Human Rights Violation Hearings — King William's Town — 1997-05-12

MAKI ZOKOZA: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  My wife was at home at the time.  I asked her what happened, who did this?  She said that she was outside, it was during the day.  She was, I have a child at home who is an albino.  My wife was busy washing this child's clothes.  She said that she saw a bakkie and Msikeleli Ntsodo, Lundi Ndzuzo, Lukhanyo Simakade and Thozamile Hoga were in that bakkie.  They had weapons with them.  After that I did not have a place to stay.  There was a room outside.  I tried to go to the police, Mr Chairperson, to report this matter.  I gave them my statement.  They told me to wait.  I waited.
 I got a summon that I should appear in court in Zwelitsha. I went there.  When I arrived in court people were called.  There were two people.  My wife did not mention them that they were there when my house was burnt down.  I went to the man who was calling these people.  I said to this man, these two men, were they involved in this incident?  He said yes.  I said my wife did not mention these two people.  I found out that there were other people who were there, not the ones who burnt down my house.  He told me not to say anything to these people.  I have to ask the prosecutor or the interpreter, because there are two people who were not present when my house was burnt down.  I talked with, to the interpreter telling him that there are these two people who were not there.  I said Lundi and Lukhanyo were supposed to be there.  It was only Msikeleli and Thozamile who were there.  There was one lady from Lengele Ntsodo who were there.  I said that I am not going to say anything to these people, because they were not there.

MS MAYA: Did the case continue, Sir?

MAKI ZOKOZA: Mr Chairperson, we appeared in court two times.  After that nobody told me or gave me a date to appear in court again.  That was all, up until today.

MS MAYA: Thank you Sir.  Did you receive money from the Government?

MAKI ZOKOZA: Yes, I did.  If I can go back.  There is a white man in Bisho who said that I must not touch anything in my house while it was, at the time it was burnt down.  He said that I will be given money to build my house, but no money for furniture.  I then said that I do not have money to buy furniture, because my furniture was destroyed.  This white man said that he will only give me money to build the house.  I went to the sub-region of ANC to tell them about this matter.  They then took the matter in their, into their hands. I do not know how they did it, but I managed to build the house and to put a roof in my house, but I did not manage to buy furniture in the house, because it was destroyed.   Lastly, Mr Chairperson, I was staying in Sikalinie village.  I had horses and I would go back home every morning so that I can attend ANC and SANCO meetings at Bhele location.  Because I was working with horses, one of my horses was dead and it died.  That is all.

MS MAYA: Do you have any requests to the Commission, Sir?

MAKI ZOKOZA: Mam, I said that I am a person who is working for myself, but now I cannot.  My left side is not well.  I cannot work for myself, the children are working for me.  My fingers, especially this side, the man next to me can see, the soldiers tramped on my right fist with their feet, but I managed to survive.  I felt pain, I did not die, fortunately, because, but I feel pain in my body because of these injuries.  I cannot use my fingers.  They were injured on that day.

MS MAYA: What are your requests then, Sir?

MAKI ZOKOZA: I would like the present Government to help me with my furniture and with my health.

MS MAYA: Thank you Sir.

MAKI ZOKOZA: Thank you Mam.

MS MAYA: Mr Simon Ndindi Funda.  Could you tell us briefly, Sir, about your story.

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  It was the 17th of October 1992, 17th of October 1992.  It was at about 12, midnight.  I was at home.  I heard my dogs barking and I realised that they must be seeing something.  I got up, went out, they ran towards the road.  When my dogs saw me they came towards me.  I went back inside the house, but two or three minutes later, after I had got into my bed, there was a bang on my window and then an explosion.  The explosion caused me to fall on the floor.

MS MAYA: Was your house burnt down?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: There was just smoke.

MS MAYA: Nobody was injured?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: No.

MS MAYA: What was the explosion about?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: The next morning we saw a bomb next to the house that had unsuccessfully exploded.  Soldiers came in the morning, the soldiers came and picked up these grenades.  Our houses were, our windows were damaged and also my furniture was damaged.  We tried to buy more furniture and to fix our house.

MS MAYA: Where did you stay at that time?  What was the name of the village?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: Bonke.

MS MAYA: Were there other incidents in this village similar to yours?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: A house was burnt down.  We never found out who was involved.

MS MAYA: Were you a member of any organisation at the time?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: I was the Chairperson of  SANCO and Vice-Chairperson of the ANC.

MS MAYA: Were there other political organisations in the village that you were in conflict with?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: There was the ADM.  Even though we never saw their members, as such, we tried to organise meetings.  It was just a few people that were members.

MS MAYA: Was there ever outright conflict between you and the members of the ADM?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: One soldier called me.  He accosted me saying that he is Brigadier Gqozo's bodyguard.  Brigadier Gqozo apparently said that I was working together with Mrs Mantoyi whose ex-husband was a headman.  This gentleman said that Brigadier Gqozo was happy that I was working with this lady.  I tried to question, because I did not understand, but he got angry and I just left him.  The whole village came to my house after there had been the explosion.  He came,  alighted from a car and went around the house to my next door neighbours.  We were looking at him.  He then went to, walked to another house.  He sent a boy saying that he is able to stop the bomb that had not exploded, but the people verbally harassed the boy that was sent.

MS MAYA: Do you know who threw the bombs at your place?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: No, to this day I do not know, except that the soldiers came in the morning.  I suspect that they know about this.

MS MAYA: Exactly when did they go to your house?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: They came on the day, the next day after my house had exploded, the next morning.  The one had a video camera, his name was Qishane.  I do not know who called them, because we had not reported this.  Qishane was an Intelligence Officer.

MS MAYA: Did you get any compensation from the Government?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: No.

MS MAYA: Did you report this to the police?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: Yes,  it  is the police that came and put out the bomb.

MS MAYA: Did they take a statement and investigate the matter?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: A statement was taken.  Geyena was handling my case.

MS MAYA: What police are these?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: The Zwelitsha police.

MS MAYA: What happened to this case?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: They said that the case had been withdrawn because there was not enough evidence.  I gave evidence about the soldier that I had reported.  They said that they had called the soldier and he denied everything.

MS MAYA: What is the name of the soldier?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: Soni Matayi.

MS MAYA: Did he stay there in Zwelitsha?  Is he still there?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: Yes, he is still there.

MS MAYA: Is he still a soldier?

SIMON NDINDI FUNDA: Yes, he is still a soldier.

MS MAYA: What requests do you have before the Commission?