Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission – Hearing number 136 |12 December 2020

Two open and one closed sessions at last hearing for 2020

In its last hearing for the year 2020 yesterday, the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) listened to two witnesses in open session, while another case was carried out in closed session.

At hearing number 136, Françoise Shroff and Yvonne Balthilde were in open sessions as witness and complainant respectively, while the case of John and Joy Ferguson before the TRNUC was listened in closed session.

Case 0116: Antonio Savy

Françoise Shroff was the first witness in open session of the TRNUC yesterday, giving evidence in case 0116 filed by Antonio Savy, regarding his property at Bel Air which went through compulsory acquisition.

In his complaint Mr Savy said he had renovated a building and opened a store, incorporated as Bel Air Store which was compulsory acquired in the national interest on August 9, 1985.

After the acquisition, the land was sold to the Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) for one rupee (R1), before being sold to Mrs Shroff for R200,000.

In her evidence, Mrs Shroff said she is not aware of the previous transaction involving the property between the government and the SMB, and that it was only in 1996, over ten years after the acquisition, that she bought the property after SMB was pulling out of retail activities at district level and selling all its assets, including the Bel Air Store.

She said she approached the SMB and expressed her wish to buy the property, offering R150,000 which was rejected.

Mrs Shroff explained that upon asking the company to come up with its price, the sum of R200,000 was agreed upon, under the condition that the shop operates as a franchise of the SMB.

This, she said, was because even if the SMB was ceasing its retail operation, the company wanted to maintain its presence at district level via franchise shops.

As a franchise, she had to buy supply for the store from the SMB only, except for local products such as fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, while the shops were run on profits that were set by the SMB (15 percent).

She said the R200,000 was just for the shop which was not in a good state, needing major renovations, while the stock was paid separately.

Mrs Shroff further explained that there was no formal tender procedure at that time for sale of the property, but since it was common knowledge that the SMB was selling its assets she came forward.

After 14 years in the retail business, Mrs Shroff sold her shop for the sum of R1.5 million.

Regarding the complainant, Mrs Shroff said she had known him for a long time since she used to shop in his store before the acquisition.

She added that they have mutual respect and even when she was in charge of the Bel Air district, Mr Savy was his right-hand man, helping her with a lot of community projects.

In his complaint, Mr Savy stated that his property was taken with ill-will, or maliciously because it was given to the SMB, even if he was told that the acquisition was made in national interest.

This, he said, was related to his wife’s involvement with the Democratic Party.

Commenting on the political claim, Mrs Shroff said it is hard for her to understand since the wife of Mr Savy worked in the government, while both of them were very active in politics at district level, along with her during the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF) era.

She added that if there was any politically oriented reason behind the acquisition, the couple would have been sidelined from the communal activities which were carried out under the SPPF at that time.

Regarding the debts of Mr Savy following the acquisition, Mrs Shroff maintained that she does not know anything in relation to the acquisition before she bought the store.

She also added that the complainant never spoke to her regarding the shop, even if they were close and he even did his shopping there from time to time.

Case 0134: Yvonne Balthilde

Yvonne Balthilde was the second witness in the TRNUC seat yesterday and also the last person to appear before the commission for 2020.

Ms Balthilde is the complainant in case 0134 regarding her brother Antoine, an escaped prisoner who was gunned down by security forces at Anse Louis on September 24, 2003 and altogether there were nine bullets in his body.

She explained that her brother started to get involved in crimes at a very young age and upon reaching 18 years old, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for all the previous crimes he had committed as a juvenile.

Ms Balthilde said after his release from prison, Antoine got a job as a machine operator in the laundry at the same hotel where she was working.

He did not last long in the job and after a while he was back to stealing again, until he became the prime suspect in a robbery case at Sweet Escott.

During his trial, Antoine, who according to her sister, was being kept at the army headquarters at Bel Eau, was prevented from attending, due to bruises he sustained from beatings and tortures he sustained at the hands of soldiers.

He was later sentenced to 25 years imprisonment and still according to her sister, he was convicted based on suspicion and not solid evidence.

She explained that the witness in the case could not clearly identify him, but rather based her statement on assumption in comparison to someone else.

Antoine then escaped from the Long Island Prison, along with another inmate – the late Collin Thelermont, who was also shot dead by security forces – before being captured and sent back to prison, where he escaped again.

Ms Balthilde said she even received phone calls from her brother and offered to accompany him to the police station but Antoine refused, saying that he will be tortured.

She said on one occasion, armed soldiers accompanied by a police officer searched her house at Bel Ombre in the middle of the night in their attempt to arrest his brother.

Still according to her, Antoine was released by the police to go out stealing and was even spotted in a nightclub on one occasion.

Antoine was then captured and brought back to the Long Island Prison, where he escaped again.

Ms Balthilde added that on one random night while at work, she received a phone call and someone told him that Antoine had been killed.

The following day at around 8.30am she received another phone call, this time from prison officer Rodney Bibi who asked to speak to her mother, but she refused to and told Mr Bibi that she will be the one responsible to handle everything.

Mr Bibi asked her to come downtown where he informed her about what had happened. She said they were not allowed to see the body at the mortuary which was being guarded by soldiers, until lawyer Bernard Georges came down.

She also noted that on the day of her brother’s funeral, there were armed soldiers in the vicinity of the cemetery.

Ms Balthilde said after filing a case regarding the death of his brother, a compensation of R125,000 was offered and was rejected by the family.

Roland Duval