Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1998-04-15

MR LAX: You see, the whole issue is here, you said earlier that you don't believe that those bullets were from your gun, and you denied firing those shots at that building.  That was before we had established that in fact other shots were fired, after you fired the retreat signal.
	You then go on to say well, in the heat of the moment and because of your emotions, you couldn't remember, maybe other shots were fired.  The question is, as my colleague has put to you, is it not feasible and possible that you or one of the other colleagues in the heat of the moment, after retreating and after you had given your 38 retreat signal, carried on firing and hit that building?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Can you repeat your question sir, I do not understand it quite clearly.

MR LAX: Well, let me put it very simply.  You were very sure that it wasn't you that fired the shots that hit that building, yet to explain why there were shots fired after the signal you said well, you were in high emotions, you might have made a mistake.  Are you with me?  Are you with me so far?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: I am listening.

MR LAX: Do you understand what I am saying so far?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Yes, I understand up to this far.

MR LAX: Right, so if you were in such high emotions and you made a mistake about the shots being fired after the 38, isn't it possible you are making a mistake now about firing shots at that building, that is the trust of what we are putting to you?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Allow me sir, to shortly explain this.  I said I do not believe that I shot at this adjacent building, adjacent to the hotel.  Our focus was on the hotel itself.
	When we retreated, our firearms were facing the hotel itself, until we reached the car.  That is why I say if the bullets were found on the hotel building, not the building adjacent to the hotel, I would say yes, they were from my firearm.

MR LAX: Well, you see your car was on the - facing those buildings, it was on the right, as you have indicated.  And if you had carried on firing on your way to the car, you could quite easily have hit that building?

CHAIRPERSON: But he didn't say that they did carry on.

MR LAX: But now he is admitting that they did possibly carry on shooting after the signal.  Anyway, you have given your answer.

CHAIRPERSON: Just explain, you fired the signal, the retreat signal, you were standing outside the window of the bar?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Yes, I was outside.

CHAIRPERSON: Did Madasi come out of the door?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: I did not see him getting out of the door, but when we retreated, we were together.  I don't know at which stage did he leave the building, but because he was outside, it gave me an impression that he must have heard the retreat shot.

CHAIRPERSON: And he must have come out of the door to be outside the building, and you and he were together and you walked away, if I understood, from the building towards your car which was parked in front of that building, the main building?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: There are two buildings here.  The other one is the building adjacent to the hotel, if I saw the pictures clearly.
	We did not even park next to this other building, we were parking towards the end and we retreated to the car and that is why I say I do not believe that our bullets hit the building adjacent to the hotel, because it was on the other side of the hotel.

CHAIRPERSON: I missed one word, you were parked near where?  When I said main building, I mean the hotel, were you parked in front of the hotel?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Yes, that is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: And you went back, straight back to your car?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Yes, our firearms were still facing the main building.

CHAIRPERSON: And the two of you were together?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Yes, we were together, retreating.

CHAIRPERSON: I take it Nqeba arrived there, because he was your driver?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Nqeba arrived just after a minute, because he was on the other side of the building.  He got into the car, we drove off.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.

MR LAX: If you look at picture 3, you will see that that is part of the parking area, but it extends in front of the bigger building on the right of the bar.
	Do you see that?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Yes, I see it.

MR LAX: If you had parked on the right, you could only have parked there, there is no other parking place from the side, if you look at all the other photographs, because the parking place stops there and there is some bushes and then beyond those bushes, is the rest of the parking which is in front of that building.

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Allow me to demonstrate or point out here, or I would estimate on those photo's where we parked.
	We were facing this main building and the parking area was visible, I can come and point, or even just mark with a pencil to show you where we were parking.

MR LAX: I am going to pass you the plan, I am going to pass you the plan, show us on the plan where you parked.
	You have indicated a mark with a round pen, opposite the point roughly (j) on that plan, is that right?
	There is a (j) here that you have indicated you have parked next to?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: That is correct, that is the direction we were parking at, next to the entrance of the bar.

CHAIRPERSON: So were you parked almost in line with the entrance to the bar?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: Not exactly facing the entrance, but it might have been a metre or a metre and a half from the entrance.

MR LAX: If you look at photograph 2 or 3, yes, look at photograph 2 first, you will see the general picture there, can you see the place, do you recognise that place?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: This is the bar we went to at Yellowwoods Hotel.

MR LAX: And were you parked directly in front of the door then?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: We parked slightly towards the side, not directly in front.

MR LAX: When you say the side, which side?  Left or right facing the building?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: The right side.  Not far from the door of the bar.

MR LAX: That would then again correspond with the point you made on the plan?  My final question on this issue is if you look at photograph 3, how do you explain the fact that there were shells found at points (b) and (c) on photograph 3?
	The question is, how do you explain that those shells were there, at (b) and (c)?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: I explained earlier on that when we retreated, the firearms were still facing the main building.  It might happen that they were bullets from our guns.  I do not dispute that.

MR LAX: You see, that is right in front of the second building?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: The building that is here, does not appear as the building I saw on that photo.
	Now, this is the building we were facing, and there is yet another building where the bullets were found on the wall.  But when I look, to me they are the same but there is this other one which is referred to as an old store room, but it is not far from the main building.
	I heard it was an old store room that was not used.  That is why I said I do not agree when it is said that the bullets on the other building, adjacent to the hotel, was from my gun.

MR LAX: I've got one last issue just to canvass with you.  You said after your training, you went to another place where you were stationed, and where you had further training, while you were waiting for further instructions.  Where was that place?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: I stayed in Transkei.

MR LAX: Yes, we know it is in the Transkei, where in the Transkei?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: It is a village called Cantollo.

MR LAX: And that is where you were based until you went on this operation?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: That is where I stayed sir.

ADV SANDI: Mr Monaheng, the bullet holes on the building adjacent to the Hotel, is there any possibility that they could have come from the firearms of your colleagues and friends who were involved in this operation, would you deny that?

MR DIAHO-MONAHENG: I do not know sir.