Human Rights Violation Hearings — Balfour — 1997-05-23

RUSSELL ALLY: Could I please call Anna Motloung to come forward.  Anna ?  Anna, excuse my earlier pronunciation.  Is it Motloung, is that how you pronounce your surname ?

UNKNOWN: Yes, I am Motloung.

RUSSELL ALLY: Anna, sorry for having inconvenienced you by changing the programme around but we just felt that, given that those three witnesses were really speaking about a similar incident, it would be best for us to heard them all one after the other rather than interrupt the account which they were giving.  So I ask you again to bear with us.  It's been a long day.  Anna, you are coming to speak about an event which took place in 1993.  In June, 1993, your son Mendi Gabrial Zulu.  A very tragic event.  I'm sure it's something that still pains  you a lot.  Mr Hugh Lewin is going to assist you with your statement but before you relate to us what happened to Gabrial, I would ask you please if you would just raise your right hand to take the oath.  Do you swear that the testimony that which you will give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

UNKNOWN: (sworn states)

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you very much, Anna.

MR LEWIN: Mama Motloung, can you hear me through the headphones ?

UNKNOWN: Yes, I can hear you, thank you.

MR LEWIN: As the Chairperson has said, this relates to an incident which took place in June, 1993 and concerns your son.  If you could please, just in your own words tell us what happened.  Tell us about your son, who he was and how you saw the whole thing.  Thank you.

UNKNOWN: In 1993, on the sixth of June at night when we were asleep, I heard the police knocking just before sun rise.  I woke up and I opened the door.  They asked me where Mendi was and I told them that I didn't know his whereabouts.  They went with me in Mendi's room and the door was locked from outside.  When they realized that the door was locked, they went into the house, came back with an axe and they chopped the door open.  The three of them went inside.  All in all there were six of them.  Three went inside the house and three were left behind.  After a few minutes, I don't know what happened to them afterwards but Lindiwe was inside the house and when they found her inside, a gun was fired.  They went out with the mattress and they threw it on the ground.

MR LEWIN: Please take your time.

UNKNOWN: We were still waiting outside and an ambulance came to take him to the hospital.  On the fifteenth of June, they arrived during the day to inform me that he passed away in the hospital.  We buried him and after the police came with a van and picked me up together with Lindiwe and my other sister.  They took us to the police station in town and they took a statement from us.  They said we shouldn't worry because they will never pick us up anymore.

MR LEWIN: Mrs Motloung, could I ask for some explanations.  Lindiwe was in the room with Mendi, was she ?

UNKNOWN: Lindiwe was in the room with Mendi.  So they found her but at first, in your statement you say they did not find him.

UNKNOWN: They found Mendi together with Lindiwe in the room.

THOMAS MANTHATA: In your statement you say that he was under the bed.  Is that right ?

UNKNOWN: Lindiwe was in the house and she saw him and she heard them said, here's a person under the bed.

MR LEWIN: Was there only one shot that you heard ?

UNKNOWN: They only shot once.

MR LEWIN: And they gave no explanation to you at the time what they were  doing ?

UNKNOWN: They used to come to my house to search for Mendi and when I asked them, why were they looking for him, they said he was in possession of a firearm.

MR LEWIN: Had this happened several times ?

UNKNOWN: Yes, it happened several times.  Sometimes they would come and say Mendi fought with a policeman.

MR LEWIN: Did you ever see Mendi with a firearm ?

UNKNOWN: No Sir.

MR LEWIN: So as far as you know, he never had a firearm.

UNKNOWN: I have never seen him with a gun, Sir.

MR LEWIN: Why do you think they came so often ?

UNKNOWN: They were looking for Mendi.

MR LEWIN: Do you think it was, I see in your statement you say he was a member of PAC.  Was it because of that, do you think ?

UNKNOWN: Yes, he was a member of the PAC.

MR LEWIN: Was he an activist.  You say he was also a member of PASO.  Does that mean that he was very active ?

UNKNOWN: I really do not know.

MR LEWIN: What is puzzling is that this is June 1993, which was less than a year before the election.  The first democratic election.  So there could have been nothing illegal that he was doing by being a member of the PAC.  You must have thought about it a lot.  Why do you think they were after him ?

UNKNOWN: They were after him because he was fighting the policeman.

MR LEWIN: Why particularly, why was there this fight at that stage in our history?

UNKNOWN: I do not know, I was only given the news that he fought with the policeman.

MR LEWIN: Where did you get that new from ?

UNKNOWN: I heard this from Lindiwe.

MR LEWIN: Was that after he had died.

UNKNOWN: No, before he died.

MR LEWIN: And Lindiwe didn't give you any indication about what the fight was about ?

UNKNOWN: No, she never told me anything.  I only heard that Mendi was running up and down with a policeman, fighting.

MR LEWIN: Did you ever discuss it with Mendi himself ?

UNKNOWN: I asked him, Mendi, what's happening to you ?  Are you fighting with the policeman ?  He never told me the truth.

MR LEWIN: He didn't give any explanation at all ?

UNKNOWN: He never explained anything to me.

MR LEWIN: What was he doing at the time ?  Was he still a student ?  I see you say he was twenty one.

UNKNOWN: Yes, he was a student.

MR LEWIN: What did he intend to do after his schooling, after his studies ?

UNKNOWN: He hadn't taken a decision what to do after completing his Matric.

MR LEWIN: So you really have no idea why there was this attack early in the morning or why they came to collect him. You've never been able to establish anything about that ?

UNKNOWN: No Sir.

MR LEWIN: After they came on the fifteenth of June, after they came to say that he had died, did they bring a death certificate ?  Did you ever get a death certificate ?

UNKNOWN: I went to look for a death certificate in Heidelberg.  My brothers went to look for it.

MR LEWIN: And did you find it ?

UNKNOWN: Yes.

MR LEWIN: Can you remember what the death certificate said ?

UNKNOWN: I have a death certificate here with me.  I'm sorry, I can't read.

MR LEWIN: Thanks, while we're getting the death certificate, could I ask, between the sixth and the fifteenth when they came to tell you, did you try and go to find him or go and see him ?

UNKNOWN: Lindiwe and my other daughter and a relative of mine went on that same day to the hospital.

MR LEWIN: Did they get a chance to talk to him before he died ?

UNKNOWN: No, he was just quiet.  He couldn't say a word.

MR LEWIN: Was any policeman ever charged ?  Was there a case against the police ?

UNKNOWN: No, there was no case against the police.

MR LEWIN: Also in your statement Ma Motloung, you mentioned some specific names who people who Lindiwe said she saw actually shooting him.  Was there ever a case made against them ?  Any charge brought against them ?

UNKNOWN: There was no case because I haven't heard of a case at all.

MR LEWIN: Do you know what's happened to these policemen now ?

UNKNOWN: I do not know, I only learnt later that one of the policeman shot himself dead because he shot a person earlier on.

MR LEWIN: Someone different to Mendi ?

UNKNOWN: Yes, this was another person and after shooting this person he turned the gun on himself.

MR LEWIN: Could your companion just tell us what's on the death certificate please ?  It's not indicated.

COMPANION: Only the date of death and the place, Heidelberg.

MR LEWIN: But no cause of death ?  Ma Motloung, is there anything specific that you'd like us to try and do ?