Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1999-11-15

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, is it Ms Loonat, are you representing.

MS LOONAT: Nkwanyana and Mpilo Khuzwayo, yes Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Are you ready to proceed?  Very well.  Yes Ma'am, I might as well make a note of your name as well.

MS JELAL: Ms Jelal, I represent the families of the victims.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, we'll do it formally in a minute.  We will now proceed to hear the amnesty application of Osmond Bekisisa Nkwanyana Amnesty Reference AM5214/97 and the application of Ketha Mpilo Khuzwayo Amnesty Reference AM6175/97.  The Panel is constituted as is apparent from the record.  I'm going to ask the legal representatives to put themselves formally on the record.  Ms Loonat, perhaps you should do that first.

MS LOONAT: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  I'm Zereena Loonat and I'm representing Mr Nkwanyana this morning.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Ms Loonat.  Ms Jelal.

MS JELAL: Thank you Mr Chairperson I represent the families of the victims.

CHAIRPERSON: Leader of Evidence.

MR MAPOMA: Zuko Mapoma, Leader of Evidence, as before.

ADV BOSMAN: Mr Chairperson if I may just inquire, are you just representing Mr Nkwanyana?

MS LOONAT: Both of them, thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, Ms Loonat, who's the first applicant that you are going to lead?

MS LOONAT: Mr Chairperson, we'd like to lead Mr Nkwanyana first because his actually not applying for amnesty, he maintains that at the last session, he maintains that he wasn't even present at the scene of the crime, so he can't apply for amnesty.  Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, well let me just see.  We do have an application from him, so you'll lead him on that and we'll hear what his testimony is.

MS LOONAT: Yes, certainly.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  Do you want me to administer the oath to him?

MS LOONAT: Yes, please, Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, I'll do that.

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: (sworn states)

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, Ms Loonat.

MS LOONAT: Thank you, Mr Chairperson.

MS LOONAT: Mr Nkwanyana, do you belong...(intervention)

ADV SANDI: Sorry, Ms Loonat, just a minute.  I just want to clear up something with the Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  Ms Loonat, I assume that you know we do have a formal amnesty application before us, I assume that the comment that you made earlier relates to the attitude of the applicant, as he's conveyed that to you?

MS LOONAT: Alright.  But I assume you're going to lead his evidence on this application and we'll hear what he says and then assess in the light of his evidence what his position really is.  So you'll let him tell the whole story to us?

MS LOONAT: Will do.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes and we'll see.

MS LOONAT: Mr Nkwanyana, do you belong to any political party?  Which one and for how long?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: Yes, I am a member of a political organisation.

MS LOONAT: Please tell the Committee which party you belong to and for how long have you been a member?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: ANC.

MS LOONAT: Have you been an active member?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: No, I was just an ordinary member.

CHAIRPERSON: And the question was, since when was that, since when are you a member of the ANC?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: From 1989.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, Ms Loonat.  Thank you.  Carry on.

MS LOONAT: Thank you.  Do you own a firearm?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: No, I don't.

MS LOONAT: Do you have any training in the use of firearms?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: No.

MS LOONAT: Do you have proof that you're a member?  Are you a card-carrying member of the ANC?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: Yes, I had a membership card but it was burned down when my house was burned down.

MS LOONAT: In what circumstances was your house burned down?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: It was burned late at night.  There were attackers, I think IFP supporters attacked, even though I do not have proof that it was IFP, but everyone knew that it was IFP.

MS LOONAT: Did these attacks take place quite often or was that the only one?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: It was frequent.

MS LOONAT: And were you told it was always IFP, or just random attacks by people you don't know?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: We knew that it was IFP.

CHAIRPERSON: In which area was all this happening, Mr Nkwanyana?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: In Majane.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, say again.

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: Majane.

CHAIRPERSON: At Majane.  Was there a situation of political conflict, political violence between IFP and ANC in this area?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you.  Ms Loonat.

MS LOONAT: Thank you.  What is the level of your education?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: Standard 7.

MS LOONAT: Are you married?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: No, I'm not.

MS LOONAT: Do you have any children?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: I heard that I do have a child, but I didn't see that child because the only time I learned about this is when I was in prison.

ADV BOSMAN: May I just clear up something Ms Loonat?  Mr Nkwanyana, you mention in your application form in paragraph 4 on page 4, if you could just have regard to that and indicate to me.  You mention that you learned that your daughter had been injured.  Is this the daughter that you are referring to?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: It is not my daughter that I was referring to on my application, I was referring to my sister's daughter or my brother's daughter.

ADV BOSMAN: Thank you, you may proceed.

MS LOONAT: Mr Nkwanyana, please tell the Members of the Committee how you came to be involved in this alleged crime that you have been sentenced for.

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: I had been in that area because I had run away from my home because people were attacking us in my home.  We received a letter in eZakeni and in that letter it was written that my home had been attacked and the house had been burned down and a kid had been injured.

MS LOONAT: What did you do?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: The following day I decided to go back home to look or to try and get how far the damage went.

MS LOONAT: How long did you leave your area, to go to the area where you heard about this attack?  How long had you left your home?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: When I left Majane it was in 1993, towards the end.

MS LOONAT: And you didn't return at all to your home, did you?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: I would only go home to visit them during the day and then leave.

MS LOONAT: Why were you scared to go and visit people, your family that was still living there?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: Would you please repeat that question?

MS LOONAT: You say you went occasionally during the day to visit your family.  Why did you go occasionally to visit them, why didn't you move back?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: I was scared because attackers were attacking us during the night.

MS LOONAT: Mr Nkwanyana, on the 3rd of May 1994 were you a part of the gang who attacked Mr Mthembu and Mr Sibiya?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: No, I wasn't.

MS LOONAT: Why is your name being mentioned then, do you know?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: I would say it is because of what others had seen because I had just arrived in the area to look on the situation therefore I think if anyone from the IFP had seen me, they'd identified me as one of the people who attacked these two.

MS LOONAT: You say you arrived in the area to look at the situation.  What situation are you talking about?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: I wanted to look at the situation in my home because a kid had been injured, had been shot, therefore I went there to assist my family.

MS LOONAT: So in fact you're saying you were present in the area on the day of the attack, but did you have any idea that this attack was going to take place on this particular kraal that day?

OSMOND BEKISISA NKWANYANA: No, I didn't know.

MS LOONAT: What then were you doing there?  What happened at the time that you were there?  Did you hear any fighting, any gunshots?  What happened when you were there?