31/08/2026
MONDAY DAY 6 of the Biko Inquest. Judge Madondo has recalled the IO Sergeant Dingiswayo to enquire how long would she need for investigations into the missing documents and information. She says she might need about a month.
Prosecutor Govender introduces the issue of loco inspection at the former Sanlam Building Room 619 where Biko was interrogated by the apartheid Special Branch. The Prosecutor assures the Court that the Room 619 remains almost intact even though there is some repartitioning that has since taken place.
Counsel for the "perpetrators" say his instructions are that nothing is left of that Room 619. Therefore, it would be the waste of the Court's time to go there. On the Court for the inspection, the Prose utor assures the Court that security is well arranged.
Court witness Monde Mdishwa (71) is call to the stand. He testifies that he was a 22-year member of SASM and a political activist in 1977. He was part of the organisers who organised 8 buses to attend Biko's funeral in Qonce.
He was later arrested and detained under section 22 for 14 days at the Baakens Police Station and interrogated at the Sanlam Building Room 619 where Biko was interrogated. He rembers that there was a file cabinet and one window in that Room. He was tortured and assaulted by the police leader Niewoud, Goosen, Roelofse, Momberg, Du Plessis and Sieberd who was a Captain at the time. He was clapped, kicked and beaten up with a green hosepipe. The Prosecutor asks Mr Mditshwa of he knows that Niewoudt admitted that they used the hosepipe in torturing Biko. The witness didn't know.
The Witness would be taken to Room 619 almost on a daily basis. He would be interrogated for about 4 to 8 hours a day. He was interrogated standing and facing the wall. They would clap him saying "jy praat kaak" (you're talking s**t). He has since partially lost hearing in his left ear. They would place a pile of two bricks for each leg to stand on. Each leg would be standing on these piles of two bricks, and he was required to remain standing and not fall. He spend 6 months in detention without trial.
The witness is shown Biko's photo in which he was lying on the floor in Room 619. His legs and hands are cuffed and to a grill door. Dr Lang found him in that position. The witness remembers the condition of the Room 619 and the file cabinet and a small table on the photos. He remembers the person on one of the photos as a Mr Snyman who was referred to by colleagues as Major. He remembers the gentleman as extremely rude.
The Prosecutor tells the Court it is the right time to visit Room 619 which has now been changed to 609.
The Court adjourns for loco inspection.
Reporting from the PE HIGH COURT, GQEBERHA.
AZAPO PRESIDENT, Nelvis QEKEMA.
