CASE NO: CT/01418/UPI
VICTIM: JETTA SETHWALA
NATURE OF VIOLENCE: SON BURNT TO DEATH
TESTIMONY FROM: BEATRICE SETHWALA [mother]
MR POTGIETER: ... next to you, is that a member of your family?
MS SETHWALA: Yes she is a member of my family - Margaret Friar.
MR POTGIETER: And on your extreme left?
MS SETHWALA: That is my employer - Mrs Louw.
MR POTGIETER: You are also most welcome. Thank you for accompanying Ms Sethwala today and for assisting her. Ms Sethwala before we hear your evidence I am going to ask you to take the oath, so would you please stand.
BEATRICE SETHWALA Duly sworn states
MR POTGIETER: Thank you, you may sit, Commissioner Glenda Wildschut will assist you in leading your evidence and I hand over to her.
MS WILDSCHUT: Thank you Chairperson. Ms Sethwala thank you very much for coming. Can you hear my voice through, can you hear the voice through the earphones? --- Duidelik.
We met before, you and I, we spent some time talking to each other and you shared with me and with other staff members, quite a bit about your own pain and suffering. Does the briefer want her to move forward a bit? Okay, we know that you have been aware of what other people have said this morning. There were quite a few people who presented to us before the Commission and who told us the stories and the events that led up to the tragic death of your son. We were also reminded this morning of the fact that throughout the hearings and the trials of the 'Upington 26' very little attention was given to your pain and to your grief, and to your suffering for the loss of your son and it is the intention of the Commission that we will listen very carefully to your story for you also have a very painful story to tell. Quite a few of the people have told us about the events that led up to the death of your son, so we will ask you to tell us from your side, how the event affected your life. Can you share with us what it meant for you as a mother and what it meant for you as a family perhaps and how this event has affected your life. Thank you. We will listen very carefully.
MS SETHWALA: On the 13th November 1985 it was a Wednesday morning. My son was driven out of the house by a crowd of people who were stoning the house. We were in the house, 405 Philani Street. He was driven out of the house and shortly afterwards he was killed and burnt. Briefly what I would like to say is that the effect of my son's death has been great. I have been scarred by my son's death. Shortly afterwards I had to remove my children from Upington and I had to enrol them at schools elsewhere. In 1986 December, I went back to my home and I tried to pick up the pieces of my life again. Thereafter I had to hear from the people in the Paballelo community that I had shopped my son to the police, that I had betrayed him to the police and that I had been paid for doing so, that I had been paid for my child's murder. I went through a great deal of pain through all these years. It is now ten years and ten months and 43 days ago that he died but the pain is still with me, it still lives inside of me because the whys and the wherefores I still don't know. Although there are some people who pretend that nothing happened, it, there is a peace on the surface. The pain which I suffered, well I think my second eldest son, the one just after the deceased, I think his drinking problem is the result of the death of his brother. During the time that I suffered so much, I felt like I had been ostracized from the community, that I had been rejected by the people. I felt that I could not look the world in the eye. I should just accept things as the world accepted me. It was a great pain for me to move in amongst the other women in the women's associations and groups to go and pray. It was always, it felt to me as if I was accused of this 'Upington 26' case. It didn't matter to them what was happening to me. Their prayers were always plaintive, I always had to hear about the food that they were dishing out to their loved ones, never mind the ones who had died. Even the ministers were the same, not one, I didn't hear one minister praying for the deceased's mother who had also suffered a loss, who had also lost a son. The pain has been living with me through all these years. The Court case was a long protracted one and I had to suffer a lot of prejudice and people swearing at me, insults, that I had to endure but the fact that I am sitting here today does not mean that I want to accuse anybody in Paballelo of anything. I was quite sincere when I spoke to you during the Court case after I gave evidence. I was given the opportunity to speak to you and I am, still say to you, I am extremely disappointed in you people of Paballelo community. Paballelo is a small community. We know each other. We know each other very, very intimately and when we speak of each other we immediately know who is being referred to and I still say to you I am disappointed in you but there is nothing in my heart. I thought I just had to endure the pain and suffering that I was going through but I still maintain that my faith in my fellow human beings has been scarred for life. I will, can never violate anybody else's rights because you knew my son, Tsenolo Lukas. Some of you were his friends but that means nothing, talk will not bring him back. My pain and suffering is still a reality and that played a major role in that household because I don't have a child in the Paballelo school. I would also have wanted my child to go to school there. I had to remove my children and I had to go and live with other people. The hardship, the songs that you sang for me, that really affected me badly. It happened not that long ago, the last song was u-Jetta and that was such a bitter thing for me because some of you who sang that song, you go to the same church as I do and some of you have very high posts, as you sit here. Some of you didn't know what exactly took place that day but you just felt that you could just ride roughshod over my feelings. You felt that you could sing that song but when you saw me walking across the street you started singing this u-Jetta song. I laughed at you, I answered you and said Jetta didn't hurt you, he is dead and that is nothing less than the truth. Paballelo community, the community killed my child and they burnt him to death. That is the truth. Lastly I would like to say thank you very much to the South African Police who looked after me and my children as well during that time. Thank you very much. For the 'Upington 26' group I want to say it was a low blow, it was a heavy blow but I picked myself up again, I survived. Thank you.
MS WILDSCHUT: Ms Sethwala, thank you for coming to tell us your story. I think that this must have been the most difficult task for you to do, to come but I would like to just ask you why is it that you agreed to come to tell your story today? Why do you feel that it was important for you to come and tell us your story?
MS SETHWALA: Something which contributed to me coming to tell my story here is the fact that I would like to know why the one who suffered the loss cannot be attended to. Why it is that only the members of the 'Upington 26' group received all the attention, not even my local social workers in Upington gave any attention to me. I saw them around me in the Court room but not even the social workers or the ministers paid any attention to me.
MS WILDSCHUT: So you feel that part of the reason why you came here today is that you feel that your pain and your loss was not acknowledged.
MS SETHWALA: No, they didn't.
MS WILDSCHUT: Were you able to hear the witness that was given by Reverend Beukes this morning?
MS SETHWALA: I heard bits and pieces of it.
MS WILDSCHUT: Would you like me just to quote for you a sentence or so of what he said during his witness and then I would like you to comment about that. He says: Looking back I must now acknowledge that whereas we became actively involved in actions towards highlighting the plight of the Upington 26 calling for the acquittal and release of the Upington 26 we were silent on the pain of the mother, the family of Jetta. Would you like to comment about that?
MS SETHWALA: May I ask why they did that because dominee Beukes is my dominee and I belong to the Dutch Reformed Church and he is in the Sending kerk. Why did he not support me and give me any attention? He is my reverend, he is my minister, why didn't he support me during that time?
MS WILDSCHUT: It is the reason why we felt it is important that you too have the opportunity to tell your story today. I think that many people say, looking back they acknowledge the fact that they didn't give you that opportunity and didn't recognise your pain and your grief. People are saying that today that it is important for reconciliation and for healing to take place that we begin to acknowledge that you too went through a lot of suffering. How do you feel about the fact that people are now beginning to say that they would like to work towards reconciliation first by beginning to acknowledge that you yourself have suffered? MS SETHWALA: I feel I am already dead and that this process will be a very long and time consuming one. It will take a lot of effort to make me entirely normal again because I have actually become quite used to my pain and place where I find myself currently. I don't bear any grudges against anybody but if you lose your confidence and your faith in other people it is very hard to restore. My faith in my fellow human being has been shattered but I don't bear anybody any grudges.
MS WILDSCHUT: Thank you very much. I will now ask the Chairperson to continue. My colleagues might have some questions.
MR POTGIETER: Ms Sethwala, it remains for me to thank you for your evidence and for the fact that you were prepared to come and tell us your story, to come and share your experiences and your pain with us. It takes a lot of courage to do that in public like you have done. It is important for the Commission to always hear all sides of a particular story because that is the only way in which we can really learn from the mistakes of the past. We understand that the feelings that you have expressed here, we hear you when you say that you feel that you are virtually dead. We understand that but it is part of the work of this Commission to re-open and re-live very painful and difficult stories and experiences so that we can try and take some lessons from it so that we can prevent the same thing happening in the future and you yourself said it is a very long process that you will have to go through to really become a normal person and to function as a normal part of society. We understand that as well and we hope that by expressing your feelings here today that that process of healing has commenced because the Commission has gone a long way towards achieving its purpose if we can set the ball of reconciliation rolling so I thank you for your evidence. We have taken careful note of everything you have said and we wish you everything of the best for the future. Thank you.
