Human Rights Violation Hearings — Port Elizabeth — 1996-06-26

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: No.  Yes, I am in the incident when they left the country.  I'd like to explain that he gave information to siblings and stated that I am leaving, please look after my mother.
 They were always together until they left the country.  So the other day I went to fetch a key from one of my neighbours.  I was surprised that Ligwa didn't come.  The lady told me that Ligwa and one tall gentleman went around this corner.  When I went home, I learnt that the same story was repeated by my mother.
 Since then I was anxious, I was panicking.  Mbuyio had also left the country, we were harassed continuously until I also went to Lesotho.  I received a telephone call from Dora, my aunt, who was also my in-law.  I learnt that my son had been shot dead at Maseru.
 I was confused, I didn't know what to do.  We didn't know where Lesotho was and how to get there.  There were two PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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trees from the Tsuma family and then they said they would assist us.
 They made arrangements that we should go and get passports, we went all over.  Even the offices of the SACC and we were able to go to Lesotho to bury our children.
 When we got there, Linda went away.  He came back and he said when we got there at Lesotho, he was the first to welcome us at Lesotho.  He was the first to welcome us.
 We thought that we would bury the child on Sunday, but we had the funeral on Saturday.  On Sunday we were taken by the Lesotho people and showed us all the houses as said before.
 When they came to Ligwa, they called me and stated that here is the house in which Ligwa was killed.  We saw him shoes, a bullet on the wall and the blood.  This gentlemen who was guiding us stated that he was inciting the people who were attacking him.
 Then this gentleman said can you  see this door, he said the door was opened with the machine gun, it was during the night when they came, the attackers came.  Linda was inside and these people was outside.
 He said the gentleman said, he people who were attacking them said we are going to shoot this big mouth of yours.  We can say they really did that because they shot him on the stomach, when he fell they also shot him on the head.
 I could see that his nose and the nostrils were full of the brains, but you could identify him, but there was the other side which was darkened.  I suspect it was due to haemorrhoids.
 We rounded all the areas in which they used to spend 
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their time and then Linda said I didn't know how I survived this.  I was a bit irritable.

MR SANDI: Are these the people who were welcoming you, the same people who were guiding you to all these areas?

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: Yes, it is the same people.  We held the funeral on Sunday and then we came back on the same day.  I think after a week or two, this men came, the Special branch officers.  They asked us if we did attend the funeral and we said, yes, we did.
 They wanted to know what did we see.  I stated that I saw a lot of people who were burnt, it was a mass funeral.  I said I would request that, I wish I would never witness such a scene again.

MR SANDI: Do you know the name of the Special branch that came?

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: No, I cannot remember the officer.  What I can state is that this person was hefty, he was having short pants, he had a gun and inside the socks and the other one was on the hip in the holster and then he had another one in the arm in the hand.
 He said we have killed the big mouthed ANC.

MR SANDI: So did he repeat the same words that were uttered by somebody who was giving you details about the massacre?

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: Yes, because the person who came to my place said the same words.
 The person really confirmed that the story that we heard, was the same as this one that we are hearing now about the big mouth.

MR SANDI: Were you not shocked to hear those words?  To correlate the two, the words that you heard at Lesotho and then to hear them again uttered here at your place by a
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visitor?

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: Yes, I was very shocked.

MR SANDI: Is that the only thing that you can tell us?

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: I can state that Ligwa has a child.  One of his children died, he was three days old.  He has another son and then we support this little one, he is doing standard eight.

MR SANDI: Do you allow me to go further and ask Mrs Marwanqana who was there during the time of the massacre so that if there is something that you have forgotten you can be able to remember it?

BUKIWE MAUD MPONGOSHE MUTIWE NELLIE MARWANQANA THANDIWE MARGARET MDLANKOMO: Yes, it is so, but I would like to appeal to the Truth Commission just to make investigations about this massacre.  I want to know what happened, why did they do such a scrupulous thing.

MR SANDI: Thank you Mama.  Let's go further to Mrs Marwanqana.  Mrs Marwanqana, I understand that you will be able to give us details about something that you witnessed.  Can you please continue and inform us what did you see on the day of the massacre?

MRS MARWANQANA: Should I start from the Lesotho event?

MR SANDI: Yes, start there please.

MRS MARWANQANA: But I didn't want to start there, I want to start and begin from the period when I left the country.

MR SANDI: Okay, you can start there.