thank you from my side.
DR RANDERA: Mrs Matete, from my calculation you were 61 years old at the time when this happened. How old was your husband?
MRS MATETE: He was 68 years old, he was born in 1922.
DR RANDERA: Thank you.
CHAIRPERSON: Mamma, can you tell me the lawyer that helped you, was that Ichbal or Ahmad Motala?
MRS MATETE: I do not know their initials, but I know he was a Mr Motala and the doctor who was helping my husband was also a Dr Motala.
CHAIRPERSON: Mamma, was it normal in the - or usual - in the townships that when they picked you up they would pick old people up with young comrades, and that they would force them to undress or they would be embarrassed in front of younger people?
MRS MATETE: It was not a common practice. Their problem was that my husband was inciting the youth this bad spirit and they were saying he was making the people to be against the Coloured people.
CHAIRPERSON: How long after the assault did your husband die?
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MRS MATETE: He was assaulted in that year when the shacks were removed to Mandela Park and three years thereafter in 1994 he passed away, but in-between he was a sickly person, he couldn't do anything for himself.
CHAIRPERSON: Mamma, after the assault, did you instruct any lawyers to bring a claim against the police for what they did to you?
MRS MATETE: No, we didn't make any claim, because I was even scared of White people, I wouldn't even go close to them.
CHAIRPERSON: Order, please! Thank you, Mamma. Dr Randera has a question.
DR RANDERA: Mrs Matete, I just want to again understand the events of those few days. Everything happened in Leeudoringstad. Is that right? Initially.
MRS MATETE: That's correct, Sir.
DR RANDERA: And then firstly your husband and your son were taken to Digane outside Klerksdorp.
MRS MATETE: That is correct.
DR RANDERA: And then a few days later you were also taken to Klerksdorp?
MRS MATETE: I was also taken to Klerksdorp, that is correct.
DR RANDERA: Now was that a normal thing to happen, did they not have a police station in Leeudoringstad? Why were police coming all the way from Klerksdorp to arrest you?
MRS MATETE: There were police nearby, but at Leeudoring there were no CIDs. The Hippos were also driven by policemen whom I do not know.
DR RANDERA: Thank you.
CHAIRPERSON: Mamma, thank you for sharing that story with
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us. We recognise that you must have suffered. You were not at a young age when this assault was done to you and your husband and it is humiliating at that age, as well as quite frightening, I think that it should have happened, and that it should have happened by those people who should have protected you. We share your pain and we hope that in the telling of your story to us, that you will have felt some kind of release. You have named the people whom you recognised and who were part of this and we thank you for sharing that information with us. We will pass it on to our investigation unit.
MRS MATETE: I also thank you. I want to thank the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that has offered us an opportunity to open our hearts. These things have been in my heart for quite some time, and you know I wouldn't go to sleep at all, and I think I have taken everything out of my heart and God will help me to ease the pain that was within me. I am glad that you are here. We can see that we are not on our own, you are with us.
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mamma, for sharing that.
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