Human Rights Violation Hearings — Empangeni — 1996-11-04

WITNESS:   They went away and we slept.  Just as we were sleeping we heard a knock at the door and Vusi was very hysterical at the door and he was screaming that we should open up the door.  When I opened up the door, I saw Vusi's trouser full of blood and I asked him as to what had happened.  He said he had been shot, together with my husband and I asked him as to where they got shot and he said next to the bridge - next to Maholoholo Bridge.  And Vusi was with the police at that time and I wanted to go with them, but the police were calling him and they were telling him that they were in a hurry, they wanted to take him along.  They went away together with Vusi and they said they were coming back.  They were coming to fetch me so that I could go and identify my husband and see how he was shot.  They went away and they came back all by themselves with Vusi and they told me that - they first asked me as to who my husband's name is.  I told them.  They told me that he had been shot next to the bridge and I asked them as to where my husband was.  They said they did not know.  I requested them to take me along so that I could go and see where he got shot.  They said was I was not supposed to go because my husband had already died.  He died on the spot, and I asked them to take me to Dlangezwa, so that I could tell his father that his son had died.  They took me, together with the kids to Dlangezwa.  They left us at his father's place and there was another young man who staying there - that is my brother.  His name was Fando and I told Fando that they had shot my husband and he had been killed.  We went into the house to wake my husband's father and I related the story to him.

MRS GCABASHE:  Who is Fando?  What is he?  Is he a relative?

WITNESS:  He is my brother.  He is my mother's sister's son.  His surname is Khoza.

MRS GCABASHE:  Was he staying together with you?

WITNESS:   Yes, he stayed with me a Dlangezwa and he went on to tell my husband's father and my husband's father said we should call a certain neighbour, who had a kombi, from the Mkhwanazi family, so that we should proceed to Esikhaweni, and they took us to Esikhaweni and he left us there, together with the mother of my husband.

MRS GCABASHE:  Where was he taking you to?  What was happening in Esikhaweni?

WITNESS:   It's my house.  He was taking us to my house.

MRS GCABASHE:  What happened thereafter?

WITNESS:   The following morning we went to Avbob and at Avbob they told us that we could not see him and they told us that he had been brought by the police, but they told - the police told them that we should permission from the police station before we could see him, so we had to go and fetch some form of permission from the police station before I could see my husband and they said I should go to KwaDebe and speak to Khumalo, next to the shop, Daya Supermarket.  We went to Mr Khumalo.  We told Khumalo that we were the Taliwe family and they said we should come and ask for permission, written permission, to go and see my husband and Khumalo said - we related to Khumalo that we wanted my husband to be buried on that particular week-end.  Then he said he was not able - if they wanted to they could keep him for the whole month and we would only bury him when they wanted to and they refused us permission to go and see my husband and he said he was going to phone us and tell us as to whether we were permitted to see my husband and the following day he phoned us and said there was a certain policeman who was going to come and see us.  We stayed there for the whole day up till the afternoon, waiting for this particular policeman, but the policeman never turned up and we went to a certain policeman to seek some help and he listened to our story.  We related it as Khumalo had said it to us, and this policeman said he is going to allow us to see the corpse, but we should not tell anyone because he was going to be expelled from work.  He was going to be dismissed, because the police said we should not be allowed to see my husband without their permission, and that was the end.  We did not see him for that particular day and Khumalo phoned us the following day and told us that there was a mistake.  We should go the following day, because that was the day that the post-mortem was going to be conducted and there was a certain policeman who said we were not allowed, as family members, to get into the post-mortem operation, because we were going to distract the doctor and we asked as to why Khumalo had sent us there if we were not supposed to be there.  He totally refused to let us in.  After the post-mortem had been finished, this policeman came with papers and said we should sign, and I refused to sign because I was not there when the doctor conducted the post-mortem, so I don't know anything.  The policeman said I was not going to get the corpse so that we could bury my husband, because we didn't want to sign and we would be only be able to bury my husband if I signed the papers.  My mother told me that I should sign, but I flatly refused and Fando ended up signing those papers and the policeman took them to another section of the police station and I went to Dove's so that they could take my husband.  I was going to use Dove's Funeral Parlours and they should take my husband, so that I could be able to see him, because when we saw him - we saw him without permission when that policeman said we should come and Dove's is the one who buried my husband.

MRS GCABASHE:  Now, those papers which were signed by Fando, what was written on those papers?  What were the findings of the pathologist?

WITNESS:   The pathologist had written that he was concussed.  He had a head injury.

MRS GCABASHE:  Is that all that was written there?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MRS GCABASHE:  According to your own observation, when you saw him at that funeral parlour, what injuries did you notice?

WITNESS:   We knew that he had been shot and at the time that we got to Dove's Funeral Parlours we only saw his head just at the temple.  He had been shot at the temple.  But after the other investigators had told us the story, they said he had been shot through the nose.

MRS GCABASHE:  What was the name of ... (incomplete)

WITNESS:  It was Bongani Nxumalo - the investigator was Bongani Nxumalo and Edwin Dlamini.

MRS GCABASHE:  Where were they coming from?

WITNESS:   They were from ITU.

MRS GCABASHE:  Are they still alive?

WITNESS:   They were not staying here.  They were from Maritzburg.  So we don't know what became of them.  The last time we saw them was when they came.

MRS GCABASHE:  According to the investigation, was there any report that you received?

WITNESS:   We got that report that the bullet wound went through the nose and not through the temple, as we thought.

MRS GCABASHE:  The person who showed you the corpse, is he still alive?  Is he still working at Avbob?

WITNESS:   Yes, he is.  I do not know his name, but he's still working at Avbob. Is he still there even now?   ---   Yes, he's still working at Avbob, even now.

MRS GCABASHE:  Were you ever called for an inquest or a case?

WITNESS:  No, there was no case.  There was no inquest.  That was just the end of everything.  I never even went to court.

MRS GCABASHE:  Did you open a case with regard to your husband's death?  Did you go there, open a case and get a case number?

WITNESS:   They never called me.  The policemen only came at the time they said I should tell them my husband's name as well as surname.

MRS GCABASHE:  In your statement you talk about a certain Gcina Mkhize.  Can you please tell us what Gcina Mkhize is to the equation?

WITNESS:   On the day that he died he said to me if he died we should know that Gcina Mkhize was the one who had killed him.

MRS GCABASHE:  Did he explain to you as to why he suspected Gcina Mkhize?