Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1998-10-21

MONTEGUESA BEGUISE NTULI: On the 26th, on the very same month that you have just mentioned, Chairperson, I came home from a Cosatu meeting as usual.  I used to reside a house in eSikhawini H1.  The house is nearer to the police station, the eSikhawini Police Station.
	I came back.  I was with Enoch Nzuza.  He is one of the organisers for Numsa.  He also survived several attacks at Ndlangobo where he used to stay.  I then decided to bring him to my place where he could sleep for the night because we were concerned about his safety. 
	I went to the house with Rich and Lucky Ntuli, two boys who are my brother's sons and there was also in our company, Msize Nkunu who was guarding me at the time because we were being attacked as leaders of our movement.  We then took a decision that our leaders should be guarded all the time.  
	I think it was round about half past nine when I got into the house and went to sleep.  I went to sleep and they remained behind watching television.  I think it was round about 10 when I was woken up by gunshots, shots that were being fired through my window and all over the place, the dining-room, the kitchen and everywhere.  
	I got a fright, I woke up and I had a licensed 9mm pistol.  I tried to make out as from which direction the gunshots were being fired in relation to the room in which I was sleeping.  Msize who was guarding me at the time rushed to my room to make sure that I was safe.  He told me to take cover.  Even though I could be in the position to protect myself at the time it was his duty and it was my responsibility to listen to him because he was taking care of my safety.
	I listened to him and the gunshots continued incessantly.  They had already thrown carnages of handgrenades into the house at the time and we all tried to rush outside.  I then told Msize that I would like to help him because he is the only one who was trained and therefore in the position to can protect all of us.  	We then agreed.
	We tried to retaliate.  The handgrenades were thrown and we rushed to the bathroom, opened water to try and get some - I'm sorry, it was not a handgrenade it was teargas, we rushed to the bathroom.  We were used to the handgrenades because we also suffered the same fate at the hands of teargas.  We were used to teargas experiences at the hands of the police.  We rushed to the bathroom.  
	All members of our union and activists knew that in cases of teargas attacks we had to get wet cloths.  On entering the bathroom we thought the gunshots would stop but they did not.  I ran out of ammunition and Msize and myself agreed that he should defend all of us and get us out of the house.
	He got the rest of the people out of the house, Enoch Nzuza and myself remained behind and Enoch Nzuza had just been attacked the very same morning.  Enoch Nzuza had survived an attack that very same morning.  He would then bring some alcoholic beverage with him ...[intervention]

SISI KHAMPEPE: ...[no English translation]

MONTEGUESA BEGUISE NTULI: I'm sorry.  He had a hot stuff or hot alcohol which he was consuming to try and cope.  It therefore became very difficult for him to withstand the teargas attack and we had to carry him if we really wanted to protect him and take him to safety, myself and Msize.
	Msize said I should leave the house and I resisted.  I said he should be the one who gets out of the house because he still had ammunition.  Msize then got out of the house and myself and Enoch remained behind. 
	After Msize had left the house the gunfire stopped.  I rushed to the kitchen door which was open, left open when Msize ran out of the house.  And I can say that is about eight metres distance between my house and that of my immediate neighbour.  There were four people in a lying position facing towards the open door at the house.
	The people who had left the house, I already know that they were three and I started wondering why there were four people lying there when only three people had left the house.  I concluded that this could not be the three people who had rushed out of the house.  
	I called out and the response that I got was a gunfire.  The person who fired the shot must have thought that I was shouting or calling out from the bathroom window towards which he then fired.  I then realised that these cannot be the people that I know.
	I then called out to Rich, my brother's son.  They then realised that the voice was coming from the direction of the door.  They fired these shots towards the door and they shot just above my head and I was then convinced that this cannot be the people that I know.  They were wearing black clothes and I think they were trying to camouflage so that they could not be identified.
	After some time a white van came and drove past a street just behind their backs, on the other side.  That is when I realised that these are the enemies because they all had rifles.  I then realised that these are the people who are attacking my house.  They also had balaclavas covering their faces.  They rushed to the van and I concluded that they were rushing to the van to get some more ammunition because they had already fired for more than 45 minutes.
	I then stayed on at the door, not leaving because I wanted to see what they would do ultimately.  They then came towards a window at the kitchen, all four of them and I could no longer see them from where I was standing.  
	They slowly and gradually approached towards the window.  When they got there they said I should give them the gun that I was using to shoot them.  I did not respond.  They were appealing, saying I should give them my gun and they would let me go.  They thought I was shooting them with an AK and they wanted this AK.  They said if I did not give them this AK they would come in and threw another teargas canister, handgrenades, shoot me and kill me.
	I heard something being thrown inside again and I thought they had thrown yet another teargas canister into the house.  When they said they will throw teargas canisters and handgrenades in the house I immediately remembered that there was a handgrenade in the house that I had seen Msize carrying one day.
	I crawled to the place where this hand grenade was kept and I kept praying that it should be intact because if it was not connected or disconnected to the detonator I would not have been in the position to use it.  I found this handgrenade intact and I brought it back, crawled back to the kitchen.  
	The door to the kitchen was clear.  No lights were on in the house, it was just dark and I realised that they were now desperately trying to get hold of my gun.  At that time I told them that I was badly injured as a result of the shots and I could not move.  I think they must have thought that it was now going to be easy for them to get me.
	They came in rushing and pushing through the door.  I gave them the handgrenade.  I rolled it and removed the pin and gave it to them and it exploded.  I heard them screaming like small children, fleeing.  When I checked the situation at the door it transpired that the shrapnels were all over the place and I was not in the position to escape myself because of the lot of dust resulting from the explosion.
	After the dust had subsided I then got out of the house.  When I got out of the house I saw something that was lying next to the door.  I ran to my neighbours where I telephoned the police.  When I phoned the police I did not give them my real identity but then they apparently picked up my voice and wanted to know if I am Bheki Ntuli and I got a fright.

MR WILLS: Yes, thank you, Mr Ntuli.  You've said in your affidavit that you reported the matter to the police and you didn't get a lot of assistance, but we want to just concentrate on the event for which you are applying for amnesty.
	Is it not so that you did indeed possess the handgrenade that later exploded, that you later threw?