

&#9;1&#9;V CALU

&#9;TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

&#9;HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

&#9;SUBMISSIONS - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

DATE: 28.08.96&#9;&#9;&#9;NAME: VINCENT LUNGILE CALU

CASE: - UITENHAGE

DAY 3

__________________________________________________________

CCHAIRPERSON: We are going to ask Mr Vincent Lungile Calu 

to come forward. We are going to hand you over to Ms Maya 

who is going to lead you with questions.

VINCENT LUNGILE CALU: (sworn states)

MS MAYA: Thank you Mr Chairperson. Lungile, how are you?

MR CALU: I am fine, thank you.

MS MAYA: You are going to represent yourself and tell us a 

story about the time you were a member of the UDF and you 

say you were arrested several times and tortured in police 

custody, what was actually happening, and what was the 

reason for all of this?

MR CALU: In 1985, I don't know whether to say that I was 

lucky or unlucky, but I got affected and I became one of the 

members of the structures for the youth. I therefore had to 

go away from my home in Uitenhage, to I had to go in hiding 

in one of the houses in Nobuhle. I used to spend nights in 

various places and briefly, I would say that in 1986, one 

day, I was tired of sleeping all over the place, and I 

decided to go and sleep at home and it was on a Saturday and 

yet, I was wrong because these policemen came and it was in 

the morning, very early, at about 3:00, and I heard my 

mother saying Lungile is not here because she knew that I 

was not sleeping there and she wasn't aware that I was 

there, so these police came and my mother said that I wasn't 

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there and there was three of us sons there. When they came 

in, they asked for Umhlahla, then I said, no, I don't know 

such a person. Then they asked my brother, where is 

Umhlahla, my brother denied, and my other brother too 

denied.

MS MAYA: Who was Umhlahla?

MR CALU: Umhlahla is me, I am Umhlahla. Then, these whites 

asked who exactly amongst you is Umhlahla, and everyone 

denied, infact, I wanted any one person who was going to 

point at me, and these policemen were almost tired of asking 

of this Umhlahla and I heard them saying in Afrikaans that 

they should go and call someone from outside, and so this 

person came.

&#9;My brothers at the time, lived in Molapo, and this 

Molapo men came in and said to me, you are Umhlahla, and I 

was discouraged and then I didn't say anything, then these 

policemen said get dressed.

MR MAYA: Were you arrested?

MR CALU: Yes, I was arrested. Outside our house, there 

were a lot of cars and I got into a car, and there was a 

driver sitting in front and a space here in the middle, then 

I was asked to sit there in that space. Then they asked 

about the gun that they said that I had, then I said that I 

did not have a gun. They asked this repeatedly, then they 

asked for Lungisile, then I said you arrested Lungisile last 

week, so I don't know why you are asking me about Lungisile. 

Then they asked me, do you know anything about Bee's? Then 

I knew about Bee's, but I didn't want to say that I knew 

them, because I was scared that perhaps they meant something 

else. I didn't answer them. 

&#9;Then, they handcuffed me with my hands at the back, and 

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I was sitting in this space, in this car and they asked 

whether I was going to tell the truth or did I want them to 

bring in the bee's. Then I said that I don't have any other 

truth, I do not have any gun. 

&#9;Then one other man who was there, there were some some 

people, one of them was Dumse and these people were 

informers and they were there. So they blindfolded me with 

a towel and they made it stiff so that I was not able to 

breathe. My whole body trembled and I thought perhaps that 

these were the bee's that they had mentioned earlier and 

some other times they would make this knot loose and they 

would ask me to tell the truth, but I insisted that there 

was no other truth that I could tell. Then they took this 

thing, and they put it here in my testicles and I had a 

feeling as if my testicles were being twisted and being 

pulled because I kept on saying I don't know, I don't know, 

very fast.

MS MAYA: As your body was trembling, what were they doing?

MR CALU: They were administering some electric shocks.

MS MAYA: Who was administering this electric shock?

MR CALU: I couldn't see because they had blindfolded me 

with a towel, but I could feel me whole body trembling.

MS MAYA: How long did this take place?

MR CALU: For about 15 minutes, but they would give me a 

relief and once again. Then in this car there was Ngobe, 

there was Nokasi, there was Dumse. Then they asked why 

Pinkise had been arrested, then they said that Pikinse was 

brother to Nokasi and so ultimately Pikinse was released. 

&#9;Then one White man asked that I should be released and 

then one said Ngashla was the commander of the action 

committee that does this toy toy.

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&#9;They took off my hat and then one person was insisting 

that I be released and they asked to release me and they 

asked me to go away and I went home and found my mother.

MS MAYA: Then, when was the next arrest?

MR CALU: I want to say what I want to say before that. It 

was early on a Sunday. I then consulted Dr Moodley, using 

someones medical aid card because I was on the run. Dr 

Moodley examined me and asked what had happened to me. Then 

I told him that the police had electrocuted me and he 

explained to me several things saying that these people had 

exceeded in their administering of the electric shock and so 

Dr Moodley asked me to take out two of my teeth that had 

been damaged, so I had them extracted on Monday. So I again 

went into hiding and the police still kept on looking for 

me.

&#9;Then in 1987, we had escaped once more and I was in 

Port Elizabeth living in Betram Street. Then my aunt who 

came from Zwide, and she told me that she was sick and had 

they had not gone to work and she was saying that she must 

consult a doctor. This whole day, the policemen had been 

moving up and down here in Betram Street, but, I had a hope 

that they did not know me, but I was wrong. Then there was 

a car facing our house. It was parked in Matitiba, facing 

our house. My aunt asked that I should not accompany her 

because there were policemen, but I refused. Then, as soon 

as I got to Betrom, I saw some cars that were speeding 

towards me and the policemen jumped out and they were facing 

there fire arms towards me. They searched my whole body, 

they searched me thoroughly, they took a walkie talkie and 

they asked what was me name, and I told them my name was 

Mongezi, and I could see that they were communicating.

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MS MAYA: Did you know these people who had arrested you?

MR CALU: No, I did not know them.

&#9;They took me to the house where I came from and they 

again searched the house. They did not tell me what they 

were looking for. Then, this Black man said to me, these 

men are looking for a firearm.

MS MAYA: Did they get the firearm?

MR CALU: No, they did not get any firearm from me. They 

took me to Louis Le Grange.

MS MAYA: What did they do to you there, did they 

interrogate you there?

MR CALU: No, they said, yes, this is the one. This is the 

one we are looking for.

MS MAYA: Who said that?

MR CALU: Jagter said this. That is a Uitenhage detective 

who is now a Captain in Le Grange.

&#9;So, I spent the night there. The following morning, I 

was called at about 6 o'clock in the morning and I went up 

to the seventh floor where they were seated in a round table 

and they asked whether I had a firearm, they asked this 

question repeatedly and I told them that I did not have one. 

Then, they took out a parcel and which had some soil inside 

and they asked me, do you know anything about this? I 

looked at it, and I could see that it was mine, and then I 

was scared.

MS MAYA: Did you know this parcel that was shown to you?

MR CALU: Yes, I knew that it was mine, but to them, I 

denied that it belonged to me. I then identified this 

parcel. Then, they opened this parcel. It had some bullets 

for a 9mm fire arm, there were 45 of these bullets. Then 

they opened another plastic, there was a magazine with 15 

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bullets and a magazine and they asked, where is the main 

part of this cassette, then I said to them, I know nothing 

about this thing. They asked about the bullets of the 9mm, 

I said I knew nothing about it. Then they said Lulamile, 

your sister said that these belonged to you, and I denied 

it. They kept on interrogating me, trying to get the truth 

and then one Coloured person, who's name was Campbell, 

because I could understand them as they were speaking 

Afrikaans, that I heard that his name was Campbell, then he 

again asked me, do you know anything about the bee's, and 

then I said that I know the bee's. But I said to him that I 

know nothing about bee's. 

&#9;Then he made me sit down, I want to demonstrate how he 

made me sit down. This is how I sat, and there was a stick 

just layed here on my hands. I had to hold the stick. They 

call this action of sitting the helicopter, so they would 

cover me with plastic and tie it very tight, so as to 

suffocate me. They again used the thing a doctor uses when 

he is trying to determine your blood pressure and they 

tightened it and I was hanging in one of the tables, and 

they would do this for five minutes, then relax and then go 

back once more and all this time, they were asking me who 

things these were. 

&#9;So, they ultimately said that these things belonged to 

me, then they asked with whom was I staying, then I said I 

was staying with Aubrey and Tini, because if they wanted to 

go there, they were not going to find them. Then they kept 

on torturing me for about 10 days, following the same 

procedures as that on the third day. I appeared in court 

and there was an allegation that I owned all these things, 

that was in May. 

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&#9;Then, from the court, I was locked in, in Algoa Park 

and I was there for three days, and then transferred to La 

Grange. For this whole month, people at home did not know 

anything about my whereabouts. Then, on the 5th, I saw 

someone in court and sent a message to my family that I was 

in Le Grange. And then Vanessa came on the 5th, saying that 

it is long that they had been looking for me. Then, Vanessa 

said she was late and promised to come back the following 

day and she came and already was from upstairs and Vanessa 

said, you are being charged in this way, and she told me 

what I was being accused of, And I had to appear therefore 

on the 24 June, and my advocate was Mr Pillay, and Mr Pillay 

got information from Campbell that a certain Mr X had 

informed them with information.

&#9;The following day, they took my sister and made her to 

agree that I was responsible for all this and they belonged 

to me and this case was postponed and anyway, I was found 

not guilty.

MS MAYA: Now, did you ultimately admit, do you ultimately 

know who brought this parcel to the police?

MR CALU: Even now, I am still wondering about who brought 

this, because when we were hiding these things, there were 

three of us, it was me, Abrey and Kiki. So I was worried 

when this parcel landed in the wrong hands, landed in the 

hands of the people who were not there.

MS MAYA: Where are they now? Did you ask them about this 

parcel?

MR CALU: What about it?

MS MAYA: That who actually took it to the police.

MR CALU: People say, I noticed this. Jagter said that all 

comrades are working for us and he said to me, in 1986, I 

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once planned to get to Durban, and I denied because I had 

not gone there. We had planned to go there, but our plans 

got aborted. So, I did not follow the comrades, but I was 

very happy that this person was found and I was not the 

informer. All I knew was that this Mr X was one of my 

friends.

MS MAYA: Then, how has this torture affected your health?

MR CALU: When the police tortured me, they affected my 

health. Some other times I feel that my body becomes 

painful even if it is in the morning. They did not only 

electrocute me, but the kicked me as well, but what mostly 

effected me was the electric shock that I was subjected to 

and it caused a lot of damage.

MS MAYA: What is your request to this Commission?

MR CALU: I didn't mention, here when they were writing this 

statement, that I would like this Commission to take note of 

this, that this was not done to me because I was Ngahle, but 

they were trying to damage the idea that we as Black could 

think we could liberate this country. So all this happened 

under the conditions of discouraging the various structures 

and they various organisations that were fighting for 

freedom of this country, all this was not directed to me but 

it just happened that I got affected. It was politically 

motivated.

&#9;Then, I am asking this Commission, I know that there 

isn't much that it can do, but I recognise it as it was 

appointed by the government, perhaps it has the power that 

we as all the victims here in South Africa, could especially 

those who got disabled during this struggle, because looking 

at the other countries, I find that incidents of this 

nature, were happening, but their governments did attend to 

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their victims, and those people got some compensation 

because these people did give their lives in this battle for 

the people. If perhaps I had not joined the struggle, 

perhaps my mother would still be alive, she died because I 

was arrested, repeatedly, and this greatly affected her 

life.

MS MAYA: Could I ask you that you should allow me to help 

you so that we could conclude. Your request is that there 

should be projects for job creations, those are the people 

who could not further their education because of the 

tortures of that time, and even those who are still at 

school should be assisted to go back to school and even 

those who are disabled, should be assisted through, because 

they definitely had some goals. So if they were to be 

assisted to achieve their ambitions, you would feel very 

comfortable?

MR CALU: Yes, I did say so. Thank you.

MS MAYA: Thank you.

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