Human Rights Violation Hearings — Cradock — 1997-02-12

SIENA MTEMBU: (sworn states)

JUNE CHRICHTON: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  Good Morning Mrs Mtembu.  I'm sorry that you had to experience this delay, I can see that it has upset you and we will try to be as careful as we can in the questions we ask you.
 Mrs Mtembu you lost your husband, your children were traumatised and they saw things that they should never have seen, and this was at a time when councillors houses were being burned down in Graaf Reinet.  Your husband was politically alive?

SIENA MTEMBU: Yes.

JUNE CHRICHTON: In May 1990 it was the first time that there was a problem.  That problem was to do with your husband and the burning down of one Gave's house. What was your relationship with this family Gave?

SIENA MTEMBU: My husband was a member of the ANC and that is how the problem originated.

JUNE CRICHTON: The case went to the court, what happened at the court in May 1990?

SIENA MTEMBU: My husband was murdered in 1990 and  the people whose house was burned accused us of having been involved in the whole affair.

JUNE CRICHTON: Will you describe the incident as it happened to us?

SIENA MTEMBU: (There is no interpretation of the Afrikaans here ,  so the typist is attempting to do it.)
 It was the 7th of July 1990 in the afternoon, my husband, my sister and I and her boy friend as well as my lady neighbour were at my home.  This lady and I then went from my house to hers which is a short distance away and we did not dally for long at her house when we returned to my house. As we were approaching the house my husband, my sister and her boyfriend and another woman were standing at the corner of the house and we entered the yard and I passed them and entered by the kitchen door.  We were not long inside when my husband and them came running into the house closing the door and windows. 
 I asked what was going on and he replied that the Gawe family were attacking us. When I looked I saw a chaotic disturbance of the windows and window panes. My husband was at the front door and my brother in law at the kitchen door. We started screaming in the house and I had my four-year-old on my back, and as we were running into the compartments we saw a neighbour's son and her brother in my lounge holding a large can. I think they were still busy attempting to burn the house or something but I just saw the can.  We shouted and screamed  while this action of storming the house and breaking window panes continued for about an hour en then my husband said to me, " Pumla I think I should run out so that these people can rather get me so that you people can get out".
 He slipped quietly out by the front door while we ran out through the back door, through the yard and into another yard and I passed my child on to someone and ran to my in-laws and on arrival I said, "Those ...(indistinct) are killing Frank!".  They then went to my house and when I got half way to my house it was full of police and people. At this point they took me to hospital.
 When we got back from the hospital, I did not go directly home but stayed with my in-laws.  Then they came back with his clothing and belongings and said that he was dead.

JUNE CRICHTON: Now I see in front of me here that it is written that your husband's body was found it the Gawe's back yard.  Is that correct?

SIENA MTEMBU: No, my husband's body according to my brother-in-law lay in the entrance of Gawe's house because they dragged my husband from in front of my house across the street to their place.

JUNE CRICHTON: And how did they do this, who saw it? Was there anyone who saw it?

SIENA MTEMBU: There are people here who testified at the court but I don't want to drag them into this case because I can see that they are unhappy with the people who did it, but my little boy saw it because he was outside.

JUNE CRICHTON: How old was your son?

SIENA MTEMBU: Steven was twelve years old.

JUNE CRICHTON: And he witnessed the whole thing, he saw how they moved the body there.

SIENA MTEMBU: Yes he still said to me, "My father still groaned when they ....(witness upset)

JUNE CRICHTON: Now tell me why he was taken there, why? Why did they do it?

SIENA MTEMBU: This woman was a racist and I was ANC and she always berated us randomly and her house had been burned in May and she accused my husband and I saw chaps going to her house that evening and my husband was asleep at home.  She wasn't at home, when she got home she shouted, "Frank why did you burn my house?"  She then came with the police, immediately the house was full of police and they woke him up. I said that it wasn't Frank who did it and one of them replied that they weren't arresting him but were taking him in on suspicion, because she is accusing him.
 The case continued like this for some time but before he and others were exonerated they killed him.

JUNE CRICHTON: And tell me, did the case go to court?

SIENA MTEMBU: The case went to court but there was a delay of two years when my bother in law went to enquire what was causing the delay with the case. We then received a written notice to return to court in two weeks.
 We went and were told that the perpetrators were found not guilty as it was a political matter.

JUNE CRICHTON: And did you get an attorney?

SIENA MTEMBU: After the event which happened on a Saturday, went to the ANC the following week and we did get a lawyer Derekson, but he did nothing, we did not even get a reply.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Mtembu, is there anything else that you would like to tell us about the matter?

SIENA MTEMBU: My problem is that I would like the perpetrators to come forward and to ask why they killed my husband because the children were very small, my baby who is now ten was four years old at the time en a woman like myself had to raise two sons which was hard.

JUNE CRICHTON: And how is it going with the children now, are they healthy or ...(indistinct)

SIENA MTEMBU: They are perfectly healthy because I decided to move to another neighbourhood.  I'm no longer in Masizake, I now live in Koebergville.

JUNE CRICHTON: And yourself, are you healthy?

SIENA MTEMBU: At present I am rested but not always, because when I see them then I don't feel good because my little one, when he sees people he says, "Mama nababule lutata?", like that and he always asked, "Mama when is my father coming back again?" and I would reply, "Son sose tata buye not again", and I take them to the grave to try and restore normality.

JUNE CRICHTON: Is that all that you say to the children when they ask?

SIENA MTEMBU: Yes, I want them to come forward.  I do get some support now but the R560 is not enough for these two children.  I do work at a hotel in Graaf Reinet but perhaps had their father lived, there would have been a bit more. I now have a more expensive house and other additional expenses that I have to cater for.  It would help if my liabilities could be reduced somewhat.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Mtembu, I say thank you and thank you to Rev Huskie for his help.  Thank you Mr Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: Siena, you understand a bit of English, do you?

SIENA MTEMBU: I'm satisfied with Xhosa.