Human Rights Violation Hearings — Port Elizabeth — 1996-06-27

MR BORAINE: We have one remaining witness from yesterday.  I call Nomathamsanqa Melia Williams.  We ask her please to come to the witness stand.  Could we put the earphones on please.  Could we just make sure you can hear my voice and the translation.  Can you hear at all through the earphones.  Okay.  Can you speak up a bit.

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: All right.

MR BORAINE: You are Mrs Williams.

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Yes.

MR BORAINE: We want to welcome you very warmly to the Commission today.  To say as I said to Mrs Tshanga that we are grateful for your patience and we are sorry that we were not able to complete the roster yesterday, we had a very long day and we are very grateful that you have come today as well.
 Mrs Williams you are here to talk about what happened to your husband Zolile Bonisile Vumazonke, is that correct?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Yes, that is so.

MR BORAINE: It is a very sad story of what happened in many townships during the height of the conflict when people were necklaced and this is the experience you have had and you have come to tell us about it.
 Ms Tiny Maya is going to lead you in a moment, but first I would ask you to please stand to take the oath.

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: (sworn states)
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MR BORAINE: Thank you very much.  Mrs Williams before I hand you over to my colleague, could I say I am sure you must be very nervous and that is very understandable, but it would help us if you could get as close to the microphone as possible and if you could speak with quite a loud voice so that everybody can hear.  Thank you.

MS MAYA: Thank you Dr Boraine.  Can you confirm that your names are Nomathamsanqa Melia Williams, at 48 Katsha Street, in (indistinct), Uitenhage?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: That is so.  That is so.

MS MAYA: According to the statement in front of the Commission we realise that you are going to be talking about your husband, late husband, Gerald Zolile Bonisile Vumazonke, who was killed in Uitenhage.   Tell us who was Zolile, how was he connected with community organisations as well as political organisations and then we can hear your story.

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Gerald Vumazonke, he was a UDF member.  He was a member of (indistinct) in the street committees and he was whenever something had happened in the street, he would be of assistance.

MS MAYA: Anything else you want to say about his membership to organisations?  Anything you want to add about his involvement with community organisations?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: No there is nothing else that I would like to add.

MS MAYA: Can we come to the 11th of January 1987, tell us what happened?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: On the 11th, Vumazonke was asked by his sister to go to PE, he was going to a funeral in PE.  He went to a funeral in Port Elizabeth, I don't know which
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funeral and whose funeral.

MS MAYA: And who is his sister?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: That is Nomazi Vumazonke, that's the one who asked him to go to PE.

MS MAYA: Why do you say that she persuaded him, she influenced him to go?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: They didn't go together.  He went alone.  The reason I put it that way is because when I think of this, I became unable to talk, but I am trying to summon courage so that I can give my statement because I also want to hear an explanation about his death.
 I want to give this statement because his case was not followed up to the end.  He went to Port Elizabeth alone, he went alone.  
 And his sister had already gone by taxi and at the funeral he was late.  People had already gone to the cemetery and they went, they spent some time at the funeral and whilst at the funeral, a car came according to a report.  The car came, I don't know anything about this car.  I wasn't there, I was - I remained in Uitenhage and this people asked and said to him, we just want to ask something very quickly so he went to these people and whilst he was listening to these people, a quarrel developed, he didn't want to get into their car.
 And they forced him into the car and they left.  After they had left, this is how the report goes, people had already come back from the cemetery.  These people asked whatever they asked him and they burnt him.  They set him alight, poured petrol on him.

MS MAYA: Who told you this story?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: That is his sister.  His sister told me the
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story.

MS MAYA: Was his sister there when he was being taken?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Yes, she was.

MS MAYA: Who did she say these people were, did she know them?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: According to my sister-in-law's report she told me the story long, after a long time when I asked for an explanation.  He was not very, very clear and vocal about this report.

MS MAYA: So how long after they left, how long did it take before you saw her again?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: ; They came back on Saturday late and she did not give me the report about my husband.  I waited and waited, I was waiting for her to knock and then there was a knock, but no one came in and no one ever came and she left.  I did hear the car stopping at her home and then they were from the funeral.
 And she went out because she was staying at - she stayed at her place the following day.  I got up, I thought she would come and give a report to tell me how it went and then on Sunday, during the day, I went to her to ask her about her brother.
 The explanation she gave was that he was taken by some dirty and sloppy boys who went to burn him.

MS MAYA: Did you get this report because you went to check, to find out what happened from your sister-in-law?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Yes, that is so.

MS MAYA: So that is what she told you?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Yes.

MS MAYA: What did you do when you were told this?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: When she told me this, on the third day
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because that was now Tuesday,  a neighbour came and told me that, that was after some days, that Zolile left why don't you go and look for him.  I said I don't have money because the person who went with him, doesn't give me any clear directions.  Then at that stage his sister came and then she said, let's go sister.  
 Even if we are walking, just to look for him at Church Street in Uitenhage.

MS MAYA: Which sister, which sister is this?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: It is the younger sister.  It is not the one who went to the funeral with him, because that one is married.  She is married at that street.

MS MAYA: Were they in good terms with the sister?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: They did quarrel before.

MS MAYA: Was she also a member of the organisation, the sister?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: I don't know.  She belonged to the same organisation.

MS MAYA: Did you go to the police station?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: Yes, when I went to tell them that I was going to Church Street in Uitenhage, she said no, I shouldn't go, I must wait for her. On Tuesday when I went to explain to her on Monday, so we went to Church Street on Tuesday, both of us and then at Church Street we gave the statement and then we were told that we couldn't go and look for him there.
 We should go back to PE, so we took a taxi to Port Elizabeth.  When we came to PE, we went to the mortuary and we told them that we were looking for someone, for my husband who had left and didn't come back.

MS MAYA: Did you get any directions?
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NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: So they opened the barracks for us and we looked and we found him there.

MS MAYA: What did he look like?

NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: He was burnt.