Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-20

ENIDE JAFTA: Yes, that is correct.  In 1986 my son Boy did not come back to UNITRA.  He did not seem much interested again in his studies.  Such that when I pleaded with him again I asked him to please register with UNISA so that he can continue with his education.  I did not want him to stay and do nothing.  I did not succeed in my pleadings.  He continued to stay at UNITRA.  We took him into another business that belongs to us in Elliotdale in a place called Nakahi.  We wanted him to take care of that business.  We were trying to keep occupied.  We did not want him to stay at home and do nothing.  We were trying to make him a responsible man.
 Later, I cannot remember when that was, but he arrived at home with another boy who was called Kaye who said he was from Mount Fletcher.  We could realise that his dialect was from, was just like those people from Mount Fletcher.  There was another boy that he was with.  Those people were working at Operation Hunger.  This was not a wonder to us because we did see Operation Hunger in operation at the Nakahi area where Boy use to be most of the time.  In 1986, around the middle of the 1986, their seniors arrived, two of them arrived.  They did not have accommodation.  They were from somewhere around Port Elizabeth and East London and I gave them accommodation.  I did not have a problem with that. 
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They were also from Nakahi.  Kaye and his friend Bongani.  Bongani was Bongani Bobe from Bizana.  They use to visit my home and sometimes they would be away from home.  They came, this particular day, with Andile and Solile and these two young men were rather older than Kaye and Bongani.  We could see even when we were watching them, you could see that these older ones were acting responsibly.  Even my, even these younger ones were acting responsibly when these elder friends were around.
 Now in January 1987 on the 21st I heard a knock at the back in my kitchen.  It was very early in the morning, around five am.  My husband opened the door.  When he got to the door he was, he saw the policemen.  At the time I was still in the bedroom.  I did not realise that these were the police.  I just thought it was just our neighbours who were knocking.  Later I heard sounds and people were running outside, but I did not realise what was going on.  My daughter Natie, who was sleeping in another bedroom next to ours.  Now because we were expecting robbers because we were told before that we were going to be robbed.  So we thought now the robbers have come.  It looks like they have changed their plan because their plans use to happen at night.  It looks like today they decided to come in the morning.  
 Later we heard gunshots, we heard gunshots right on top of our house and I had another daughter who use to sleep in another house.  She cried, she cried she said you, this one does not sleep here.  She sleeps in the next one, next door.  So Natie went to the window tiptoeing.  She said, Mama, these are not robbers, these are policemen.  Now we started to be afraid.  We started to get frightened.  We heard the children crying Kaye is not here, Kaye is next door.  So 
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then that is when we realised that these policemen are here looking for Kaye.  So after hearing these gunshots I decided to get off my bed and lie on the floor, but very fortunately for myself there was another bullet that went straight from the window into the headboard of my bed.  That is how I was fortunate.  I was very frightened by this.  Then we started crawling and my husband was not coming back now from outside and we did realise that he was in danger.  When we tried to peep outside we saw the police leaving with him.  We realised that they were now arresting him.  Now I tried to take shoes for him because he was wearing sandals and we  tried to get some warm clothes for him so that he can get warm wherever he was going.  
 You can imagine, at the time I was still wearing my night dress.  Next to my bed there was another, there was another bundle of clothes that was next to my bed so that the following day I could get it washed.  I was walking barefooted and I had this night dress on, nothing else.  Then I tried to run after my husband.  There were full of police vans outside together with policemen.  We gave him these clothes.  He was already at the gates at this time.  They were pushing him, verbally abusing him.  They said go and fetch your son Boy.  I was hurt by all this.  They kept on saying go and fetch your son, Boy, and Kaye.  Now this was the time when the shots started to be heard.  
 Kaye ran straight right at the end of the garden.  There is another bush which is not much.  My son, Boy, went down and they tried to hide behind the bush.  That was now the beginning of this war between Kaye and the Transkeian police who were assisted by the TDF, the Transkei Defence Force.  When I was at the gate I asked the policemen, 
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please help me, accompany me to the house.  I would like to wear some more clothes on.  They verbally abused me.  I am going to please repeat this.  This police said to me, ney, ney, get away from here.  Did you not say that you want Matanzima, get out of my way and one of the seniors to this young said to me, get out of my way, you are giving us a hard time by not wanting Matanzima.  I was deeply hurt by all this kind of treatment.  Even the fact that they said to me I do not want Matanzima.  Is that the way to tell me? 
 Then my husband was taken again into another van which was across the road.  Myself, my daughter, Natie, and the other two children, we were also put in across the road for the whole day and there were just gunshots the whole day.  There would be just a short pause and then still the bullet shots would go on again.  They surrounded the house.  They arranged themselves quite orderly so that they can surround my house.  Some of them use to even run, but I have never seen policemen running like that before, together with the soldiers.  Then I realised that if the Transkei thinks that it has a Defence Force.  No, people are not defended by this, this Defence Force.  They seemed to be cowards to me.  There was another white man who use to instruct them to say to them, fire, fire and the Defence Force would respond.  This happened for the whole day.

BONGANI FINCA: Sorry Mama.  You said this white man said, fire?

ENIDE JAFTA: Yes.

BONGANI FINCA: And now the soldiers and the policemen would respond and shoot.  You said these boys responded?

ENIDE JAFTA: It was Kaye who was in the bush.

BONGANI FINCA: In other words you said it was Matanzima's soldiers and his policemen?  They were fighting with this
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young man Kaye?  From the beginning of the day up to the end of the day?