Human Rights Violation Hearings — Heiderveld — 1996-04-23

MS KING: I remember when I went there and it was just a few doors away from my house. And her sister-in-law was down from Johannesburg and, when they saw me, they were also surprised to see me. And then they said a little prayer while I was there and they said I must go out the following day and go look for my husband.
     And I remember that evening I still took my children - I remember when we went to sleep then I prayed again with the children and we all slept in one bed.  And the following morning a friend of Henry's came (his name was Martin) and another one (he used to work for a funeral undertaker). And another friend and, I think, one of his brothers. Then we went looking for Henry.
     And, I don't know... we were driving towards Claremont. Because now we - because as they said they were - they looked all over and they couldn't find him. And now we thought, okay, we might just go and look for him in... in Wynberg.  First at the hospital there and come back from Wynberg doing Cape Town and so on.  And while we were in Claremont  we changed our minds and we said, okay, let's rather go to Groote Schuur Hospital. And on our way there, as we passed the mortuary,  we decided to go to the Salt River mortuary before going to the hospital.
     And when we parked the car, this white chap who worked at the mortuary... I remember him saying to Martin (this friend who was driving me there)... he said to him" Man hier le 'n man wat nes soos jy lyk ek het gedink dis jy". There was something wrong because the whole time I thought, okay, I don't think that he could be dead. Maybe he could of skipped the country, or whatever...you know.
     And it was only then (because Henry and Martin they were supporting those Afro hairstyles at that time they looked, you could have thought they were brothers)  and so, really, we went in and they pushed him on a trolley in the passage there.  And there was a glass - a partition- a glass partition. And then I saw him, but I said, "But he looks very funny you know".
     And it's only when I looked again that I saw why he looked funny.  And then we went home and on coming home I sent Martin and them to our parish priest (whom I see is here also) Father Dick, to go and tell my mother-in-law what happened, because I stayed behind in the house with the children. Then the people came in and then my mother-in-law come up later that evening to be with me.

ADV POTGIETER: Did you try to find out what possible could of happened to your husband?

MS KING: We were trying to find out but at that time the people was scared to come forward and state publicly that they saw what happened. Because they were scared that they either might vanish into thin air or they might be pushed out of their houses, kicked out of the houses or they might even be killed.  So, whoever knew, they never wanted to say anything about it.  Because he wasn't alone that night when this happened.

ADV POTGIETER: So you could never really find out exactly what - what happened?

MS KING: No, it's only now. [intervention]

ADV POTGIETER: Until very recently.

MS KING: Yes, only now recently, ja.

ADV POTGIETER: Now was your husband involved in politics? What kind of person was he?

MS KING: He was a very happy person. He used to like life a lot, because I remember, he used to like listening to jazz. And he used to play the trumpet. And he was also a drama student at the Gwezi Centre so whenever there were plays and so on, with Mavis Taylor and them, they always used to go there. And afterwards they used to come to my house and have a cup of tea or whatever, you know. And there were always people coming in and out. He was a happy person.

ADV POTGIETER: A sociable kind of person?

MS KING: Very...  very.

ADV POTGIETER: Would you call him a political activist or what? How would you describe him on that level?

MS KING: I don't really think that he  belonged to any party as far as I know, but he was very aware. Because they used to sit around and discuss politics in my house.

ADV POTGIETER: Now, subsequently, there was an inquest which you actually attended. Is that correct?

MS KING: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: What happened there?

MS KING: I remember that I still went with my mother-in-law. And then it was just said that the cause of death was that he was hit with a blunt instrument on the head and as he fell, he had a graze wound on the left side of his face and his eye.  I can't remember what they said 
now about the wound on the chest.  And there was no-one too - that they could charge for killing him... they didn't know who killed him.

ADV POTGIETER: There was a - there was a lawyer that actually represented the family at that inquest. Is that correct?

MS KING: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: And did she make any remarks about the findings of the inquest?

MS KING: Yes, afterwards, when we went outside. And then she called us and she said "they were reading you the statement from the State Pathologist. They didn't read you the other one. There were two statements there.  The other one was from the doctor at Groote Schuur Hospital because he was the first victim to come in on the 27th. And so the statements weren't the same.  The doctor's statement was that he was shot at close range in his head and he was - his eye was blown away.  But they said there that he fell and he had a graze wound here".

ADV POTGIETER: And is it correct that, that second version of the Groote Schuur Hospital doctor that actually coincided with what you heard recently, actually happened?

MS KING: That he was shot, yes.

ADV POTGIETER: Now - well we've got the witness here and we'll deal with that, so it isn't necessary for you to actually deal with the detail.

MS KING: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: At the time in '76, was your husband the sole breadwinner in the family?  Was he the person that worked for your family?

MS KING: Yes, he was- yes.

ADV POTGIETER: And what - what was your circumstances - your husband has suddenly died?

MS KING: Died.

ADV POTGIETER: And you were left with the three young children.

MS KING: It was very hard. It was very, very hard, because as Ms Mia said earlier on, I used to work like she did. Get up at four, catch a train at five, be at work at six o'clock. Then you work for two hours there. From there, then, you go and work as a domestic worker. That is how I used to live, coming late at night.

ADV POTGIETER: You  were doing - doing more than one - one job?

MS KING: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: At the same time really?

MS KING: Yes... yes.

ADV POTGIETER: And did you then actually raise the children?

MS KING: Yes, I did.

ADV POTGIETER: And you worked for the family?

MS KING: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: Is there anything else that you want to add to the - to the testimony?

MS KING: I don't think so at the present moment, thank you.

ADV POTGIETER: What is there that you feel the Commission can do to assist?

MS KING: I would really like to know what really happened to Henry and apart from that also, if at all (like somebody said in the Eastern Cape) if there could be like a memorial or whatever with the plague with people's names on it, I would really like to see that.  Because I feel I owe that to my children, that they should know how their father died and that their father was a hero.

ADV POTGIETER: Now you could never yourself follow up those two conflicting versions of what actually happened whether it was a injury to the head or whether it was a gunshot injury?

MS KING: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: I assume you would - you would like the Commission to follow that up if it's possible?

MS KING: Yes please.

ADV POTGIETER: If you can still remember who was the lawyer that acted for the family?

MS KING: I honestly don't know. I don't even know who appointed her, because we just found her there that day.

ADV POTGIETER: Okay.