&#9;TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

&#9;UWC HEARING - DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY 7 AUGUST 1996



CASE NO:&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;CT/00679

VICTIM:&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;DAVID DE BRUIN

NATURE OF VIOLENCE:&#9;&#9;SHOT AND KILLED BY POLICE

TESTIMONY FROM:&#9;&#9;SARA MARTIN



CHAIRPERSON: Yes, I am glad to hear that, very welcome here today. You are going to testify about an incident which took place in Elsies River, we have already heard about the incident yesterday. Your evidence will deal with Mr David de Bruin, his wife survived him but unfortunately she is not in a position to be here. So you most welcome and thank you for taking the trouble to come here today and to come and tell us what happened and also to sketch the background for us. Before you start with your evidence you must take a oath and I'd like you to stand so that I can administer the oath.

SARA MARTIN&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;Duly sworn states

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, please sit down. Dr Wendy Orr will facilitate your evidence and I hand over to her okay.

DR ORR: Thank you Chair and a very warm thank you to you Sara for being here this afternoon to really represent the De Bruin family and to give evidence about this incident. As Denzil Potgieter said we heard yesterday from Mr Marius Hoffman who was shot in the same incident, shot and injured and from Zane le Fleur who described the circumstances leading up to and around this particular incident. I would also just like to say that we do have a statement from Ms Moira de Bruin who is the late David de Bruin's wife, but she is unable to be here this afternoon, so you are here representing here and to give your own eyewitness account of what happened that day. We know that leading up to this event in June 1992, SANCO had asked to meet with the head of the Western Cape Regional Services Council Mr Carpenter, he had canceled one meeting and the second meeting had been scheduled for the 18th of June. Can you take up the story from here and tell us what happened that evening. --- Yes, I am Ms Sara Martin I am a divorced woman, I live in Elsies River [intervention]

&#9;I am sorry to interrupt, could you actually move the microphone a bit closer or perhaps your chair closer to the table thank you. --- I am Ms Sara Martin, I live in Elsies River, I am divorced I have five children and at the time of David de Bruin's shooting, I was the Chairperson of SANCO, of the Elsies River branch. I will start with the Thursday on which the incident happened, this was the second day that we were suppose to have a meeting. There was a mass meeting and it was decided a mandate was given to the executive of SANCO to go ahead with a march to the Adriaanse Civic Centre. What happened that morning was that we all gathered peacefully. And we went to the Adriaanse Civic to deliver our list of demands to a Mr Carpenter he was expecting us, or we were expecting him to be there. We arrived there and while we were trying to let Mr Carpenter know that we arrived, some of the residence of Clarke Estate, and from Epping Forest, these residence gathered there with us and the reason for that, was that everybody at that stage was very worried about their rent. Not only about the current rent we had to pay but also about the evictions which were taking place at the time. The people were very unhappy about the fact that these evictions took place time and time again during winter when it was wet and cold, the families were evicted in these circumstances. So we gathered there that morning and we wanted to see Mr Carpenter. We were told that Mr Carpenter wasn't prepared to speak to us, and that he was busy with something else and he couldn't come and see us in Elsies River. You must understand Mr Carpenter at that time, was not in Elsies River, he was at Wale Street where he still is. And we said that we would not leave there that morning, we insisted that we wanted to see Mr Carpenter, we wanted to hand over our memorandum to him. This memorandum contained our demands. We wanted to speak to him about the many-many problems which existed in Elsies River and we as SANCO Elsies River were unable to give these people any answers about their problems. Now we gathered in the entrance hall and it was peaceful, we didn't disturb any of the clerks or the officials there. The entrance hall is a big open space where the people enter before going to the various desk to pay for their services. And that morning to prevent people coming in to pay their rent and becoming involved in our meeting with Carpenter, we as the leaders of SANCO asked that the doors had to be closed and that only the SANCO people should stay inside. We closed the doors, there were a lot of people inside, there were woman with children, old people, there were lots of people. And some of the people started singing, there was a bit of toi-toiing and the leadership spoke to a Mr Packo and asked him where was Mr Carpenter, he told them that the people were getting a bit tired of waiting, people were anxious they wanted to see Mr Carpenter. Mr Packo told us that Carpenter had notified him that he wasn't going to come and the people then said that they would not leave until they could and speak to Mr Carpenter. People stayed there and they toi-toied and the doors remained shut. At about eleven o'clock that morning, this was the 18th of June 1992, around about eleven o'clock that morning we saw remand trucks arriving and the police were arriving. We didn't take much notice of this because I must say at that stage we were quite used to this. We thought that we would just be caught, dragged out, put into the vans and taken away. We had not idea that they would actually shoot at us this particular morning, what we also weren't aware of, was that Mr Carpenter had in the meantime told the security of the Regional Services Council - had instructed them to come and see what was going on in Elsies River, but we weren't aware of that. We just continued with our action because we were adamant that we wanted Mr Carpenter to come and speak to us. After a while we realized that more and more vans were arriving, but they weren't the normal police vans, these were the blue one arriving, the blue vans. And then realized that there was big trouble afoot. We asked some of the comrades, of the men, to go and close the back doors, because we sensed that there was big trouble coming and we also saw dogs in the police vans. So the back doors were closed, we wanted to protect the people inside. Because we were actually surrounded, so the doors at the back were closed, what we didn't know then, and we subsequently found out, was that they had keys to open that back doors. The next thing we knew well some of the woman were still in the ladies toilets, and one of the witnesses yesterday, he was one of the men waiting at the door, Le Fleu, and he came rushing in and he said the people are busy opening the doors at the back and they -they've got dogs. We tried to pacify the people, try to calm them and told them not to panic, and just to stay calm. What then happened was that some of the adults started panicking and starting rushing around. And at that stage the people started panicking, the doors burst open and men with dogs rushed inside. And they simply released the dogs amongst the people and people started like shouting and screaming and rushing this way and that and we decided the doors, the front doors had to be opened immediately so that people could actually rush out. The doors opened and people started rushing out. Because at that stage police started hitting at people, they just moved in amongst the people and started hitting out at them. It was chaotic, dogs and people and policeman - you could just see rifles and guns and one is naturally afraid if one sees a gun, especially in the context of what was happening in the country at the time. At that stage no shots were fired, people rushed out of the doors - I am sorry what I forgot to say, two other witnesses should actually have been here today Ms Mathilda Vantura should have been here and Ms Florence Witbooi should also have been here today with me, and then also the deceased wife should have been here, Ms Moira de Bruin. At that stage she wasn't there, she was at work, but the other two witnesses were present. Now Ms Florence Witbooi and I, we were amongst the last people to actually leave the hall with David de Bruin. The reason for that was that I was the leader of the group and I was responsible for their safety and I wanted to see them all safely out of the hall. Florence Witbooi - when I turned around to look, I saw that she was still in the hall and that she was trying to prevent a group of policeman hitting David de Bruin. She was trying to prevent them from assaulting him further and then I had to turn back, and stop them from assaulting her, because they started hitting her as well. Everybody was hitting David de Bruin over his body, his head, everywhere. And eventually Florence and I moved to the door, why try to extricate David. At that stage David had the Civic's flag with him, he held it out in front of him whilst he was busy toi-toiing. Florence shouted that he should leave the flag, he should drop it, but I don't think he heard her. People were just milling about, some people ran to the left, others to the right. The reason for that was that just in front of the doors, there was a round construction almost like a sand pit. And when people started running away, I looked over my shoulder and I saw that one of the adult woman, she took off her slippers and she threw them at the door and at that stage the security police and the normal police, they were inside the hall, they were all inside the hall. And they closed the doors, we were then outside and we ran. What then happened was somebody shouted that they going to start shooting but before the shout ran out, another woman turned around and she took a hand full of sand from the sand pit and she threw that. And then one shouted that they going to start shooting, we - we didn't actually realize that they would shoot, we thought that it was just a threat to frighten us, but then we heard shots. And at the time Marius who testified yesterday, he also came running past, he was looking for his mother, because his mother had been in the hall as well. That family had also received an eviction notice. So the people would had run to the right hand side collided with Marius and there were people lying on the ground and the next thing I saw, well I brought photographs to illustrate the David de Bruin case, it's impossible to show to the people now. But as he ran, well he actually couldn't really run, because he was limping as a result of all the blows he received and he ran up to a wall in the front of this hall and he stood still to actually support himself because he couldn't continue. And then the next volley of shots rang out and they all [indistinct] at him and we just saw him slipping down against the wall and he shouted. But at that stage I didn't know that, I just knew him - I knew he was one of the people inside the hall and he was also involved in complaints about the rent and so on - evictions, so he was an acquaintance, but I didn't really know him. I shouted he is falling, Ms Vantura and myself and Florence Witbooi a couple of us, we then ran back to go and see who it was. When we got there, we saw it was him, I knew the deceased wife, because we had worked together. And I then heard that it was David de Bruin, that it was David de Bruin who had been shot. Ms Vantura picked him up and spoke to him, but he didn't respond, he just lay on the ground. And people came rushing back, somebody lifted up his shirt and we saw that his whole chest was full of tiny little holes and also behind his ears, behind his head full of holes. Ms Vantura held him in her arms, somebody came and covered his body with something like a blanket, and I walked away, I was totally shocked. I couldn't believe that we had started out the morning peacefully and gathered and marched peacefully to present our demands and to meet a particular person and that this could lead to a person being shot dead. Now at that stage we didn't yet know that he was dead, somebody ran to fetch help and we then realised that somebody has also been shot, actually three people were shot and other people were also injured, David de Bruin was fatally injured. So there were other people injured as well and I think Chris Nissan was one of the people who arrived, Dr Allan Boesak and so on, and they supported us. That morning we went to see Carpenter but we didn't actually meet him, we were totally devastated by this, I didn't really know what to do. Some of the comrades really gave us direction, they supported us and helped us. That Sunday there was a memorial service for David, and I was asked to say a couple of words because I was the leader of the Civic organization. I actually couldn't speak, I was drained of emotion, and I was overcome, I just sat down and I wrote something about this incident and I have it here with me if the Committee would allow me to read it, then I will do that. And even now we still don't know, I have asked the deceased wife whether she had heard anything, if she had heard from the pathologist who did the post-mortem on David de Bruin to find out what the actual cause of death was, was it a bullet wound or was it as a result of the blows to the head. But as far as I am concerned, the blows to his head, that could have caused multiple injuries, because when he came out of the hall, he was no longer able to walk properly, he was limping and they then still shot him. Yes that is my story and I'd like to read what I wrote.

&#9;Yes go ahead and do that. --- Before I continue I'd just like to add something, afterwards we negotiated with the Council and we asked that the hall, the place where David actually died that it should be named after David de Bruin, and that the hall should not be called the Adriaanse Hall but the David de Bruin Hall, and that all the cases in Elsies River and especially David de Bruin, that David de Bruin was the first person to die as a result of any action taken by the Civic's in Elsies River. We wanted some kind of monument to be erected to this memory in the place where he died, there is space to actually do that. And something else which I neglected to mention was that when the newspapers, when the press came the next day, we were made out to be the guilty parties, it was said that we had thrown stones at the police and that was the reason why they had started shooting, that was not true. I have a photograph in this little book of mine - a photograph of where David de Bruin's body was lying up against the wall. There were no stones, there was [indistinct] paving there and there wasn't even a tiny little pebble which anybody could have picked up, but this is what we read in the newspaper, the statement from the Regional Services management statement that we had thrown stones. And that's why they had to shoot, another demand which we made to Council concerned Moira de Bruin, we wanted her to be able to not pay rent for the rest of her life, that she receive free housing, that was one of our demands. Now can I continue, I wrote this on the day of David de Bruin's memorial service the Sunday before he was buried. What is in our hearts - it is in Afrikaans, what was is in our hearts and minds the 18th of June is heavy in our minds, it was a day of turbulence and storms. We stayed away from our work, and went to the Council, we never would dream that the RSC security would kill our comrades. Our demands was simply for Carpenter to meet us, Carpenter didn't want to come, because he didn't care about the residents. We decided we would stay there until Carpenter arrived, maybe he did care after all, but to our shock we saw that the dogs were let loose amongst us and three people were shot, David de Bruin died, but not in vain. We support the family in their grief and loss, and we will never forget David de Bruin. Marius Hoffman was maimed and he was still a child. And then the question, what are we going to do about Carpenter and his people, that was the question that all of us wanted to ask.

&#9;Thank you very much Ms Martin, I have no further questions, but before I close I am going to hand over to the Chair to see if any of my colleagues would like to ask you anything.

CHAIRPERSON: Mary Burton.

MS BURTON: You mentioned that you had wanted to have a memorial in David de Bruin's name, I'd like to know whether that has come about and also that you had hoped that Ms de Bruin would be able to live rent free, I don't know what the outcome of that was either. --- There were people - well we divided people in certain committees to work on this issue of the monument and we were involved in negotiations with the Council regarding Ms De Bruin's home because her breadwinner had been taken away from her, and there was nobody to support her, her husband had been taken away from her, she had to pay rent, she had small children at the time and she had no income, her income had just fallen away when her husband died. So I recently spoke to her and she told me that she started paying rent again and that the money which she hadn't paid previously she had to pay in arrears. As far as the monument, memorial is concerned, there was another committee they were looking into the memorial issue, and nothing came of that.

&#9;Do you - do you have ideas about what the Truth Commission could do in this situation? --- Yes, well I don't know we feel that justice was not done to Moira de Bruin we feel that she should be able to occupy her home rent free, her case was referred to the lawyers in Athlone, I don't think anything came of it. And she still hasn't heard nothing about this case, she was called in many a time to go and do various things as in the case of Marius Hoffman, but it was all to no avail, neither of them received anything or heard anything more. If I may I'd like to say that David de Bruin's case was such an unnecessary incident because we were actually very stupid at the time, I can't say we are much cleverer now but still with passing of the time we've actually learnt a lot. We now know what to do and at the time we didn't actually know how to approach and who we should apply pressure on in respect of our problems. Now we know who to approach and to make our demands too. My expectation is and not only as regards Elsies River but everywhere, because we don't only have this problem in Elsies River, our problem is nationwide actually regarding rent and this type of thing. The local Government must co-operate with the Counselors and this group must work together with our communities to prevent this type of thing happening, the kind of thing that happened in 1992, we must prevent it from happening ever again. Because at the time nobody was prepared to listen to us, nobody wanted to lead our demands and that was what lead to David de Bruin's death and we must sure that there will never be a repetition of what happened in 1992 because I fear that there might be a repetition of residence, because local Government will not just disappear from the face of the earth, they will always be there. And I hope what happened will be a lesson to the people at the top to co-operate with the people lower down so that we can prevent recurrence of this type of thing. 

CHAIRPERSON: Wendy will you conclude.

MS ORR: I would just like to place on record that we have a number of statements from various people including Ms Witbooi and Ms Vantura which corroborate the evidence which Ms Martin has given today and as I said the evidence which Zane le Fleur and Marius Hoffman gave yesterday, all give the same version of events which is that it was a peaceful meeting until the security forces barged into the hall. Thank you very much for being here, it's very important that we hear from people like you about these incidents and that we are reminded by you of ways in which perhaps we can prevent this in the future. It must have been very distressing for you as the Chairperson of an organization which was simply attempting to hold a peaceful meeting to have seen the situation dissolve into such horrific chaos in which people were injured and lost their lives. It just remains for me to say thank you for being here, thank you for representing the De Bruin family, thank you for representing your community.

--- Okay.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much Wendy.



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