MS DLOMO-JELE
In the beginning I would like to tell this Commission that the harassment and the pain didn't start at the time when my child died.  The whole thing started in 1985 when he was still very young when he started getting involved in student's organisations and then he started being harassed by the police.  Until other organisations also got involved in conflict with his organisation.  He was also being harassed during school hours.  Soldiers and police used to go to school to look for him at school and the headmaster would take him away and hide him among other children.  Until there was a conflict between him and the other organisations so the cops were looking for him and other organisation.  These things really worried me a lot because this other organisation wanted to kill him as well.   I don't know if they were influenced by the White people because these people who were looking for him they were riding in flashy cars but they were looking for him, and they had guns.  Until our house was burnt down, it was petrol-bombed.  When our house was petrol-bombed I suffered quite a lot and I was also very worried that because my mother nearly died during the petrol-bombing.  When my mother tried to take the blankets, to retrieve them from this fire we asked my mother to get out and then when she tried to take the blanket the bomb hit the bedroom and we had to take her to the hospital.
 So we were harassed and worried quite a lot.  I am very grateful that I have got this opportunity of coming here and relating this evidence.  The police always used to come in 
JOHANNESBURG HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
2 S DLOMO-JELE
and out of our place harassing my child.  The police used to urge me that I must tell my child to stop being involved in politics.  I said to them I do not know that he is involved politically but I do know the organisations he's involved with.  I really didn't understand what was the relationship between politics and student organisations.  I did try to tell my child to stop being involved in political activities but he said to my mother these are our rights, I cannot stop being involved.
 He just said to me that he was worried that his involvement in politics would also lead his family to being harassed.  And because the police were after him he started living in .05.96 NAME: MARTHA YEBONA MAHLANGU