Kopano Ratele, Nosisi Mpolweni- Ndabethwa lilitye: Assumption, Zantsi & Antjie Krog translation and culture in the testimony Kopano Ratele was Professor in the of one person before the South African Department of Psychology and Women and Gender Studies, University of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Western Cape, Bellville. He is currently at the University of South Africa. E-mail:
[email protected] Nosisi Mpolweni-Zantsi is teaching in the Department of isiXhosa, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa. E-mail:
[email protected] Antjie Krog reported as a journalist on the South African TRC and is currently Assumption, translation and culture in the Professor Extraordinaire, Faculty of Arts, testimony of one person before the South University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa. African Truth and Reconciliation Commission E-mail:
[email protected] The second week of the first round of hearings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission took place in Cape Town. On 2 April 1996 four mothers testified that Security Forces killed their sons during an incident that became known as the Gugulethu Seven. One of them was Mrs Notrose Nobomvu Konile. Of the four mothers she testified last and presented a testimony that seemed largely incoherent with very little detail about her son. Using the original Xhosa testimony the authors try to understand Mrs Konile. This essay focuses exclusively on her description of what the authors refer to as the “rock-incident”. The essay uses the original narrative with its embedded cultural contexts as well as a new translation to trace some of the different stages and places where incomprehension had been created.