Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Thank you very much, Mrs Mkhize.  Mrs Mkhize, in your evidence you mentioned seeing a number of lorries.  In fact you've mentioned there were 29 lorries carrying armed people, is that right?

WITNESS:   That's correct.  I counted them. And did you see that they had KwaZulu Government registration plates on them?  You said that in your statement, is that right?   ---   Although I didn't see that at the time, but I was told that those lorries had KwaZulu registration, and also were painted white, cream-white, and that was the Government colour.  And most of those lorries one could obviously tell that they belonged to the Government, because who could own 29 lorries?

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  So they were all the same types of lorries?  They weren't big ones, small ones, bakkies, trucks, they were all the same, is that right?

WITNESS:   The ones that I saw were 29, and eight-ton big.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  And do you have any idea which Government department they came from, Department of Works, Department of Health, which - do you have any idea?

WITNESS:   That I may not know as to what department.  I was also surprised to discover that some from hospital were there.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  And the ambulance which people saw, did you see that ambulance as well, which contained people which fired at residents?  Did you see that ambulance?

WITNESS:   Yes, I did see the ambulance.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Are you able to say what sort of ambulance it was?  Was it NPA, was it ZG, what was it?

WITNESS:   It was ZG.  It came from Eden Hospital.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Mrs Mkhize, according to your statement you've said the Eden Hospital was not giving any services to the UDF members.  Who was the superintendent of the hospital at that time?

WITNESS:   I am not sure if it was Dr Evans then.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  What year was it?

WITNESS:   It was 1990.  I think it must have been Dr Evans.   Tell me about the matrons, who were the matrons?    ---   Although I don't know the staff at large, but I know for sure Dr Evans was the superintendent.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  I am talking about the matrons.  You know matrons also assist the doctors in the hospitals.

WITNESS:   I don't know the matrons.  I am not so much used to the nurses.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  You did not even hear who were the matrons at the time?

WITNESS:   We'll have to get the truth, open up.  There was a Matron Monaheng and Matron Ngcobo, and Shandu.  There were many matrons, although I don't know who was it.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Were some coming from Xaluza?

WITNESS:   Yes.  Monaheng was coming from Xaluza.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Did she know about this?

WITNESS:   Yes, I do hope she knew, because she came from Xaluza.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Was she also aware about the fact that the Xaluza residents were not welcomed at the hospital?

WITNESS:   Yes.   As a person who was coming from your area did you ever ask her a question or probably - with regard to this?  ---   No, we never asked her anything.  Our minds were preoccupied about the war that was taking place that we did not even think of approaching her and asking her such questions.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Now, when you approached the reporter and you also spoke to the police officer do you know the name of the police officer, the one you spoke to, you talked to?

WITNESS:  Remind me which part is that?

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  You said you ran towards the Greenacre Road and you saw a reporter there, and you had a baby on the back.  You spoke - you talked to the police officer, and the police officer was with the reporter.

WITNESS:   That time the police officers used to remove their name tags so I could not tell his name.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  What was the name of the principal who sent the children back home when there was this attack?

WITNESS:   It was Miss Kesa, a principal of Siyamo School.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  It means if we can get hold of her she'll tell us and shed more light in this.

WITNESS:   I do trust and hope that she will do that, she will shed more light, and she's the one who released the children to go back home.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE: I'll stop right there.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  I greet you, Sibongile.  I haven't greeted you before.  I will just make a comment and point a few things that your presence here this afternoon gives me hope, and I am proud about that as a woman as well.  Since yesterday and this day you are the first woman to come up front here and tell us from your own point of view things that happened at that time.  Maybe we shall say that we thank you, and thank all other women who played an important role at the time.  This women organisation which played such an important role, was it an organisation that was dealing with what?  Or tell us a little bit about the organisation.

WITNESS:   That women organisation was formed as a result of these attacks.  We came together as women because we were all facing this problem of losing our children ranging around the ages of 17.  And also one other thing that reinforced this was an attempt of trying to combat what was going on.  Xaluza was an area where many people or the youth would run to for safety.  We would keep these children and hire some rooms at times to accommodate the children.  But the objective of the organisation itself was to face up the situation and try and do something in light of bringing peace.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  We know that you did not intend to fight back or revenge probably, throw stones, but you had this aim of bringing and introducing peace, and also protecting those who were injured.

WITNESS:   Yes, that was the aim too, although the situation in which we were was a tough one, because according to our culture a woman will not go to war or to the battlefield, but in our case we had to do that because no one else could do that.  So we found ourselves in a position of having no choice but to just go forward.  We were not trained to do that, we were doing something that was strange, but we had to do that, take food to those who were directly involved in the fighting.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  One other question I would like you to dwell on.  You've said that Makozi's boy was hit by the bus, and why would you say that led to the attacks?  What led to the bus hitting him?

WITNESS:   There was a youth called Eden - Edendale Youth Organisation, that we were not aware of as adults.  It was in the afternoon, though the youth was running on Eden Road.  I remember seeing - because we were outside watching them.  They were chanting and singing songs, and he was hit suddenly in that scene, and we were lost, we did not know what was happening.  That's where the Inkatha realised that UDF was already there.  That's why I said that was the beginning of violence.  They will come in Xaluza with their dogs and shoot, and that was no big deal at all.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  You said in 1987 you were being attacked severely by the police, and then they did not used to remove their name tags.  So tell us their names.

WITNESS:   Although I would not - I may have forgotten some of their names, but I remember we did give statements to the human rights lawyers.  We gave them all the details regarding the situation.  We gave them things like registration numbers and police numbers, and we also furnished them with some of the bullets that were used.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Was it the human rights here in Pietermaritzburg?

WITNESS:   Yes.  At the time John Jeffreys was the leader.

SIBONGILE CLARABEL MKHIZE:  Mrs Mkhize, you mentioned this helicopter and its activities.  Just to give us a clear picture, what year was that when you saw this helicopter being involved?