CHAIRPERSON: Ms Nthangeni, please come forward. Welcome Elisa. Would you please introduce the person who has accompanied you.
MS NTHANGENI: Queeny Masia, this one.
CHAIRPERSON: Welcome. I will hand over to Dr Randera.
DR RANDERA: Elisa, if I can just ask you to stand to take the oath please. If you will just repeat after me.
ELISA NTHANGENI: (Duly sworn in, states).
DR RANDERA: Thank you Elisa. Elisa we have your full statement. You are also taking us back to 1986 to Vleifontein and we have heard a great deal about Vleifontein again. I would please ask you to be - just to make the important points of what happened to you. Please take your time. Thank you.
MS NTHANGENI: It was on the Thursday that I made that accident. On Wednesday I was followed by a certain man called, Mr Madibe, in connection with work. He took me to Marquose. Marquose talked to me and said he is going to church and when he is going to church, after coming back, he will come and consult me. Then I waited for Marquose until he came back from the church. He told me that I must come and start working on Friday. I went home sometimes because I want to work for my kids.
That Friday, by seven o'clock I boarded a bus. On the second bus stop, there when I boarded that bus, I was not aware whether there will be something that I am going to meet. But at least I was going to work. While we were going, when we met a certain cross, there was a roadblock and the soldiers said they wanted Venda tax. All the people in the bus told them that we do not pay for Venda tax. They told them that they are wasting our time, we are going to work. They asked the people to take out their reference books. They said we cannot take out our reference books, because we do not pay for the Venda tax. So because those people, I was one of those people, because I was going to look for a job. Then the Police commanded the driver to drive his car to Tshitare.
Because the driver followed the instructions from the Police and the bus went to Tshitare. There at Tshitare the bus stopped and the people were ordered to get out of the bus and the people refused. Then a certain old man was allowed to go out and the other people were asked to go out of the bus. The people refused. They said we were wasting their own time.
A certain sergeant arrived. I only learned later that he, his name is Sergeant Mohaba, who was putting on a black lumber who said to the driver, please do your job. The driver was ordered to do the job, to open the bus door so that people could be released. That is when the sergeant got in.
An old woman who has put on her two piece, was just there. They grabbed her. The people were resisting. They did not want to get out of the bus. Suddenly they were sjamboking people and it was a lot of chaos. You know, people were struggling to get out. As we were alighting, they were waiting for us. According to me, I just clapped my hands. I just clapped my hands, just to ask for the way. Because I realised it was very difficult. It could not help at all. They carried on. They kept on beating me using sjamboks. There was a big police van waiting for us and they kept on assaulting us. They were just kicking us and everything was just going mad.
As we went to the van, there were other policemen waiting for us. The same happened then. From there, we were all gathered in the same truck. Then we were taken to Vuyane Police station. On arrival, when we alighted from the truck, they ordered us to stand in a queue and then they shambocked us again.
They took us to a place, you know an open hall. I just cannot describe how it looks like. They asked us to tell them who we were and we were taken to the cells. Now it was dark and there was an order to find out if there was one from Nimbambura and Nimbambura was released and poor us were left there.
We were called again individually. We went to where the benches were. There was the first group, second group and a third group. Well, we thought maybe we were going to be released. However it was not true. My group, when going to where the benches were, we were taken again via Vleifontein to Tshitare. When we arrived at Tshitare, we slept.
They released us again to an open place. They asked us who we were. Now they were taking our identities, using our thumbs. Mr Lewis responsible, Marageni was responsible in doing that. He was the one taking thumbs. All of a sudden he said let us rather release these people. Let us not really concentrate on this. Then we were taken back again. Unfortunately to the cells, Tshitale cells. As I said, it was on Friday. We were taken again to Vleifontein. We were taken back to Vuyane out of Vleifontein, just to fetch other people. It was now a large group. We were gathered. We were taken to Sibasa. We arrived at Sibasa Police station and the people said we were very stubborn because we did not want to accept being incorporated in the Venda Government. We were ordered to be sjamboked again. One policeman said no, well these people are already assaulted. Well as for me my ear was broken into pieces and I still have the scars.
As we were leaving Sibasa for the Beapa Police station, we were taken to a very big hall where the case was on. Around four o'clock, the Beapa magistrate said he was now leaving the magistrate hall. People resisted. They did not want. Because we said some of us have children at home who are left without anybody responsible for them. The magistrate decided to take the matter and it was around seven o'clock. The magistrate asked if people wanted to be released. We all responded, yes. He asked us to pay R20,00 individually. Well, I only had R10,00 there. Marashipepe helped me. Some people collected for others who did not have. People who did not have money, slept there, were detained there for three days.
Those of us who paid, asked for transport. The so-called Gumba-gumba truck. Well, the Police said, there were no more cars because of lack of diesel. We just left for Beapa. We asked for the taxi people to deliver us. They said, however, they were not going to deliver us to Vleifontein, only up to Bridge. We were taken to Bridge. We got other cars in Bridge. They took us to Vleifontein.
When we arrived at Vleifontein, where Mr Game is responsible, there was another roadblock. We told them that we had paid for our bail. They asked us where we were coming from. Then we indicated that we were from the prison. They just said, oh you are the people who do not want to be incorporated by the Venda Government. They used some abusing words and said (...indistinct). They told us that we had to leave and go to our places. That is what I experienced. I felt so sorry that I was in trouble. I experienced a lot of difficulties. I did not realise that I cannot be capable of working for another. I am still feeling very painful. When I bow down, I feel painful. Even if I go to the Clinic, they only give me Anadin and ordinary rubs. There is nothing that I can do now. That is what I experienced.
DR RANDERA: Elisa, thank you very much for telling us that story. I just want to ask you a few questions. What was your own attitude at the time towards the incorporation of Vleifontein into Venda, were you against it?
MS NTHANGENI: In my opinion I was not in favour of being incorporate into the Venda Government, because we knew we belonged to the Central Government. We were not belonging to the Venda Government then.
DR RANDERA: So you wanted to maintain your South African citizenship, is that right?
MS NTHANGENI: Well that is true, because that really took a long while. They even asked me when I was going to work and then it was said if you are not prepared to be evicted, you will get your goods outside and then we will lock the house. I had to go back and I turned as I was on my way to work. I asked some of my neighbours to take my clothes and they were taken to Vlei, evicted to Vlei.
DR RANDERA: I just want to understand this Venda tax that you are talking about. Before you had been stopped on the bus had there been a lot of information or publicity to say that people had to pay their tax? How aware were you personally that you had to pay your tax?
MS NTHANGENI: Well I learned it from the - well I only learned it when the Police were stopping us to produce the Venda tax. Because now, it was so quiet in the bus and people were not discussing over this issue. I was only surprised when these people were demanding the Venda tax. And that is when the bus was taken to Tshitare.
DR RANDERA: Was it common in those days, in 1986, I know there was all the resistance against the incorporation, perhaps against the Government as such of Venda, but was it common for the Police to actually stop buses with loads of people .... Hold on, let me just finish my question and to then demand taxes and if people were not paying taxes, they would be beaten up? Was it very common? Have you heard of any other incidences like that?
MS NTHANGENI: It was not that common though. Well it was just there and there, an ordinary searching, but not in connection with the Venda tax.
DR RANDERA: Was it only happening to the people of Vleifontein?
MS NTHANGENI: Well, according to my ignorance I cannot really explain as to how it was in the other places. I only know about the very relevant situation that I talked about.
DR RANDERA: My last question is, did you, or any of the other people on the bus, who were sjamboked and beaten up, make a complaint to any other Police station, after you got home?
MS NTHANGENI: Well I did not go to any other Police station. I know very well that it was very difficult. It was going to be another recurrence of the same occasion.
DR RANDERA: Thank you very much, Elisa. I have no further questions.
CHAIRPERSON: Elisa, sorry. Elisa, can we continue? Do you feel better now? Are there any questions from the other panellists?
Elisa, thank you so much for coming forward to share your story. It is obvious that you are still reliving that terrible time you experienced. I think you should have comfort now to know that we are all South African citizens and all those efforts that were made by your community have been realised and has given us good fruits. We are no longer divided and we are all South Africans. Thank you very much for coming.