Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-08-28

WITNESS:   I am walking at Umgeni Water in New Germany.

UNKNOWN: Thank you very much, Mr Khumalo.  Can you briefly tell us about your son, Mandlinkosi.

WITNESS:   No, it's Thubelihle, not Mandlinkosi.  Thubelihle and Mandlinkosi are one and the same person.

UNKNOWN: At the time that Thubelihle got injured how old was he, and what was he doing at that time?

WITNESS:   Thubelihle was 15 years old at the time that the incident took place.  As Mr Gasa had already said that at that time the situation was quite volatile politically, and the youth was politically active, and Thubelihle was the leader of the youth group which was under the UDF at that time.  They were very politically active, fighting for freedom.

UNKNOWN: Was he attending school at that time?

WITNESS:   Yes, he was attending school, but at the time when he died he was no longer attending school because Inkatha, as well as the Special Branch, were hunting him down and he could no longer go to school.

UNKNOWN: So can you please tell us about the incident that took place.  Just give us a full history as to what happened.

WITNESS:   Thubelihle at that particular time was no longer staying at home.  He was being hunted down by police as well as Inkatha members.  Some of them I'll even mention their names because they threatened my son.  On the 28th, if I am not mistaken, we were attending my father's funeral, who had died on the 23rd of June 1986.  He had died at 'Maritzburg, where he was already pensioned.  I took my family with to 'Maritzburg to my father's funeral, but we could not get hold of Thubelihle because we did not know where he stayed at that particular time.  He was running away from the police, because the police used to come to our place every time looking for Thubelihle.  He ultimately had to run away.  My father died on the 23rd June 1986, so we went to 'Maritzburg to the funeral.  Thubelihle was left because we could not get hold of him.  In 'Maritzburg we waited for Thubelihle, but he did not come.  We buried my father on the 28th June 1986, and Thubelihle was nowhere to be seen.  It was on a Saturday, the 28th of June 1986.  We finished burying my father, and we got a message immediately after the funeral that we had to rush back to Umlazi because Thubelihle had died.  I went with my brother to Umlazi to go and investigate as to what had happened to Thubelihle, and we got to Umlazi.  We asked my wife as to what had actually happened that culminated to his death.  She related to me that at about 4.00 pm on the 27th Thubelihle had come back home.  We used to leave the key at my neighbour's place, Msani, and Thubelihle took the key from the neighbour's place and opened.  He got into the house.  Just a few minutes thereafter his friend came.  That was his comrade.  He said they should go to Section M, where there was a meeting.  That was a UDF meeting.  According to the story that we got is that the friend had been sent to go and entire Thubelihle.  He was sent by the Special Branch, and he was no longer a member of the UDF.

UNKNOWN: Let me just disturb you.  What was the name of the friend who came?

WITNESS:   We never got the name of the friend.  They did tell us the name, but I have forgotten it already.  The friend enticed him to a certain spot, where there were other members of Special Branch who were waiting for him.  This friend of his went away with him with the intention that they were going to a UDF meeting at M Section in Umlazi.  According to rumours they never went to the meeting, but they apparently went to a certain place where there was a group of people who were called Amabutho.  When they saw Thubelihle together with his friend they chased Thubelihle.  There is a place called GO, a taxi rank where there were taxis, and they chased him towards a certain place, and they were all armed when they were chasing Thubelihle.  According to the rumour that we have they were having assegais as well as other traditional weapons.  They chased him up until a place called Ebukweni.  That is where he got tired.  And they started stabbing him and assaulting him.  When my neighbour tried to intervene they turned and they threatened him, and they told him that they were going to burn his house down, he must keep away from the whole issue.  They kept on stabbing Thubelihle with assegais and chopping him with all other sorts of weapons, and that's when he died on that spot.  He had 52 holes.  He had also been chopped with an axe on the head.  His whole body was full of holes.  His eyes, his body, his feet, his legs.  Even animals are not killed in this manner.  He was actually slaughtered.  I got him at the mortuary at Gale Street.  What was even more nauseating and unbelievable, if you could have seen his body you would not have believed that the people were normal, that they could kill a young person, a 15-year-old, in the manner that they did.

UNKNOWN: What actually provoked them?  Was it because he was a member of the UDF?

WITNESS:   We even told Mr Gasa, the one who has just given evidence.  We went to him where he was in hiding and we told him what had happened.  There was also Mrs Nyembe.  As Mr Gasa had already said that now children were burying other children we could not go to the funeral.  Even my neighbours never went to the funeral because they were scared to go to the funeral.  They were scared that they would be victimised.  It was quite a scary situation.  It was like something from a horror movie.  We reported the matter to the police, but as it has already been said that the police were in collusion with Inkatha, as well as Amabutho, because according to what we are told was that Amabutho was comprised of about 200 members.  They were the ones who were chasing my son.  There were certain threats that we received later on.  These were from well known people like Wellington Sabela, as he has already been mentioned.  He even said to me that I must watch my dog, because I will miss it.  My dog should stop doing whatever it was doing.  Even my neighbours at V Section knew that I had those threats, because he said Thubelihle was a big catch.  Even a member of the Council at the A as well as the V Section he also told me that I should restrain my dog, because when his house was burnt down at A Section my dog was there, so he said that something was going to happen to my dog.  I was very shattered.  He is one of the people who threatened us.  His name was Cele.  He was a member of the Council.  He's the one who threatened me at some stage, and I know that he is a member of Inkatha.  And I was not surprised when Thubelihle died, and I was not surprised at the manner in which he died.  He wasn't attending school any more because he was scared that they would get him at school.  He would at some stage run, and decided that he would go to Tanzania.  They couldn't study even at school, so they decided that it was better for them to run to Tanzania, but I dissuaded him from going to Tanzania, but I gathered that his friend went to Tanzania.  Now I regret it today.  I feel that had he gone to Tanzania probably he would have been alive.  I was very harassed and tormented, because at the time when this happened I wasn't working any more, and when we buried my father I discovered that even my son had died.  That is all I can say.

UNKNOWN: We do hear this very painful story.  It's always very painful to lose a child, especially the manner in which he died is even more sorrowful.  It is our wish to get a true and clear picture as the Truth Commission.  I want to ask just a few questions so that we may clarify certain issues with regard to your son's death.  Are there eye witnesses that you know of who witnessed this incident?