Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-19

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: (Duly sworn, states).

CHAIRPERSON: Over to you Ntsiki.

ADV SANDI: Thank you.  Mr Jwaai, did you say your full names are Malolo Gilifisi Jwaai, is that so?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: That is so.

ADV SANDI: You are an aged person who is 71 years old.

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: You stay at Ndabakuzi?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Your story that you are going to present before us, can briefly be given in the statement here before me.  Your son Thembalethu Jwaai was burnt to death in the police car in 1992. Is that Mr Jwaai?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Yes, Sir.

ADV SANDI: Before we can proceed with what took place on that day, I would like you to briefly state and give us a background about Thembalethu. How old was he?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Thembalethu was born in 1970.

ADV SANDI: Was he married during this period?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: No, he was not yet married, he was not even yet to have been sent to the initiation school as per our traditional arrangements.

ADV SANDI: Did you say he was a policeman in Ciskei and whereabouts was he a policeman?
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MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: He was a policeman in Ntlanzame.

ADV SANDI: When this took place, Mr Jwaai, you state that you were not here in this area.

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: No, I wasn't.

ADV SANDI: How did you learn about it?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Yes, I can explain how I learnt about it.  Firstly, I would like to thank the Commission and the investigating unit for your good work that you have done.  I am glad that I can talk about Thembalethu today, he is my child.
 I have this to report. I would like to know who killed him.  Secondly, what did he do.  As a child who used to state what happened to him, even if we used to punish him as a child you would have an explanation of why you had to punish him.  That is why I would like to see the people who are the perpetrators. He was very young.  
 I can report that he was in Std 10.  Because of lack of means we couldn't take him further.  I have eight children and there are ten of us, including the parents.  He was the youngest.
 When he passed Std 10, I ordered him to go and seek employmen because I am an old-age pensioner.  You can realise that the pension is only meant for one person.  One person can only be supported with this, and then he agreed to go and seek employment.
 I took him to Ntlanzame and I knew that he would be staying in my houst at Ntlanzame because I own a house there, Unit 15, it is No 284.  Then I was sure and confident that he would be realised and would behave himself as an owner of the house. So I liked that he was going to be there. I also stated that I will arrange that he gets an 
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identity document and then he agreed to that.  
 Then we went to East London.  There was a policeman who was a next-door neighbour, he was Mr Zelani and then I handed him over so that he can be assisted. This Zelani was a sergeant and then he asked whether he had documents. Then I admitted that he had none.  Then he promised that he would make arrangements. Thembalethu obtained the identity document. He was enrolled in the police force. 
 He continued as a policeman.  During his off days he would come and visit us as a family.

ADV SANDI: I would like you to please realise that I would like to make a request and I hope you won't be offended by this. Could you please confine yourself to what happened to your son.  Before you go further, I would like you to answer this question for me.  When did he join the police force in Ciskei, can you remember the year?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Yes, I think it was in 1992.

ADV SANDI: So he also, all this occurred in 1992?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: Yes, I think it happened the same year, because he was still a new recruit.

ADV SANDI: Can you remember the situation there in the Ciskei during that period, who was the ruler there?  Can you give us a brief explanation of what you can remember who was governing the Ciskei and how did he relate with the police?

MALOLO GILIFISI JWAAI: The governor or the person who was governing was Gzozo.  Everybody was not satisfied with what was happening.

ADV SANDI: Let's go back to the day when this happened.  You said Thembalethu was also in the van of the police and they were performing their duties as they usually did.