"A Shame before the Nations"

My grandparents, who were Yiddish-speakers, would on certain occasions talk about something called a shanda fur die goyim. The literal translation of the phrase is: "a shame before [in front of] the [other] nations".

Well, here is a shanda fur die goyim for all of us to think about.

Yesterday morning Fusi Mofokeng, 44, and Tshokolo Mokoena, 49, received a call they had been dreading. It came from the local Community Corrections Centre (i.e. the parole officers at the local department of correctional services) in Bethlehem in the Free State.

Readers might recall that on 2 April last year the two men were released on parole after serving 19 years in jail for crimes they never committed (Politicsweb 5 May 2011).

They'd been peripherally involved, via the marriage of Fusi's sister, with an ANC self-defence unit (SDU) passing through their town on the way to make war on Inkatha in KwaZulu-Natal. On 2 April 1992 some of the SDU members killed a policeman and severely wounded another.

In terms of the doctrine of common purpose, a court sent the two men to jail, along with the surviving members of the SDU, for life. Four years later, the Truth Commission (TRC) came to the Free State - and exonerated the SDU survivors. Their crime had been political.

But Mofokeng and Mokoena would not apologise or make full disclosure - because they had not been involved in the shootings nor were they part of the unit. They hadn't done anything. They were sent back to jail. The ANC said it'd sort it all out; it didn't.

Then after pressure from various quarters, including the Wits Justice Project (WJP) and Jomo Nyambi's petitions committee in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) - and especially as a result of the Van Vuren  judgment of the Constitutional Court in September 2010 - the two men were paroled.

They went home 19 years to the day after they'd been arrested (for crimes - let me say it again - they had not committed). The Free State ANC greeted them like prodigal sons and made all sorts of promises: homes, jobs, etc. And in fact they do have jobs in the vehicle workshops and parks department of the Bethlehem municipality.

The minister of correctional services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, welcomed them "home" at her office in parliament. She told them not to worry about the parole stipulations (reporting at certain times, staying at home on certain days, etc) - these rules would soon be relaxed.

But they were not exonerated and the parole conditions were not relaxed. And Mofokeng and Mokoena said that having to report all the time, having DCS officers coming to their homes in Bohlokong Township under the neighbours' gaze, and being restricted to the Bethlehem municipal area, was humiliating. Besides, they wanted to travel overseas.

A few weeks ago the two men were told that a decision had been taken to electronically tag 150 parolees nation-wide. The two men said they did not want to be tagged. They had not committed any crime. They had been dumped in jail for 19 years. They wanted to get on with their lives and relationships without hindrance. They had been promised that the parole "situation" would end.

Then yesterday - as I began by saying - they heard that on Tuesday 13 march they will be driven to Bethlehem to be tagged - and that, if they refuse to comply, they would most likely be sent back to jail.

Here is a letter from Mofokeng to Nyambi, written yesterday. I have mostly left it as it was originally written, correcting only some spelling. I personally think the use of the word "torture" is exaggerated. But I did not spend 19 years in South African jails, so who am I to say what is hyperbole and what is not?

Dear Mr. Nyambi

Kindly be informed that this morning we were called by the
Community Corrections office only to be told that next week Tuesday ( 13 March 2012 ) we're going to be taken to Bloemfontein where we're going to be tagged electronically and this is final.

Furthermore we were told to be ready on that particular time to be transported to Bloemfontein for this electronic tagging process to take place.

I personally take this as further humiliation and a severe torture, which is unnecessary taking into account all the suffering that one went through. I truly cannot believe that this action is taken by our democratic government. I hoped that our government t was going to be sympathetic towards but we experience further humiliation and torture and exclusion from human rights as if those rights are not enshrined in our Constitution.

I call upon your speedy intervention with the office of the Minister of Correctional Services to stop this humiliation and torture on us.

Mr. Nyambi, I don't have words to explain how I feel right now. I must say that I am really shocked [and sad] about the whole episode.

I want to believe that you're going to regard this as an urgent matter that needs speedy attention because I am paralyzed spiritually and calling for your urgent assistance ....

I don't want to begin to think that our invitation to National Parliament last year April after our release was an April fools' joke. I want to remain confident that you did a right thing as a committee.

Yours truly

Fusi Simon Mofokeng.

Yes, I know, as mentioned above, there is apparently a pilot programme for the electronic tagging of parolees. But why Mofokeng and Mokoena? Haven't they been through enough?

I'm given to believe that all sorts of assurances have been made on emails and telephone lines between Pretoria and Cape Town, but apparently none of these have made it through to Bloemfontein.

Sometimes I find this government's ham-handed bungling and foolishness quite breathtaking. We're talking about the people who the ANC was supposed to liberate - and the ANC spends its time treating such people like dirt.

A shame before the nations indeed.

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