Human Rights Violation Hearings — East London — 1997-06-11

CHAIRPERSON: Norosa Yenana.  If she is not here I will call Nomakhosazana Mavubengwana.  We welcome you Nomakhosazana.  We will ask Reverend Xundu to help you take an oath so that you can give us your testimony under oath.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: (Duly sworn in, states).

REV XUNDU: Mr Chairperson, she has been properly sworn in.

CHAIRPERSON: Ntsiki Sandi.

ADV SANDI: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Ms Mavubengwana, how are you related to Geoff Wabena.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: He was my husband.

ADV SANDI: I can see that in your statement you are going  to talk about his death in 1990.  Is that correct?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes, that is correct.  He was shot in 1988 and he was killed in 1990.

ADV SANDI: Let us start with the issue of 1988 and then we can go to the incident of 1990.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: On the Christmas eve of 1988 he went to the Transkei together with Mr Siwisa saying that he was going to come back at sunset.  He did not come back on that Christmas eve.  I got a telephone call in the morning of the Christmas Day that he was in the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital.  They were shot in NU10.  I was in NU2 at home at that time.

ADV SANDI: When they were saying that they were going to Transkei together with Mr Siwisa, was there anyone else  with them?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: I do not remember, because they said to me that they were travelling together, both of them, to Transkei.

ADV SANDI: They were going to come back on the very same day?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes Sir.

ADV SANDI: They did not tell you why they were going to Transkei?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: They said that they were going to Transkei to meet a certain Mr Madigizela who was also an attorney in Transkei, but they did not tell me the details.

ADV SANDI: This Mr Madigizela, did you know him?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: No, I did not know him Sir.

ADV SANDI: You then heard that your husband was shot and he was in hospital?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes, that is correct.

ADV SANDI: Let us continue.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: When I got to the hospital on Christmas Day I asked what happened, because when I got there he was injured.  He said that he was on his way home from NU10.  They were using two cars and they were shot before they could even get into these cars.  He ran away to the neighbours trying to get help.  Some of the people died in those cars, but he survived, because he was shot in the arm and in the head.  He suffered from fits.

ADV SANDI: Were there any people who were arrested concerning this attack?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: I do not remember, but we did make statements, but I do not remember anybody being arrested.

ADV SANDI: This did not go any further, this incident of 1988.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: I cannot say that, because the police use to come and say that they were still investigating.  I would ask that is there anybody arrested.  They would say no.  I said that two people were, two people died and some were injured, but nobody was arrested.  The police said that there were no witnesses and they were still investigating.

ADV SANDI: Before we move to the 1990 incident was there, were there any suspicions about this shooting?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: I got rumours that Tatu was involved in misusing the funds from ANC and I was surprised, because I did not see him having a lot of money and I did not receive money from him.  He was not working at the time.  He was belonging to an organisation, SADWU.  He would go to work sometimes, but he would not go to work on other days.  I was the one supporting him financially.  I was then surprised to hear that he was involved and the misuse of funds, ANC funds.

ADV SANDI: Are you referring to the South African Domestic Workers Union?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes.

ADV SANDI: This Tatu you mentioned is he Geoff Wabena?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Let us now go back, let us go to 1990 on the tenth of October.  What happened on this particular day?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Let me correct you.  It is not ten October, it is 12 October, on a Friday.

ADV SANDI: Your statement says that it is the tenth, but I am going to rectify that mistake.  Let us continue.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: He left NU2 on the 12th saying that he was going to attend a meeting as he was the Chairperson of the ANC in NU10.  He went to the doctor during the day, because he was not feeling well.  The doctor told him to sleep and to rest.  I said that how can you go and attend a meeting, because you are not feeling well.  He just said that he was going to give out an agenda and he would come back.  Steve Tshwete was there on that day and he said that he was going to meet him.  According to what I heard he attended the meeting.  I am not sure whether the agenda was read out or what happened, but before the start of the meeting a person came and he shot at the light.  While they were still shocked about that he shot at him.  While they were still trying to find something to light people found him lying down.  They then took him to the hospital.  He died on the way to hospital.

ADV SANDI: Were there any people arrested for killing Geoff Wabena?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: No, nobody was arrested up until today.

ADV SANDI: In your statement you said that there were three attempts on his life before the 12th of October 1990?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes, that is correct.

ADV SANDI: Please tell us about these previous attempts, when and where?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: The first attempt was on the 24th of December 1988.  The second one was in 1989, but I am not sure about the month.  We were coming from Transkei, we were attending a funeral there.  Mr Siwisa had lent us a car and he left me in NU10, in NU2.  He then went to NU10.  He said that, midnight, man came and knocked four, three or four men knocked at the door, but I am not sure about the number.  There was someone sleeping in the car.  He threw a bomb in the car, but it did not explode.  It just opened a hole in the car.  He survived, because he lay down.  They shot at the house and the dining-room and in the bedroom, everything was shot.  He tried to save his life by crawling and he went through the toilet.  That is how he managed to escape.  They shot the dog first.  After that they got a chance to do what they did.

ADV SANDI: And this incident, 1989 incident, were there any people arrested?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: No, there was no one arrested.

ADV SANDI: Was there any other attempt before this 1990 incident?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: No, except that he was not save all the time, because he would see, if he would see a car coming, approaching him he would run away, because he was scared all the time.

ADV SANDI: You have made a request concerning this matter.  I would like you to repeat this request Mam.

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: I would like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate for me the people who killed my husband.  If he did, if he was involved in the misuse of money I would like to know, because if my, my children are asking me questions I cannot answer, because they want to know why he was killed.  I cannot answer that question and I do not know who killed him.  Maybe it might happen that he misused the money of the ANC.  I want to know the truth, because it was well known in Mdantsane that he was involved in this and people said that he was an informer, he was not trustworthy.  I would like the Commission to investigate so that I can explain to my children.  My younger child was four years old at that time.  I would like to teach them the right way of life.

ADV SANDI: How many children do you have and how old are they?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: The first one is 20 years old.  The second one 11 years old.

ADV SANDI: Is that all Ms Mavubengwana?

NOMAKHOSAZANA MAVUBENGWANA: Yes, that is all.