Amnesty Hearings — Pinetown — 2000-02-15

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: It was his decision to elect those people to chair the meeting because those persons were - the people who  normally chaired youth meetings because Cyril himself did not normally attend our meetings.

MR PANDAY: Now is it correct to assume then that the person who chaired the meeting will issue the order to either attack, kill or not attack or not kill?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: That is not so.  The person who issued an instruction to attack would be the commander even if that commander was not present at a meeting but if he had issued such an instruction this instruction would be carried out, not necessarily the person who was chairing a meeting.

CHAIRPERSON: Well when did he issue the instruction?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: He issued it at the same meeting that Kenneth was present and that was on a Tuesday preceding the day that the deceased was killed.

MR PANDAY: Now do you know that Kenneth will testify that his father was a practising Christian and was not part of any witchcraft and was not part of any political organisation as you say.  Can you comment on that?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: That is not correct because Kenneth's father came to my house and he was in the company of other IFP members and Induna and they almost killed me had my mother not intervened.  I may have been killed on that day, they even damaged my property, my wife and children were chased out.  So it is incorrect for him to say that his father was not politically involved.

MR PANDAY: You said your mother intervened, what did she do?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: She asked them what have I done because the deceased insisted that I should be shot and she told them that she was going to take the matter to the police if they kill me and because my mother was an IFP member they listened to her and informed us that my family, myself, my children and my wife should leave the area.  They damaged my house and I had to leave and go there with my in-laws.

MR PANDAY: Now when your mother intervened where were you?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: I was seated and at that time there was nothing I could do because they were all around me, they surrounded me.

MR PANDAY: Now I stand to be corrected but when you earlier on mentioned that the deceased attacked you or tried to stab you, you managed to escape?  Isn't that a bit different from what you say to us now?

MR DEHAL: The correction there, Chairperson, sorry, is the following.  The witness had mentioned that there were at least three attempts made by the deceased to attack him, to kill him, that he had escaped from those occasions.  This he is talking about is a separate incident when they had come to his home, damaged his property and there said to his mother that they wish to shoot him.

JUDGE DE JAGER: A fourth occasion then?

MR DEHAL: Yes he only mentioned there were at least three occasions.

JUDGE DE JAGER: Yes but couldn't it have been one of the three?  Isn't your explanation perhaps wrong?

MR DEHAL: That's a probability.

JUDGE DE JAGER: Perhaps I'll leave it to the witness to explain?

MR DEHAL: If that's the anomaly, yes.

MR PANDAY: Mr Chairperson, the way I understand it is that the applicant gave his evidence that he was attacked, his property was damaged and his family was harassed.

CHAIRPERSON: Well my note is that "he tried to stab me with an assegai three times.  He came to my house with Shezi's stepfather and attacked.  He damaged my property and harassed my wife and children.  He did not stab me as I ran away" but I'm not sure that that " he did not stab me" was not a question " why didn't he stab you on any one of the occasions?"

MR PANDAY: Mr Mafu when was the first time that the deceased attacked you?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: In 1986 he tried to stab me.  I was on my way from my in-laws and I was passing by his house and he tried to stab me as I passed his home and I fled and reported the incident at home.  On the second occasion the same thing happened.  On the third occasion I was at his home because I had been summoned by his wife for who requested me to assist her to damage some structure on which they're going to build a house.  On that occasion the deceased became aggressive and tried to attack me.  I had to abandon whatever I was doing for the wife and leave home.  These incidents happened one after the other.  On the last occasion he came along with other IFP members attacking our home.  That is when they destroyed my house, chased myself and my family.

MR PANDAY: Now Mr Mafu, how long or how far did the deceased live from you?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: The deceased is our neighbour and we are separated by a hill but we are close neighbours and we used to be good neighbours before the political conflicts started.

MR PANDAY: Now when exactly did the political conflict start?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: As I mentioned earlier I first joined the ANC in 1985.  From that time onwards the relationship between myself and the deceased soured because he learnt that I was not part of their organisation any longer.  When I was growing up I didn't have any knowledge about the ANC so when I learnt about it and joined and my neighbour discovered that the relationship between us soured.

MR PANDAY: And even with all that relationship turning sour his wife still called you to assist him?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: As neighbours we used to visit one another.  Even up to his death I used to be in constant contact and had good relations with the members of his family because we did not have any personal grudges, there was no personal conflict between us.  The conflict and the incident that happened was caused by political strife not because of personal reasons.  Even during the conflict itself I used to go and see members of his family because I did not have any problems with them.

MR PANDAY: Now your brother's death, how was it caused?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: I do not know which brother you are referring to.

MR PANDAY: Well I'm talking about the brother you refer to in paragraph 7 of your statement
"I then saw this as the best opportunity to ask the deceased whether he did in fact practise witchcraft and kill my brother."

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: My brother had been knocked down by a car in St Michaels.

MR PANDAY: Now what made you believe that the deceased practised witchcraft to kill your brother?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: It was what the deceased said after my brother's death.  I've got letters to believe that he was implicated because the deceased, he'd come to my home and we discussed my brother's death so what he told me on that occasion led me to think that he may have been implicated.

JUDGE DE JAGER: Well tell us what he told you, did he say I gave him muti or what did he say?  Why did you believe he killed him?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: When he arrived he asked me on how my brother was killed and I explained to him that he had gone to town with my mother and he had been knocked down by a car and he said yes my brother should have been killed because he had distanced himself from him or we had removed my brother from him because he used to be his herd boy.

MR PANDAY: Now this made you angry?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: It made me think because if it had made me angry I would have done something to him right there and there but it made me think and I had to think about it deeply, that is why I also - it also came to my mind when we discussed it with my family he also felt or he thought that he might have had a hand in my brother's death.

MR PANDAY: Now after your family thought that he might have had a hand in your brother's death, what did your family decide?

MAFANDO JOKONIA MAFU: The family was not very much involved in this because the family, the involvement and that, when they removed my brother from the deceased's home, when we met to discuss his death it was not with my family but with the ANC.

MR PANDAY: Now why did you have discuss that brother's death with the ANC?