Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-10-24

CHAIRPERSON: Do you still remember the bus boycott in 1980?

WITNESS:  Yes, I do, because the fares had gone up.  Yes, I do remember that.

CHAIRPERSON: Do you remember that your brother as well as the Kranskloof residents started a campaign.   What was the name of the campaign?

WITNESS:   It was the Joint Rent Action Committee.  Now, it was a similarly campaign, which means we don't have money.

CHAIRPERSON: You remember that 18 months elapsed the people had boycotted the buses and they were not boarding the buses?

WITNESS:   I do remember that.

CHAIRPERSON: Do you still remember that that made your brother to be in conflict with the taxi drivers?

WITNESS:   (No audible reply)

CHAIRPERSON: Is it correct that after some time Mzizi was chosen or elected as a chairman in the Lamontville committee?   What was the main objective of the committee?

WITNESS:   It was to try and bring down the rent hikes on behalf of the community.

CHAIRPERSON: Is that what led to another committee in 1983, the one you talked about just now, the Joint Committee?

WITNESS:  (No audible reply)

CHAIRPERSON: Now, tell us  about the death of Mzizi in April 1983?

WITNESS:   I spoke to him on a Friday.  And I was telling him  that he should not  involve himself with community  matters, because I had already heard that he was going to be killed, and what  he said to me was that I should  pray, because he  knew that he was going to be killed.   But if they were going to kill him for the truth, I will  not have any load on my shoulders.   I asked him  as to who were we going to be left with, because he was  the only one, he was  the only  son that my mother had.   He told  me that I  should not be bothered because he was doing this for his brothers as well as his sisters.

CHAIRPERSON: I can see you lost a very good brother there, I know him very well.   (Pause)

WITNESS:   After he said those words to me, I said, "That is fine, you can go on in what you believe in and I am going to pray".   We parted on that note and that was the last time we spoke.   Then on the following Monday morning, on the 25th of April, my younger daughter was staying with my mother at that time, as well as her children, because they were still very young.  She came to fetch me from Lamontville, and she told me that my brother had been killed.   I went along to investigate the matter and see how far true that was.   I found that a lot of members of the community were in our yard, and the fact that I hadn't lost alone, but the whole community of Lamontville lost, they were affected, especially the youth which was going to get a lot of education from him, because he so loved the youth.   He was actually their leader.   As it is today, I feel for the younger generation for those who are still growing, had they given him a chance to live, he could have done a lot for the community at Lamontville.

CHAIRPERSON: When he was killed, where was he?

WITNESS:   He got home and  he was  from a certain meeting.    He had earlier  announced that there was going to be a meeting, a JRAC meeting.   When he got home, according to my mother, he said -  he got into the house and told my mother that he had  already come, because it was his usual practice that he reports himself that he has come in and everybody should relax  and sleep peacefully because he was in the house.   Even on that particular day, it happened like that.   Then there was a certain boy from the Makhanya family, who had come with him, and he told this Makhanya boy to go back to his home, and this man from the Makhanya family refused to go to his place and said he was scared for my brother's life, but he ultimately went away.   And when he got into house he heard some gun fire from my mother's place, and apparently the killers were waiting for him in the yard, and they killed him in the yard.   By the time I got to the scene, he had already been taken to the mortuary, but the blood was still there very much visible and they were still wiping the blood.

CHAIRPERSON: What was the name of this Makhanya?

WITNESS:   It is Vivian Makhanya.

CHAIRPERSON: Where does he stay?

WITNESS:   He still stays at the same place, Mbele Street.

CHAIRPERSON: What's the number of the house?

WITNESS:   I don't know the number of the house, I am not really sure.

CHAIRPERSON: Is it correct that according to your statement when your brother was shot, he had already told them at the meeting that he wanted to resign from the council.  Now, what could possibly be the reason for his death, because he had already announced his resignation?

WITNESS:   I think there was some arguments that were going on and some disagreements, but I cannot pinpoint as to what that was in particular.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, after your brother had died, just give us a picture of the Lamontville, tell us what happened in Lamontville/Chesterville consequent to your brother's death?

WITNESS:   After my brother's death, the atmosphere changed drastically and there was some unrest, certain children died, and they were killed in some gruesome manner.   And there was another one who was very active at that particular point in time, and he wanted people who were aligned to the ANC Youth League to be killed as well as my family.   But he was killed before he could actually carry out his plan.

CHAIRPERSON: What was his name?

WITNESS:   It was Mhlaba.  He owned a taxi in Lamontville.

CHAIRPERSON: Was he a councillor?

WITNESS:   No, he was not, but he operated a taxi business.

CHAIRPERSON: You said he was also killed?

WITNESS:   Yes, he was killed.

CHAIRPERSON:   Who killed him?

WITNESS:   I don't know the person's name, but he was killed by a certain person, I am not really sure, I don't want to commit myself and say so and so killed him.   I heard when I was at work that he had also been killed.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, I am going to help you through the statement, so that we can finish quite quickly.   I will just point certain facts to  you and you  deny or you admit them.  The community of Lamontville was very angry and filled with hatred after your brother's death and three more people died, is that correct?

WITNESS:   Yes, that is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: These three people were rumoured to be police informers?

WITNESS:   Yes, that's the rumour that I heard.

CHAIRPERSON: What were their names?

WITNESS:   I can't tell you their names, I don't know their names.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, this unrest stretched up to Chesterville.  Why did it stretch to Chesterville, because it was in the Lamontville part?

WITNESS:   I will describe it in this manner, what made it stretch to the area of Chesterville was that at some stage he was an assistant teacher helping teacher Khanyile at that particular school in Chesterville.   So, I think that's what actually made it to stretch.

CHAIRPERSON: Where is Khanyile now?

WITNESS:   Khanyile is since deceased.   He died just before the day he was going to be elected.

CHAIRPERSON: Who killed him?

WITNESS:   I don't know who killed him, we were at a certain hall and we heard later on that he had also been killed.

CHAIRPERSON: Was Khanyile one of the police informers?

CHAIRPERSON: /Yes, he

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.    He was one of the people rumoured to be an informer.

CHAIRPERSON: (END OF CASSETTE NO 3)

CHAIRPERSON: 4A/0 (START OF CASSETTE NO 4)

CHAIRPERSON: ... and he took me to my mother's place, because he regarded me as his eldest sister.   They were talking with Mzizi, and he said, "My brother I want you to use the boers, eat the money, but at the end of the day all your actions will catch up with you".   And I didn't know what that meant.   So, I also suspected that he was a police informer.

CHAIRPERSON: After that there was a lot of unrest and boycotts in Lamontville after your brother died.   Up to a certain stage where the suspects were ultimately arrested, do you still remember their names?