Human Rights Violation Hearings — Alexandra — 1996-10-30

MR LEWIN: Mr Mayisa I would like to welcome you to the stand.  Can you hear what I am saying?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: Yes.

MR LEWIN: Before you begin your evidence could I ask you please to take the oath.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: (s.s.)

MR LEWIN: I would now like to ask Commissioner Hlengiwe Mkhize  please to lead you in your evidence.  Thank you.

MS MKHIZE: I welcome you.  I would like you to tell the Commission more about yourself and also introduce the one sitting next to you.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: This is my nephew.

MS MKHIZE: I would like you to explain your story before the Commission.  On the 28th February 1992, it was early in the morning, nine o'clock.  When we woke up we saw a blue Cressida, there were three people inside the car.  We know one of the occupants of the car because he was staying opposite to our house.  I also know his name.  He was the enemy of the deceased.  I was busy preparing tea inside the house, the deceased came into the house and told me that they were going to town at the ANC offices, Khotso House.  He used to visit that place.  I suspected because I saw his enemy in the car, I didn't ask him much because even if they were enemies they used to talk to each other.  That is how he left our place.  It was about past nine in the
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morning.  They took him the car, the Cressida.  That is how he disappeared.  5 strokes, 8, 10 until early in the morning we were still waiting for him.  The next morning when we woke up, I used to sleep with him and the others used to sleep in the front side of the house.  When I went to ask the others whether he arrived they said no, he didn't come back home.  We started going around asking the comrades whether they had seen him and they said they haven't seen him.  It was Saturday and on Sunday we tried to look for him.  On Monday in the morning we got a call from the ANC offices.  The person who called was Comrade Dipu. He said he got a phone call from Pretoria, Garankua that three people have been killed and he said because we heard that  you are also looking for someone who disappeared on Friday you had better go and check if it is not one of the three people who were killed.  We waited for this man and he came and he accompanied us to Garankua.  We went to the mortuary.  We met the criminal investigating officers.  We told them that one of our relatives had disappeared and we were just coming to check if he is not among the three.  They asked us if we had our ID's and we responded by saying yes we do have the ID's.  They looked at each other when they saw his picture and then it became clear to me that he is among the three.  They told us that they were still busy with the bodies, then we had to wait outside.  After some few minutes they called us.  We entered the room, they pulled them out and we discovered that the deceased, we identified them as one of my niece.  They have already been operated on, the CID told us that we have to give a statement and we refused to give a statement.  They tried to ask us to give the statement, we didn't give the statement, we just went back
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home and we collected the hearse to come back the next day to collect him.  The following day we went there with the hearse.  We signed some papers for his release and the death certificate.  It was Temba.  The place was called Temba.  We pulled out the stretcher, we put him on the stretcher, we went on to look for a death certificate.  We asked at the police station where we can get a death certificate and they directed us to the place.  Before leaving the place we asked them to show us where the incident took place where they were killed.  They just directed us that it was under a bridge.  We insisted that they accompany us because we know customarily that if someone died in a particular place we have to go to where the person had been killed and also customarily or traditionally explain to the deceased's body that we are coming here to pick you up and take you back home.  They refused to take us to the place where they were killed and they said don't blame us, this person was given to us and we asked them who gave you the body, they said the police from Gauteng gave us this body.  And we asked them does it mean that you can't show us exactly where he fell and died.  They said no, they asked us where we come from, we said we are from Alexandra and one of them was surprised and we asked one of them to take us to the station commander, they said the station commander wasn't around at the moment and we could see that they were not going to help us because we were refusing to go and show us where they were killed.  We just continued to the offices to get a death certificate.  We reported the matter and we came back.

MS MKHIZE: We would like to thank you very much Mr Mayisa.  I would like to ask you a few questions to explain your story further.  Can you tell the Commission more about Delon
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Mayisa as to how old was he at the time of the incident.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: He was born in 1957, December 25.

MS MKHIZE: Can you also explain further as to at the time of the incident was he still schooling?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: He used to attend night school.

MS MKHIZE: If you remember well what standard was he doing? Relax and tell us exactly about him.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: He was studying and he was still young. He became involved politically in 1986.  Thereafter he left school and he was actively involved in politics.

MS MKHIZE: When you say he was involved in politics what exactly was he doing in the political sphere?  I think now with the new freedom you should be  free to explain as to his involvements.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: He was an ANC member.

MS MKHIZE: You said he had to leave school.  Were there any other works or operations that was allocated to him to do?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: I would say that he was a leader at the Mandela area.

MS MKHIZE: Was he trained in handling firearms.  If ever he had firearms what kind of firearms did he have?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: He was a leader in the street committee.

MS MKHIZE: The three people, you said one of them was his enemy, can you tell us about the differences between the deceased and his enemy?  Were they belonging to one organisation or different organisations?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: They were not in one organisation.  The deceased was a member of the ANC and his enemy was the person who was doing criminal acts.

MS MKHIZE: I would like to believe that those were not in line with politics of the day.
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DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: Yes.

MS MKHIZE: If possible can you disclose those criminal acts.   And also the differences between them.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: I would say I didn't know much about this other person's involvement as to which organisation he belonged.

MS MKHIZE: In your statement you talked about a green Cressida but now you are saying it is navy blue.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: I would say there was a mistake.  The person who saw it well is my niece here sitting next to me.

MS MKHIZE: What is the correct picture?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: It was blue.

MS MKHIZE: You said you were called by Comrade Dipu. Did you know this Comrade Dipu?  Can you tell us about the way he called you and also the message that he gave to you.

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: I didn't take the phone, the children took the phone at home and then they gave me the message.

MS MKHIZE: When they explained giving you the message what did they say to you, what was the message?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: They said he got a phone call from Garankua explaining that three people had been shot and he was suspecting one of them might be my nephew.

MS MKHIZE: Was there any case in regard to this matter?

DOKKIE ELIAS MAYISA: No.