Human Rights Violation Hearings — Duduza — 1997-02-04

CHAIRPERSON: Next we shall have Mazibuko Joseph Titus.

RUSSELL ALLY: Can Joyce do this one?  I say, can Joyce do this one?  Can you just take a seat.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, thank you, let us give them a chance.  Thank you Titus.  Who have you come along with, Titus?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: Yes, actually, this incident, right, is not my incident or I was not injured.  So, this is a group thing, basically.  Right.  May I introduce John Emlangeni who was also involved in this booby trap issue and this is my cousin Valley Mazibuko who was also involved and this is Cedric Tokizane Lala who, then Goza Humphrey Tshabalala.

CHAIRPERSON: As a group, what do you actually mean?  Do you mean that they were involved in the same thing that happened to you?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: Yes, from the sheet I have here, as an individual and they were never informed and they did make statements.  So in order to avoid duplication we thought it is better if we appear as a group.

CHAIRPERSON: That is fine.  Okay, we accept that, we welcome them and we hope they have made statements.  Please do not feel neglected or do not feel unrecognised, the fact that you have made the statements, you are just as great as Titus.  Now I am going to leave Titus to Mrs Joyce Seroke
for the oath and the leading.  Over to you Sis Joyce.

MRS SEROKE: I greet you John Nhlanhla Buthelezi.  Could you please stand up so that you can take the oath.  You said your name is Titus.  I am sorry, Titus Joseph Mazibuko.  It is Titus Joseph Mazibuko.  Our documents were mixed up, but we have already sorted that out.  So I shall request you to stand up so that you can take the oath.

JOSEPH TITUS MAZIBUKO: (Duly sworn in, states).

CHAIRPERSON: Hello, hello, can you please be quiet at the back.  Let us give them a hearing please.

MRS SEROKE: In June 1985, before you tell us or relate to us as to what happened in June 1985, just tell us as to how old you were.

MR J T MAZIBUKO: I was 17 years old at that time.

MRS SEROKE: Were you a student?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: Yes, I was a student.

MRS SEROKE: Could you please explain shortly as to what you were doing at that time before you got involved in this incident?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: I was a Deputy-Secretary for COSAS at that time and I was also involved in community issues.

MRS SEROKE: What sort of community issues?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: That is education as well as civil issues like rent and housing.

MRS SEROKE: These issues that were concerning you as well as the community, how did you go about trying to make amends with the people in authority?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: We were involved in extra-Parliamentary organisations, COSAS as well as the civic organisations.

MRS SEROKE: Could you please explain further as to what mechanisms did you employ in order for your demands to be
met at that time?

MR J T MAZIBUKO: Well, it was in the, the form of protests, consumer boycotts, school boycotts as well as ordinary boycotts.  This is what we today call the mass action.  We embarked on a mass action.

MRS SEROKE: Could you please just explain to us as to what happened from that time onwards which culminated to the time where you got the booby traps.  Just explain to us.

MR J T MAZIBUKO: Well, as I have already explained it was in 1985 and at that time the whole country was in turmoil and Duduza, in particular, had a problem.  It was part of the ongoing struggle at that time.  There were no police at that time who were in Duduza.  Even though the police were not present in Duduza at that time, there were certain forces operating during the night and these forces were mainly bent on killing the people operating.  Today we do not have Saneli Tobela and today we also do not have Alex Balene.  All those people were attacked by hit squad.  The Tobela home was attacked and Sonto Tobela was our Secretary at the time and Saneli was additional member of COSAS and, when their house was attacked Sonto died instantly.  Alexander Balene was murdered by that hit squad which was operating in the location.  To confirm that there was a hit squad, there was a City Press article which showed that more leaders were to follow in the killings.  They also had a list of names and some of the names which appeared then are present today and as it was still like that there was Congress Mashweni which was from Kwatema and through that Congress as well as through Valley, Valley is my cousin, he is sitting on my right-hand side, and that there were MK members who were actually prepared to offer us some
assistance because we were vulnerable and he offered us help
in terms of weapons.  So we wholeheartedly accepted, accepted his offer and that event co-incided with the statement from ANC in exile saying that it will now train ANC cadres inside the country and duty operation, we were prepared to liberate our country by all means necessary.  So through Valley who was the local co-ordinator, these guys came, Mike, James and they said they will offer us weapons to defend ourselves and the community.  They offered us crash training, crash course training whereby we were taken to a mine dump.  We were three groups, basically, that was Duduza, Sakane and Kwatema and we gave those people, Mike and James, our names and addresses.  
 We went there and they demonstrated with the first hand grenade and we were, he threw the first one to show us how to throw it as well as the second one which was thrown by Valley and at the very same time we were told that we should choose our targets, that was on a Monday, preparing for attack on Tuesday, midnight.  Each and every township had its group, from each township had to choose its own target and attack at 12 o' clock.  So we met as a group and chose, we chose Stiff Namane's house as well as David Namane who were brothers.  The reason we chose these two people were that Stiff Namane was a councillor, an apartheid councillor.  David was implicated in these hit squad attacks and his brother too.  So, basically, at the time the community saw them as people or as obstacles towards our achievement of our goal.  
 So, we met Mike and James on Tuesday, we were given these hand grenades.  Funny enough, those hand grenades were not similar to the ones that he showed us at training, but 
nevertheless they said they are all the same, the instructions are the same.  So, coming back at training, we were shown how to throw a grenade.  You hold a grenade, you count three times, you pull the pin is one, is two, then Maponza is three.  So, on Tuesday we went to our respective targets.  When we got there 12 midnight we launched an attack.  We followed the instructions correctly and Sonto, and all of us at that time, but when we counted at one, by that time, at that time I was lying flat on the floor and thereafter I realised that I was full of blood and I had to run to Sandile Conrad house and ask for help and at the time I thought I had made the mistake.  
 When I got to Sandile's car, I got John Emlangeni, same injuries.  Then we went to Natalspruit Hospital.  That is when the security forces caught us and we were detained and discharged, but during our stay at hospital our families came and told us some of the people were weak, have fallen and that, in itself, proved that sinister forces were involved because people from Kwatema, Sakane and Duduza, were involved in this case, died and the targets that were meant, our targets, are still alive.  So, we realised that this is the hit squad that we were trying to run away from.  So, these people, all I can say, they were highly organised.   So we were charged, we went to court, we went to prison and we were found guilty and there is not even a single person who came forward to explain and we were found guilty.