Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-05-10

DR BORAINE: Welcome to the fourth day of the KwaZulu/Natal, Free State hearings.  The following people will be giving evidence today.  Mrs Gabela, the Tshabalala family, Mrs Mkhize, Mrs Khuzwayo, Mr Hlongwane, Mrs Madikizela, Mrs Dlomo, Mrs Zondo, Mrs Piye, Mr Thunthulwana, Gertrude Mbambo, Mrs Dube, Avra Ndluli and Bongikele Sithole.

CHAIRPERSON: Dr Boraine will light the candle.  Thank you.  PROCEEDINGS OPENED WITH SINGING OF HYMN AND PRAYERS

CHAIRPERSON: I add my own warm welcome to all of you and especially to those who will be testifying today and their families.  I now declare this session open.  Let me introduce the panel, although it hasn't changed the audience changes.  At my extreme right is Ilan Lax, a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee of this region;  Dr Simangele Magwaza, member of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee of this region;  Virginia Gcabashe, member of the Human Rights Violations Committee of this region;  Mdu Dlamini, member of the Human Rights Violations Committee of this region;  Khoza Mgojo, Commissioner and member of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee here;  Richard Lyster, Commissioner, co-ordinator of our regional office here and a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee;  Dr Alex Boraine, Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, and a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee in the Western Cape.  I now hand over to Dr Boraine.

DR BORAINE: Thank you, Chairperson.  Before I call the first witness, may I say, on behalf of the Commission, how pleased we are to have Mrs Di Oliver, known to many of us
 /also as
15A/2 also as Di Bishop, formerly of the Western Cape, now of KwaZulu/Natal, who knows a great deal about the kind of work that we are trying to do.  I am delighted that she is here.  Mr Chairperson, the first witness that we call is Thuli Gabela, and I would ask her please to come forward.  We are waiting for the earphones to be put in place before we start, so that the witness can hear my voice in English and also the translation into her own language.  I'd like to test that out now.  Mrs Gabela, can you hear me on the earphones?

THULI GABELA: Yes.

DR BORAINE: You can.  That's wonderful.  And you can leave the red light on all the time, because it will not interfere with this mike.  Mrs Gabela, sorry for the delay.  I want to extend a very warm word of welcome to you this morning.  You are the first witness on the final day and possibly feeling a little more nervous at the start of the day and also you have a very shocking story to share with us, which I know will not be easy, and we share in your pain and in your memory.  You are going to tell the Commission of the killing of not only your father and your mother, but also your brother, in 1992.  In a moment I am going to ask one of my colleagues if he will guide you as you tell your own story.  Before I do that, I must ask you please to stand for the taking of the oath.

THULI GABELA: (Sworn states) (Through Interpreter)

DR BORAINE: Thank you.  Will you please be seated.  Now I hope you can relax as much as is possible under the circumstances and I'm going to ask my colleague, Mr Lyster, to take over from me.  Thank you.

MR LYSTER: Thank you, Mrs Gabela, for being here today.

MR LYSTER: /Like many

MR LYSTER: 15A/5 Like many of the other people we have heard this week, you have lost family members in a violent manner, but unlike those people who have lost their loved ones, you have lost your brother, your father and your mother, and we can only begin to understand the grief and the sorrow that you feel.  Just to help you begin your evidence today, you say that at the time when your parents were killed you were living in Esikhaweni Township near Empangeni and that you were living in an area which was regarded as a stronghold of the Inkatha Freedom Party.  Is that correct?

WITNESS:   Yes, it is true.

MR LYSTER: Would you tell us what happened in 1992.

WITNESS:   They first killed my brother at work.  They killed him at the stop.  From there they went to attack my mother and my father.  They killed both of them.

MR LYSTER: Do you feel able to carry on now?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR LYSTER: You were saying that at this time your brother, who was living with you and your parents in Esikhaweni, was working for a factory and he was a member of a trade union.  In fact, you said he was a member of NUMSA, which was a COSATU-affiliated trade union.  Is that correct?

WITNESS:   Yes, the firm of RBM.

MR LYSTER: Would you like to try and continue and just to tell us the story?

WITNESS:   As he was coming from work at about eleven they shot at him at the bus stop.  They killed him.  Nobody was arrested.  My mother and father were still alive.  It was on the 4th April and in December they killed all of them - my mother and my father.  They attacked them.  Other children, they were disabled.  They hit at them with stones.  They were very young children.   You've said in your statement, Mrs Gabela, that this

MR LYSTER: /was on the

MR LYSTER: 15A/8 was on the 1st December 1992 that the attack on your house took place.

WITNESS:   They attacked them at night.  On the 2nd they were dead.

MR LYSTER: And who was killed that night?

WITNESS:   My mother and my other younger siblings.  Others managed to escape.  They were at the hospital at Ngwelezana and they followed my father at the hospital and they finished him off at the hospital at Ngwelezana.

MR LYSTER: Mrs Gabela, how many of your siblings died that evening?  How many of your brothers and sisters died?

WITNESS:   Six of them.

MR LYSTER: And your father was injured in the attack.  You said in your statement that hand grenades were thrown into your house.  Is that right?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR LYSTER: And that your father was injured and taken to hospital.

WITNESS:   My father wasn't injured.  They just went to the hospital and finished him off.  I just found him with a bullet wound, but in the morning he didn't have anything.  I spoke to him.  He asked if I was there.  He said he met the police, but these were the people who shot him.

MR LYSTER: Did your father tell you who it was that attacked the house or do you know who it was that attacked the house?

WITNESS:   My father said he was attacked by police.  He said he saw them.

MR LYSTER: And which police were those, do you know?

WITNESS:   These were the ZP, but I do not know them.

MR LYSTER: By the ZP, do you mean the KwaZulu Police?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR LYSTER: And where were you at the time that this happened, Mrs Gabela?

WITNESS:   I was hiding at another place, but I

MR LYSTER: /could see,

MR LYSTER: 15A/12 could see, although I couldn't see everything that was happening, because there were houses in between, but I could see.

MR LYSTER: And did you know then or have you ever found out why your house was attacked?

WITNESS:   I just heard that they attacked us because we are ANC and we are in the Inkatha stronghold area.

MR LYSTER: And was there ever any court case or any inquest of any sort that you knew of or that you went to?

WITNESS:   There's never been anything that happened thereafter.

MR LYSTER: Did you assist with the burial of your family?

WITNESS:  Yes, I did.

MR LYSTER: And did you have death certificates?

WITNESS:   Yes, I have them.  I do have their death certificates.

MR LYSTER: And do you know what the cause of death on those death certificates is given as?  Do you know how your family members died?

INTERPRETER: Excuse us - excuse the interpreters.  We didn't hear the answer.

MR LYSTER: Do you know what the doctor wrote on the death certificate?  It doesn't matter if you can't remember.

WITNESS:   I don't know.

MR LYSTER: And after this happened did any member of the KwaZulu Police ever come to you and explain to you what had happened or give you any reason why this attack had taken place or any other ... (intervention)