Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-05-10

KHOZA MGOJO: 16A/28 KwaZulu.  After that - I think it was round about 1985 or 1986 - Mr Nyembezi was attacked in his home.  They bombed his home.  They shot.  Luckily he and his wife survived that.  They were not injured, but they lost a lot of things.  Their house got burnt.  Those people who were there, we couldn't establish who were they - the people that caused such damage - but according to him it was a huge crowd of people, who had come there to attack.  After that there were elections.  In the second elections we also participated.  Those who got involved, who were in opposition to us, they were in opposition to us on the ticket of being Inkatha, but they all failed, except Mr Makhathini, who took out Mr Buthelezi's position.  Many people - as I've said, we were a united group.  All of us were thinking alike.  We had businesses, except Mr Nyembezi, but all others had businesses.  Even also I am affected in business because in the family we had businesses.  In 1987 they attacked Khuzwayo.  Hopefully, she is here.  She will tell you - his wife.  They attacked Mrs Khuzwayo's husband and he died at the shop.  At that time we didn't think what was happening and that there were some suspicions.  We really didn't know what was happening, but in 1988 in October or round about September, October, my wife told me that she had been told by Ngema - Ngema was a customer of the bottle store of our home - that Ngema told her that he, Ngema, was at a meeting at Jamile with other people.  At this meeting it was discussed that they must kill me.  Many people who were at that meeting said, "But Tshabalala we can't get all right".  I don't know what was the reason.  Maybe it was because I grew up there - grew up in Clermont and

KHOZA MGOJO: /many people

KHOZA MGOJO: 16A/29 many people knew me.  Maybe they thought it would be difficult for them to take a decision ... (end of tape)

KHOZA MGOJO: 16B/0 ... thing.  We both didn't take it seriously.  We thought, "But how could he do such a thing and plan that they will kill a person".  We really ignored this.  After that, when my wife closed the bottle store, just after closing the shop and she was starting the car, they shot at her, but luckily they didn't manage to hit her.  They shot at the car.  There were some bullet holes in the car - on the car.  When she was at home - she arrived and we discussed this thing.  We thought maybe they were robbers.  They were coming to rob my wife.  It really didn't occur to us that they were looking for her but in February, on the 10th, we, as the board, we were in Clermont.  We had divided Clermont according to our membership and also according to the areas.  In a particular ward a member - my member had started a committee, which would work with us as the members, because the members were only eight.  So according to that we thought we could be closer to people and know their complaints and their needs, but on the 10th we had called the committees of the wards.  We were going to meet them at the hall - at the community hall.  My wife, as a person, was very directly involved with people, in particular women.  I said I will not have time to look for members of my committee and calling them to a meeting, I will request my wife to do that, so that I will meet them at the community hall at six.  My wife did that and she phoned me and said, "I've organized all the members - all your members will be there at the meeting, so you must be there".  At about five - it was about ten to five - my wife phoned ... (inaudible) ...

KHOZA MGOJO: /said, "Are

KHOZA MGOJO: 16B/2 said, "Are you still there?"  I said, "The meeting is at six.  I am coming".  She said, "Please go.  I don't want people to say I've called them to a meeting and then you're not there".  Those were her last words that I heard from my wife, because after that I went to the meeting.  While I was still at the meeting Ayanda came running and other members who were they.  They said, "My mother has been shot".  That's when we ended the meeting abruptly.  I drove to the bottle store to check what had happened.  When I arrived at the bottle store I found the car alone and there was blood all over.  They told that Mama had been taken by Leon Cele.  Leon Cele is one of our colleagues who also had a business.  He came with his van and rushed her to the hospital.  And Dr Mji - Delisa Mji -arrived.  I don't know where he came from.  I just saw him right there.  He says to me, "Please, don't touch your car.  I'll drive your car", and we left with my son, Ayanda and Dr Mji.  We went to the hospital.  When we arrived at the hospital we saw Cele's van.  It was just parked right in front of the door.  My eldest son, Zakiwu was crying, because I had heard that he had gone with Leon's van and his mother.  His mother died on his hands.  So his situation was very, very bad and other people told me that the doctor examined her in the van and found that she was already dead.  So we went back.  So we made a statement at KwaDabeka and they called the mortuary van and the police at Murchison (?).  After a few days they called me to go and identify her at Chatsworth and I went and saw her there.

KHOZA MGOJO: Okay, if I could just interrupt you.  Are there people who were arrested with regard to your wife's

KHOZA MGOJO: /killing?  ---

KHOZA MGOJO: 16B/3 killing?

WITNESS:   Yes, there are.  Jamile was arrested and Msizi Hlophe.  The case took a very long time, because it wasn't the case of my wife that only they had been arrested for.

KHOZA MGOJO: Before you go ahead, could you tell us who is this Jamile?  Just a short explanation.

WITNESS:   Jamile at that time was the Deputy Minister of the Interior at KwaZulu Government.  As I've already said, Inkatha was involved in the election.  He was staying in the ward I was staying in, so I was really directly in challenge with him in the elections.  In the nominations you were nominated by ten people, so that you could be in the board.  He got less than 10 votes.  I think he got about 7 votes.  It was very - well, it wasn't clear to us how did he get involved because he didn't get 10 nominations.

KHOZA MGOJO: In your statement there were so many people at that stage who were harassed in Clermont and some of them you have touched upon them.  Were these people in an organization and the others were in Sofizonke and others were Inkatha Party.  Which organization were these other people?

WITNESS:   You will remember that at that stage there was no political organization, because political organizations had been banned.  So we, as the community, we took ourselves as a civic organization.  Perhaps it could happen that since now there was UDF.  Maybe some of us were sympathising with the objectives of the UDF, although we were not members.  We were not card-carrying members of the UDF.

KHOZA MGOJO: We thank you very much, Mshengu.  Your family was harassed quite a lot.  Could you tell us about the harassment of your family?  Just give us a picture and

KHOZA MGOJO: /what effect

KHOZA MGOJO: 16B/6 what effect this had on your family - your children and everybody in the family.