Human Rights Violation Hearings — King William's Town — 1997-05-13

CHAIRPERSON: We are going to call the last people to the stage, Mr Rhoji who wants to be with Mrs Rhoji to remind you here and there?   We welcome you Mr Rhoji.  What is your wife's name, sir.

MR RHOJI: Nohombile Rhoji.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.

VUSANTE STANLEY RHOJI: (sworn states)

NOHOMBILE RHOJI: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Mr Chairperson, they have been properly sworn in.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Sandi?

ADV SANDI: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr Rhoji and Mrs Rhoji, what did you decide on because we have Mr Rhoji's statement.  Is he going to be the one who is going to give testimony?

MR RHOJI: Yes, that is correct.

ADV SANDI: Mr Rhoji, in your statement you are going to tell us about the attacks at your home because your son, Skanyana who passed away, was taking part in organisations such as ANC and others.
 I will hand over to you Mr Rhoji, to tell us your whole story without disturbing you.

MR RHOJI: First of all, in 1992 at about one o'clock, we heard some gunshots at home, we heard a lot of gunshots.   We did not know what to do because the house was shaking at the time.
 The gunshots stopped.  We were so scared, we did not know what to do, we did not want to go and look at what was happening.  When we woke up in the morning, the house was full of bullet holes, even the furniture was full of bullet holes.
 The police then came, they looked at the damage at my home, others were taking photographs.  They  found 22 bullet holes.  The windows were all broken.  We went to the ANC offices and told them what happened.
 They helped us in repairing the windows.  After two months we had a knock on the door, I did not open the door.  They went in the back door, they kicked the kitchen door and then they went in.  We were in the room, in the bedroom.  My children were in another bedroom, in the dining room.
 We heard a noise in the kitchen.

ADV SANDI: Please sit down Mrs Rhoji.

MRS RHOJI: I would like to help my husband because he has forgotten certain things.  The second time we heard a car stopping near my home, at the back of my home.
 While we were still listening to that, we heard a door, a back door being kicked.  There was a noise, after that a window was broken.  The house was shaking at the time.  We kept quiet.   We heard that there was a certain sound, we covered ourselves with blankets at that time.
 I took off a blanket over my face, I heard that there was a certain smell in the house.  I woke my husband up.  While I was still trying to look at what was happening, I saw that there was a car parked outside.  It was facing towards my home.
 We again covered ourselves with blankets.  We then heard another noise.  The dining room door, we heard three gunshots, we did not open the door because it was locked.
 This person went in the back, in the kitchen door.  We heard a knock.  They kicked the door and it opened.  We found out that in the morning.  We heard that there was someone in the kitchen because it was dark, this person did not see clearly.  We just heard the footsteps.
 We could hear that he was placing something on the floor.  This person then left the kitchen.  We were so scared, we did not even want to go and look at what was happening.  After a while we went through the windows.  The children were in the dining room.  We told them to open the window, we took three children together with a girl who was sleeping there.
 We took them to one of our family members' house.  We were so scared, we did not know what to do.  While we were still trying to sleep, we couldn't sleep.  We went back to our home.  We found out that everything had been burnt down.
 The curtain had been burnt down, everything in the house - it was dark in the house, everything was burnt to ashes.  While I was still looking at that my husband said that someone placed something on the floor, I have forgotten about that at that time.
 He went to the telephone in the clinic, reporting that he heard something being placed on the floor in the kitchen.  The police told us not to go into the house.  We stayed outside.  The people who were going to work, saw us sitting outside in the morning.
 The windows were all broken - the kitchen windows and there were holes in the kitchen and in the dining room.  The house was shaking, there were cracks all over in the second incident.
 I have a girl staying in Zwelitsha, she bought a house.  The other girl of mine is also staying in Zwelitsha in a flat.

MR RHOJI: At the time I was going to phone the police, I told them that - they told me not to go inside the house, they then arrived.  They checked everything, after that they told us not to come nearer to the house.  They phoned the other police.
 There were things that were placed in the chair, but the police managed - those were bombs and the police managed to take the bombs out of the house before they exploded.
 That is the story.

ADV SANDI: How was your house destroyed, how was it damaged?

MR RHOJI: Everything was destroyed, our TV's, the whole furniture it was destroyed.

ADV SANDI: You then went to stay in Berlin?

MR RHOJI: After all that we have a girl staying here in Zwelitsha.  She left a letter, she got a letter and she was told to go and take us because we were all going to be beaten and assaulted.
 My daughter phoned Skanyana in Johannesburg, Skanyana came together with Pilanqomba.  They took us there to town.  After that they took us to Hanover, to Mr Ngonyama's home.  We stayed there until he passed away.  We came back after his death.
 We lost everything, we lost our furniture and our clothes.  We would like to be helped.

ADV SANDI: Did you manage to rebuild the house Mr Rhoji?

MR RHOJI: We built another house, we are trying to repay the damage.

ADV SANDI: In your statement Mr Rhoji, you requested the Commission to investigate these incidents and to try and assist you with the necessary things that you need.

MR RHOJI: Yes, that is correct.

ADV SANDI: Is that all your requests Mr Rhoji concerning this matter?

MR RHOJI: Yes, that is all sir.  We would like to be helped and we would like to know the perpetrators so that we can be satisfied, because we don't know who did this to us.

ADV SANDI: Mrs Rhoji do you have something to add, to conclude your requests?

MRS RHOJI: Yes, I do.  My conclusion is the same as my husband's.  We have peace in our hearts, but we don't know who the perpetrators are.  If we can know them, we can be able to forgive them.
 Secondly, we lost everything.  Our children moved to Zwelitsha.  Our cattle, they stole our cattle, some of the cattle were stabbed, but we have peace in our hearts.

ADV SANDI: Thank you Ma'am.

MRS RHOJI: I am finished sir.

ADV SANDI: Thank you Mr Rhoji.   Thank you Mr Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr and Mrs Rhoji, thank you.  Your story we know your home and we know the Rhoji family and we know your son, Skanyana who died.  He was a hero.
 Because you gave birth to a hero, your life was destroyed.  We thank you for coming forward with your story.  We forward your request when we are giving the President the report that you be compensated with something.
 It is not upon our hands.  If it was, we would try and do something today because there are no doubts that these things happened because of Skanyana who was well-known in this region.
 Thank you, you may go back to your seats.  We will forward your requests to the President of this country.
 We will adjourn and we will come back tomorrow at nine o'clock.  Thank you.
COMMISSION ADJOURNS