DR BORAINE: The following witness to come to the witness stand please, Taliya Annie Segage. Would you please come to the stand. And could I say while she's coming to the stand a very warm word of welcome to those who have joined us. As I mentioned in the opening, I would ask you please to be as quiet as possible while the witness tells their story to honour them with your silence and to give them the dignity which they deserve. Thank you very much indeed.
Mrs Segage can you hear me alright? Can
you hear me over the earphones, hear the language, the translation?
MRS SEGAGE: Yes I can hear.
DR BORAINE: Thank you very much. My first word to you is a word of very warm welcome, we thank you very very much for coming to the Commission. We are waiting to hear your story, but before you do so, I'm going to ask my colleague to administer the oath which all witnesses have to take.
ALIYA ANNIE SEGAGE: (sworn states)
DR BORAINE: Mrs Segage, first of all please tell me, am I pronouncing your name properly?
MRS SEGAGE: Yes correctly.
DR BORAINE: Who is sitting next to you? Who have you brought with you today?
MRS SEGAGE: He's actually one of the uncles of my children.
DR BORAINE: Thank you very much, I want to say a word of NELSPRUIT HEARING TRC/MPUMALANGA
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welcome to him as well. I think it's very very important when people come to such a place hat they have somebody with them. So we're very grateful to you for coming. Mrs Segage, I wonder if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, where you come from, how many children you have, before you start your story?
MRS SEGAGE: I'm Mrs Mdluli, maiden surname Segage, I've got seven children.
DR BORAINE: Now Mrs Segage, you have a very sad story to tell about your daughter Lendiwe, could you please tell us what happened in 1986?
MRS SEGAGE: During the year 1986 she was actually a worker at one of the farms, Braham. On that day she was travelling from work back home. We were expecting her as we normally expect her on Sundays. Now she got a lift and she was coming home, she was actually coming home as usual on Sundays. On that day she met with an accident between Karino and Nelspruit. There the bomb blasted. Lindiwe had a small child with her, she was eight months old during that bomb blast. What happened, the message was only received on Monday in the afternoon at around about three o'clock, that something had happened to her. In that incident my child was also involved and those people who were actually watching TV news, saw her and they recognised her. The person actually came to inform me was actually a person working at the hospital at Robs Ferreira.
I felt very hurt about my daughter, the way she passed away. I did not expect that my child should leave me in this fashion. The bomb blast, I only heard of it, you know I never knew about it, I only heard of it over the radio but I never expected that it should come and injure my child in NELSPRUIT HEARING TRC/MPUMALANGA
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this fashion. Lindy was actually my first daughter. Lindiwe left behind two children at home.
Even today they are still there those children and I'm actually find it very difficult to raise them. The father to the children is also not a healthy person. Lindy was actually the source of income to us, she was bring food to our house. Now that she died, we no longer have food because she was actually the person working. I now go around working in order to gain income for the children and we actually struggled with my husband to raise them. Now I feel very much hurt, I'm asking the Commission to investigate what should be done because really I was very much worried about the death of my child. My child died in a very, she was actually burned, her hair was burned, there was nothing. Both legs were actually damaged and the legs were just collected, it was just flesh or pieces. That thing does not go away, I still remember, I still relive that incident. That's why I 'm here today to say this in front of you.
DR BORAINE: Mr Lewin?
MR LEWIN: Thank you, thank you very much indeed. I know that it's very upsetting to tell your story. I have only a few questions. First, I'm sure you heard the previous witness who told about his family who were killed in a land mine. Now you have told us about your daughter. I said to him that land mines do not have any names on them and that people, very often innocent people are killed through no fault of their own. Please tell me, how old was your daughter when she died?
MRS SEGAGE: I'm not sure of her age but she was born in 1959 November, then you can count.
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MR LEWIN: Yes thank you, we'll work that out, then I think she must have been about 27. You mentioned that she had a baby girl with her of eight months old. Did that child die as well.
MRS SEGAGE: Yes. the child died together with the mother. The child was actually in her arms because the child was still sucking from her mother.
MR LEWIN: So you lost a grandchild as well as a daughter. And there were other people who died in that land mine explosion who were also in the car, is that right?
MRS SEGAGE: Yes, probably they were there, although they were unknown to me. I heard people saying other people also were involved.
MR LEWIN: Thank you, now you told us that you heard, I think it was from Rossina, about your daughter, did the police or the army or anybody come to see you after that?
MRS SEGAGE: Actually no one bothered to come to see me. I heard that they will be coming but they never came.
MR LEWIN: Was there any court case, any investigation that you know about, about the death of your daughter and your grand daughter?
MRS SEGAGE: No there were no investigations at all. don't know anything about investigations.
MR LEWIN: You don't know who placed the land mine that killed your daughter?
MRS SEGAGE: No I do not know, I do not know who planted
the bomb.
MR LEWIN: Thank you. You told us that your daughter who died and who was killed had two other children and who are both living with you, is that right?
MRS SEGAGE: Yes the children are with me.
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MR LEWIN: How old are they now, approximately, about how old?
MRS SEGAGE: The other one is 14 years old and the other one is 15 years old. These are the two remaining children.
MR LEWIN: Thank you, and are they both still at school?
MRS SEGAGE: Yes they are schooling, both of them.
MR LEWIN: Please give us their first names?
MRS SEGAGE: The other one is Justice and the other one is Pretty.
MR LEWIN: Thank you, now you've told us that you are struggling to try and bring those two children up and that you have no support except the work that you are trying to do. What would you, I mean, it seems to me that you have asked the Commission for two things. Please tell me if I'm right. Firstly you would like us to find out more about who planted the bomb and how your daughter was killed and what happened, and we will certainly try and investigate that because it will be recorded and we will let you know as much as we can, and secondly that you would like to see if in some way that the Commission can help you to bring up the children, is that right?
MRS SEGAGE: Yes that's correct. Because I have to carry on with my life.
DR BORAINE: Thank you very much. We have heard your story and we've heard your requests. I'm going to ask my colleagues if they have any further questions.
CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Mdudli, if I may ask just one question. Could you please, although you weren't there, could you please tell us exactly where this land mine was, it's not quite clear, was it on the main road or was it off, on the farm road? And how far from the main road was it?
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MRS SEGAGE: It was on the road, the road leading to the farm. It might be from this point I'm sitting up to the road outside. When I went there there was nothing at all. We were just a family to go and investigate what had happened. There were just pieces here and there and the family members gathered the pieces. The pieces belonging to this child.
DR BORAINE: If there are no further questions, all I want to say is, that I tried to say earlier, that the victims of the conflict in our country were both black and white, were young and old, were men and women and even children. And this is what is so sad and horrifying about the results of conflict and violence. Many many of the people who were killed were innocent bystanders. Your daughter that took a lift was with her child and she never came back.
We have listened to you very carefully. Our hearts go out to you, you have our sympathy and we will do what we can to find out more about what exactly happened and also to see if there is any way in which the Commission can be of assistance to you.
I want to thank you very warmly for coming today and I hope and pray that you will go with God and that he will give you the grace and the assistance which you are going to need as you continue with your life. Thank you very much.
MRS SEGAGE: I also thank you.
