MEMBER OF PANEL: Mr Chairperson, I woul dlike to call Mr Mkhangeli Matomela to the stand, please.
CHAIRPERSON: We would like to do that, because the one who is going to guide her is going to leave.
Mr Matomela, what is your clan name, please?
MR MATOMELA: I come from the Bele clan name.
CHAIRPERSON: Bele, I would like to welcome you. Before I ask you to take the oath, you have been listening this morning and yesterday when we were talking about the violation of people's human rights, especially by the governments that we had here before. You will also come with your own story that we are going to listen to. We are going to listen to it very carefully because our aim for listening to the stories is that the perpetrators, especially those people who had the power and authority, they must know that when they do things like this, they are not going to be swept under the carpet. They will be exposed again. They will be talked about. I am going to ask you again to please tell us your full story. We will - if there is anything that you would like us to take very close notice of, please mention them. I am going to ask you to take the oath now. Please stand.
MKHANGELI MATOMELA: (Duly sworn, states).
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Yasmin Sooka?
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MS SOOKA: Will you put on the ear-phones or can you understand me in English?
MR MATOMELA: I understand you.
MS SOOKA: Before you begin to tell us your story, I would like you to tell us a little bit about yourself, whether you are a member of a political organisation, what were you doing at the time of this incident. Just a little bit of background about yourself.
MR MATOMELA: Firstly, thank you very much for the opportunity that the Commission has given me. My first involvement with the politics started when I was a student here at Unitra in 1980. There was a strike here at the time at Unitra. Then after that on the 8th of August 1980, then I was detained by the police. They came at midnight. I was detained that night. I stayed for two weeks in detention. They took my tape-recorders and my cassettes. The ANC speeches that I used to record from Radio Freedom at the time and some political books and other literature, all political. They confiscated all that.
Then after that during the time that I was still in detention, I was in solitary confinement. I was not allowed to speak to anyone. But I was helped by some political prisoners like Mtgoniwe and others. They really helped us a lot. In order that we could get things like newspapers and other political matters.
At that time I was really involved in ANC matters.
MS SOOKA: Can I ask you, were you involved in the unrest at the university and was that why you were detained?
MR MATOMELA: Well, not directly. I was involved, because I was also involved in the smaller groups of discussions that we used to have, all political discussions, which all
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happened here on campus.
Now because I was a political studies student, we used to have these political discussions. That is how I was involved.
After I was released from detention I got ill-treatment at work. At the time I was working at the Post Office. There was a certain amount that I was supposed to receive in April 1980. At the time I was on sick leave. We were supposed to write and report where we are supposed to be on sick leave. So I told them that I will be in "Nxuxul" village. I heard that I have been raided, but I was not there, I was not at home. So the person who was at home then told them where I was.
At the time I was earning R162,00. My whole salary was deducted, I was only left with R51,00 but I refused to take it. So I didn't get the rest of the money until today.
MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on) ... the important things about your story, is the torture that you were subjected to while you were being detained. Can you go back to that part, please, and tell us very slowly about the ways in which you were tortured.
MR MATOMELA: I am not going to go back, I am going to go forward because I was detained again. I was not tortured in 1980, I was only asked questions.
So in 1981 the same month that I was detained last year, the previous year, it was in August again. Then I was detained again. Now this time I was sent to Norwood. From thereon, the same day I was taken to Butterworth and taken to the security police offices. There were lots of policemen there from the Transkei police service. They asked me questions about my political involvements. They asked me UMTATA HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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about the political literature that I had and other guerillas. If I would give them an answer that wouldn't satisfy them, they would start torturing me. They would punch me, kick me and burn me with the stumps of cigarettes. That used to happen for hours. But I would only get a short breaks.
Then around eleven at night, I was taken to a bigger police station. That's where I stayed for two weeks. Now in the Idutywa(?) police station, the conditions were terrible. The windows of the cell were broken, it was very cold and at that time it was August, so you can imagine. I had no water to drink. I had no water to wash. For the whole two weeks I never washed. There was one toilet that I could flush. If you wanted to drink, you would have to flush the toilet and then drink that water. That's the kind of condition that I stayed under.
Now what helped me the most when I was in Idutywa police station was Peter King's condition, who was from Ndabakuzi. He was an elderly man, he was around 56 years old. He was severely beaten by the police. Such that I thought nothing had been done to me compared to him. You could see black scars. You could see that there were blotches of cigarette stumps. For the whole week, the whole night, he was in pain and nobody was taking him to hospital. They didn't want the doctors to see him in that condition. Especially because his whole body was swollen.
Now I was taken at the end of the second week by the police, the Transkeian police. They took me to Butterworth. When I got to Butterworth, I found two White policemen and another Black one. Apparently they were from East London. They tried to call my name and they were pronouncing it
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wrongly, my person name Mkhangeli. But I don't remember who was the head of the police at the time. I can't remember his name. Then I was handcuffed. I was taken by this Black policeman and I was put with him at the back of the van. So we were taken to East London.
That night they didn't do anything to me. Now the following morning I was taken to Cambridge. In the offices of the security police. The first thing they did was to give me a paper to write anything that I know about politics. So I did. One of the White men looked at it and simply tore it up and threw it into the dust-bin and they started beating me again. They kicked me, they punched me, they slapped my face. At the time I was sitting on a table. They put me right on the floor. I was still handcuffed. They brought a sack, a plastic sack with water, which was mentioned before. I was also put into this sack by my head. I tried to struggle. After some time they would say to me tell us, tell us more. If they are not satisfied with your answer they will put you back again, put more water in the sack. This went on for - there would just be short breaks. During those breaks you would be beaten up, you would be punched, you would be kicked. They would leave me here and go and have some lunch. When they came back after lunch, this used to happen in the Cambridge offices.
MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on).
MR MATOMELA: There were so many policemen here, I didn't know their names, but they used to call each other - there was a certain Taylor, names like Naude and Madigizela and other many policemen. There were so many.
In the afternoon they still went on. They gave me another paper and they said I must write. They took the
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first page ... (END OF TAPE 4 - SIDE A) ...
... throw them into the dust-bin and they would do it again. Put my head into this canvass bag. They said this one is very stubborn.
During the time that I was handcuffed, I was handcuffed at the back. Now they changed and I was handcuffed in front. They took a broomstick and they put it under my arms. They took two tables, one this side and one on the other side and they lifted me up just like a sack, and I was made to hang between these two tables. My head was hanging downwards.
CHAIRPERSON: Do you know what they used to call that form of torture?
MR MATOMELA: They used to call it Boeing 747. It was named after what they were doing.
The others were standing in front of me, the others were behind me, kicking me, front and back. I would, I used to sway like a pendulum. They would kick me from the back and they would kick me from the front. If I run away from the front they will kick me from the back, and I would sway like a pendulum. There was blood dripping from my wrists because of the handcuffs.
They used to ask me specifically where were you at a certain time. They would say were you at Lesotho at a certain time. If I say no, they would start beating me again. This went on until four or five in the morning. Then I was taken back to the Fleet Street police station. That was now the first day only.
The following day, the morning they came again. They started with that suffocating sack. They did that again to me. The whole morning session they would suffocate me in the sack and mix that with the beatings. The same thing
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happened in the afternoon and again I was down in this Boeing 747.
The second day then I was taken from that table where I was hung. the handcuffs were put on again from the back. Now they took the same sac, but it was empty this time. They put it over my head so that I couldn't see. There was something that I felt was clamped on my thumb, on my right thumb. Then the whole right side was shivering, it was shaking. Now I could see that this is electrical shocks. They did this repeatedly, and after that they would take the sack off my face and then ask me what more do you have to say. If I didn't say anything that would satisfy them, then they would do this again. They repeated this for several times and then again they put me back into the cell.
On the third day they brought me back again. Then I was started with that same sack again, to be suffocated.
MS SOOKA: In your statement you also talked about them beating you on your private parts. Do you want to tell us about that as well.
MR MATOMELA: I am coming to that, yes.
On the third day they started with putting me into the suffocating sack again. They did the same thing as the previous days. They hung me again between these two tables. Now after that there was another hook that was hanging from the roof. They took this rope and I was hung by the handcuffs. Then I was hanging from this rope, clipped onto my handcuffs. Then I was hanging. Now they punched me so much with their fists. They took a litre bottle and they hit me with this empty litre bottle, while I was hanging. They said to me you must never again give birth to terrorists. They this again several times. They would
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punch me again with their fists and with this bottle, and then at last they took me off from the hanging position.
They took one table and put it on this side and another table on the other side. They took two sacks. Then I was told to strip my clothes off from the upper body. So I did. They took ice water and they poured that water over my head. It was so cold. The rubber (indistinct) I have forgotten that they used to use. I was visibly shaking, it was very cold, because the water was icy.
At that time they were laughing. They were not hitting me this time, they were just laughing, having a good time. They switched on the fan so that I could just be very, very cold. They would do this several times, each time I give them a negative answer. This went on for a long time.
Now after that there was another colleague of mine that came there at that time. He was also arrested. He found me like that. I was red with blood and I was swollen. I was also wet because of this ice water that was poured over me. He asked me a couple of questions.
They took me and they said they were going to search my place. They went to another home of mine, that belonged to my grandfather. They found some of the things at my grandfather's place and from there they took me back to East London.
When we got to East London they went straight to the electric shocks. They clipped me again. First they covered me with that sack and then they clipped me again. I couldn't see this because I was covered by the sack. They clipped me on my thumb and my arm, and this would make my whole arm to be lame. I would feel numb. Then after that they unclipped it from the legs. Now they put it in the
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ears. I felt like my whole brain was boiling. Then I got unconscious until the following day. That time I was now in the prison, in the East London prison. I stayed there for three days. They were not taking me any longer to Cambridge.
Then I was taken to the Transkei again. I was with Junior Salewa, he was also telling the same story. As a result his ear-drum burst.
I want to also concentrate on the torture that happened. It is apparent that all the prisoners went through what I went through, this torture. All this torture was done by the South African Police and the Transkeian Police.
MS SOOKA: You said that you thought you were picked up and detained the first time because you were studying political science. But the second time when you were detained, why did they pick you up and when they questioned you, what information did they want from you?
MR MATOMELA: When I was detained for the second time, they already had their black list, and they already knew that if anything had happened, they are going to arrest those people on that list. This whole group that was arrested, I was one of them. It was a group that was involved in what was happening in the K Group. I think that is how I was arrested.
The questions were about my going to Lesotho and the banned literature that I had and where the weapons were kept.
MS SOOKA: Because you were a member of the African National Congress?
MR MATOMELA: Yes, I was a member of the ANC.
MS SOOKA: Did you receive military training?
MR MATOMELA: No, I never received any military training.
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The only training that I got was just to work within the organisation, not military training.
MS SOOKA: Why were they so sure that you knew about where there were arms and guerillas, because the questions that they constantly threw at you during the torture, was about that.
MR MATOMELA: Well, it is obvious that they already had their information. So they were basing their information on the documentation that they were looking at. It is obvious that they already had pre-information about this.
MS SOOKA: At any time during the different times when you were tortured, did a doctor, did you ever ask for a doctor to come and examine you?
MR MATOMELA: I never asked for any doctor. But I think it was the second day when I was at Cambridge, there was another White doctor who arrived. It looks like he was a doctor who used to come routinely. He did examine me. He asked me what happened to me, all the bruises. He said to me it was not even known that I was there, which is normal, because this is what people used to do. They would detain you without the knowledge of your family.
He examined me and then he asked me what happened. So I said but you can see what happened, but I didn't really want to say because I was scared of these people because they could just kill me at any time. So I just looked at him, I didn't answer him when he kept on asking. But I am sure they wrote that in his records. He wrote what was going on with me, even though I didn't say anything.
MS SOOKA: Do you remember his name?
MR MATOMELA: No, I don't remember.
MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on) ... to let your family
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know that you were being detained over there?
MR MATOMELA: I don't think there was any effort that that doctor made, because at home they didn't know where I was. They didn't know that I was in East London. They got information from me when I was from East London.
MS SOOKA: Did you ever go to any lawyer? Because you mention in your statement that you were put on trial. Was there a lawyer who assisted you in the process?
MR MATOMELA: Yes, the attorney that was helping us, it was Prince Madikizela, but in our own case, we were represented by (I'm sorry, I couldn't hear the name of the lawyer). But we used give all the information to Prince Madikizela, and Adv Wilson. Those are the two lawyers that we used to deal with.
MS SOOKA: What were you charged with at your trial?
MR MATOMELA: We were charged under the Terrorism Act and we were charged for having banned literature and material.
MS SOOKA: (Speaker's mike not on) ... at the time while you were being tortured by - I think you didn't tell us the name of the policemen who forced you to sign the statements.
MR MATOMELA: The statement that I signed in East London before I was brought back, was made by Nxoba. It was a Black limping policeman. During this whole time Nxoba was right next to me. He is the one who said I must write. He is the one who was going to make me take the statement. But when I got there the statement was already there. I was just told to read it and sign it. But I just tried to forge a certain signature which was not my signature. Because I knew that I didn't write the statement, it was written by somebody else. So I didn't write my own signature.
Now in court we tried to show that these statements
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were not our statements, they must not be accepted as our evidence, because we didn't write them. Even though they were taken as our evidence in court.
MS SOOKA: Did the Court accept those statements as being yours?
MR MATOMELA: No, not.
CHAIRPERSON: What happened in the trial, were you convicted?
MR MATOMELA: I personally was not sentenced, I was acquitted, because there was no evidence that was linking me directly to the use of the weapons. So I was acquitted. There were others who were sentenced, like Comrade James Khati, some pleaded guilty, people like Salewa and Mbetse and Mr Peter Kite, even though later on he was also acquitted, after he appealed.
MS SOOKA: Did you file a claim against the police for compensation?
MR MATOMELA: No.
MS SOOKA: Why not?
MR MATOMELA: Well, now this is my personal opinion, that we were just doing this for the liberation of the country, not necessarily to be compensated or gain anything. But mostly, we were only concentrating on what we were doing. It never occurred in our minds to ask for any kind of compensation. I am sure that even in our group no one can say that they wanted compensation.
MS SOOKA: After you were acquitted, did you ever have a doctor examine you physically to see if you had sustained any long-term damage to your body or to your hearing, after the torture?
MR MATOMELA: Yes, there was another doctor that I went to,
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Dr Solombela. I explained to him everything that happened and he gave me some treatment.
Oh, there is something else that I have forgotten. When I was in East London, after they took me off that hook, there was another Black policeman, I can't remember his name. He came back to me and he held my shoulders, put his knee on my chest and then pulled me against his knee. Something, my sternum broke, I think it cracked. That was the problem, that was a physical problem that I had since then. I couldn't even stretch my chest. But there was no other treatment that I received for this. Even now I can still feel the pains. But I think my sternum cracked.
I tried to explain to the doctor all those things that happened to me and the cold that I got while I was in the cell, because we were arrested in August. I got out the following year in October. During this whole time we never got any proper treatment. Health-wise that really affected me. I explained all of this to the doctor. He tried to give me some treatment.
MS SOOKA: What would you like the Truth Commission to do in respect of your case?
MR MATOMELA: Something that I will ask the Commission to do, I am just going to repeat what the Chairperson has said. The policemen who had done these things in the past must come forward. They must come and tell all the things that they used to do. This is their chance. Especially now, because there is also amnesty. At the time we knew that they were just tools of the system, especially the Black ones. Because they were the ones who were the active tools to beat us up. We used to know that they were just doing this so that they can get praise from their bosses. We know
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that they were sent by their seniors. They were acting against instructions. We even know their names now. They must come forward, especially those ones who used to beat us up. They must say that they were sent by whoever sent them. Perhaps this will even end up to Kaiser Mantanzima. We know that we were being beaten for this liberation, but we do understand their position. Our parents know what we went through. They had peace in their hearts. We were not fighting against individuals, we were fighting against the system. We are ready to forgive, but they must just come forward. They must come forward to the Commission before they are named. But now if they don't come, we are going to mention them in the Commission. I think that is the first most important thing.
Secondly, there are people who have really suffered here, especially Mr Peter King. I know that he died after he was released, but isn't there anything that the Commission can do for his family. I understand that he has very small children, but now because of the struggle he died and his children are suffering now. If the Commission can try anything, even if it is the State who will do this, just to give them the necessary support.
Thirdly, I have now my personal request. There was a tape-recorder that was confiscated by the Transkeian police. I want it back. Even those cassettes that they confiscated, I want them back. They have much value to me, because I am the one who took the recordings, I am the one who dubbed the cassettes. We used to listen to stories from our grandparents at the time. I used to tape these stories from my grandparents at the beginning of the cassettes and then later in the cassette, then I would dub the real thing. I
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want all those, even my books. All those political documents that I had, those belong to me. They must bring all those things back. I have already forgiven them, they must just bring back everything that belongs to me.
MS SOOKA: I think that we hear your request and I am sure that we will, in the same way that you are saying that you want these people to come forward, before you name them, I think we in the Commission would like them to come forward as well, freely, and to use this opportunity. I think the difficult question is in relation to whether the Transkei police will still have the things that they took away from you. But the investigation unit will probably try and see what they can do about that. In terms of Mr Peter King, I am sure the Chairperson would be able to do something in terms of that.
I would like to thank you for telling your story and I will hand you back to the Chairperson.
CHAIRPERSON: (Speaker's mike not on).
MEMBER OF PANEL: Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I only have a comment more than question. I am struck by the fact that you were detained in the Transkei, but then you were kept and you served your term in the Eastern Cape, in East London. Even your torture was done in East London. But now what I am wondering, was done in the Umtata Supreme Court. But now this also gives evidence that the security police of the Transkei at the time was working together with the South African security. This is evident that there was collaboration between the Transkei and the South African Police Services at the time.
MR MATOMELA: Yes, Commissioner, this is the whole truth. Even though Transkei was independent, but in fact
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effectively, everything was done through South Africa. This independence didn't really mean anything. The police service of Transkei and the police service of South Africa were working together, even though Transkei was so-called independnet. I know many people in the Transkei were tortured by the boers and they would come and we would see them. Even the Transkeian police were not so clever. So they were using especially the South African boers.
MEMBER OF PANEL: Mr Matomela, in the light of the testimony you have given this afternoon, concerning the manner in which you were treated by the police, in particular the security division of the police in both the then Transkei Republic and South Africa, do you perhaps have any views to express on the question of a promotion policy in the police force?
MR MATOMELA: Thank you, Commission. We are having a big problem. You know what is called the transition, it really causes problems. It affects us even psychologically. But we do accept it because our organisation is also involved in our discipline from the organisation, is very important to us. We are still trying to build a new South Africa. But the whole, the big problem now is those people who used to torture people like that, and the same people are now still in high official ranks in the prison service. But those people need to be transformed themselves. If they are not transformed, how are they going to transform the whole service.
Now if a person has a high rank, then that person must be able to hold together that department. I feel that these people need to be transformed themselves. They need to be changed. So that those people can now use their skills,
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because they don't really have experience. The only experience that they have is the experience of torture. Now somtimes we are compelled to accept certain compromises because we didn't defeat their enemy militarily. Sometimes we just keep quiet and do not say anything. But those things are still in our minds.
MEMBER OF PANEL: We thank you, Mr Matomela. The testimony you have given Mr Matomela here, has really touched our souls and our hearts very deeply.
The Chairperson of this Commission usually says, he usually likes to pause after a testimony like this one and reflect on our country. Even now I am going to call you a young man, because you are younger than me, to call young men of your integrity, you know to speak of forgiveness after suffering the way you have suffered, is very touching Also, even more touching to me is the way you have not thought of yourself. (Speaker's mike not on) ... who have suffered together with you. We live a world that is very selfish, where people are thinking only about themselves in moments like this. The fact that you have asked whilst we must get your tape-recorder back, but you are more concerned about somebody else, who, in your opinion, is in a more painful and needier situation than you. This has really touched us. Thank you for your witness and thank you for showing the integrity, the statemanship that you have displayed for us.
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