| Time | Summary | |
| 25:15 | The term ‘East Rand Unrest’ was used excessively in the eighties and early nineties to describe virtually continuous conflict between the people of this vast area east of Johannesburg and the police and army. This week the Truth Commission listened to a story from one of the East Rand townships, Tembisa. | Full Transcript and References |
| 25:36 | Tembisa lies north of Kempton Park. Community leader Tim Mabena says it was established for people who had been removed from Alexandra, Irene, Verwoerdburg and Kempton Park. Tembisa also became a home to many migrant workers who lived in the hostels. | Full Transcript |
| 25:53 | Number 176 is the first house which was built in Tembisa around 1962, 1963. This is the first shop in Tembisa; it used to be called Verwoerd Wares. The name changed around 1977. This used to be a building where we were, an administration building. We used to pay rent here. These are the result of 1976 riots; the place was burnt down to ashes. This hostel is called Sethoga hostel. It was the first hostel in Tembisa; this hostel is called the stronghold of the ANC. Most of the people who used to be IFP supporters were driven out of this hostel and they went to Vusimuzi hostel. | Full Transcript |
| 26:46 | This hostel on the other side of town housed a gang called the Toasters. They were young IFP members who got out of hand. Their political and criminal activities included murder, rape, assault and robbery. The Toasters left a trail of destruction behind them. Their signature: burnt houses, property and people. | Full Transcript and References |
| 27:12 | Whenever they would find a comrade they would take you in their car and then they would kill you and then they will burn you. | Full Transcript |
| 27:21 | They took this child and put him inside hot oil and that’s where the name originates from. | Full Transcript and References |
| 27:32 | The Toasters terrorized the community. They had a predictable route: from the hostel, down the hill, past the filling station where they entered ANC area. On the first of April 1992 one of their victims was Lephina Dlamini. | Full Transcript |
| 27:50 | Inkatha and the Toasters came from the other side; they were carrying guns to attack people here in the township. They started shooting people out there in the streets until they entered my home here. | Full Transcript |
| 28:03 | His friend Tami who was standing next to the window was shot, but escaped death by hiding underneath the table. His mother Lephina entered the room not knowing that an attacker was waiting by the window and that his next shot would be fatal. | Full Transcript and References |
| 28:21 | I got off by the corner over there from the car that fetched me. When I was coming up this way I saw about two or three dead bodies. As I came I passed a hippo next to one of the corpses. When I arrived, I discovered that the house was already full of people. My mother was lying between the bedroom and the dining room. | Full Transcript |
| 28:44 | The leader of the Toasters was called Yster. He was killed, but after the funeral the community decided to strike back. | Full Transcript |
| 28:54 | I just heard that his body was being exhumed and burnt. I went to go and watch and I just told myself that at least they have revenged on our behalf. | Full Transcript |
| 29:12 | Then Yster’s brother took over as leader of the gang. He is now one of the members who are in prison and may apply for amnesty. | Full Transcript |
| 29:22 | The period between the release of Nelson Mandela and the run-up to the 1994 election was a turbulent one. A lot of the political violence happened between supporters of the ANC and the IFP with the police playing a sinister role. Much of the violence was launched from the hostels on the surrounding communities. Hostels like Vusimuzi in Tembisa. | Full Transcript |
| 2945 | The Vusimuzi hostel in Tembisa was not only a hideout for the notorious Toasters gang. It was built in the late seventies as a labour compound to serve the industries of Kempton Park and the East Rand. In the early nineties it became much more. During a spree of violence residents who were not Zulu and not Inkatha members were driven out of the hostel. Victims of the terror came to tell the Commission in Tembisa this week about a different type of forced removal. | Full Transcript |
| 30:21 | These people wanted to know is it a male or a female that you are carrying, the child. But before they could see that it’s a boy they pulled this child by the foot and they hit this child against the wall and he cracked his skull. | Full Transcript and References |
| 30:52 | I found my brother. It was somewhere in the forest, there was nobody around. I looked at him and he was dead. I tried to turn him to see; I could see that all his bones were broken. | Full Transcript and References |
| 31:11 | When all the ANC and Xhosa residents had left the hostel Vusimuzi turned its attention to the larger Tembisa community. More and more people started looking for their loved ones in mortuaries. | Full Transcript |
| 31:26 | I found him at the mortuary. He was burnt. I recognized him by his foot which was burnt but it wasn’t fully burnt. | Full Transcript and References |
| 31:46 | What made me identify my husband was a piece of clothing under his arm which was broken in half. His right hand was actually amputated. His legs were broken in half. | Full Transcript |
