Human Rights Violation Hearings — Balfour — 1997-05-23

MR MNISI: If I'm not mistaken it was the seventh of July 1990.  It was on a Saturday.  I was at home at Tshabala's place and we were there chilling and relaxed and we saw a group of people approaching.  They came inside and asked the owner Samuel Tshabala to switch off the radio and after that we should leave the house and go and attend a meeting at the stadium.  They also said further, anyone who's stubborn and not attend the meeting will receive what he deserves.  Truly, we went to the stadium.  When we got there we found out that the people who were at the stadium were leaving the stadium, marching, because there was a march that day and headed towards the office.  We had buckets with us.  They told me to take a bucket and I refused.  I said, I will never take this bucket, I won't even touch it and they said, but you will join the march.  I did obey them.  I joined the march.  There were so many people, numerous.  The one's were controlling the march that day divided us.  Some were already in front and reached the office, unloading the buckets and they got back to us and suggested we go to Ngakane, who was a Councillor, Ngakane Ngakane's house.  We found Ngakane Ngakane standing outside his house.  We put our buckets down.  I knew Ngakane Ngakane very well because we grew up together and we used to play soccer together and we used to be vendors.   I said to the people who were with me that I would like to have a word with Mr Ngakane.  They intended to kill him and I went to Ngakane and I had a word with him.  I told him to just leave the weapon alone.  Take your weapon and put it in your pocket and leave these people to offload their buckets and leave them there and we will clean up afterwards.  We will clean your house thereafter.  He was stubborn and said he won't do what I was asking him to do.  As I was still trying to negotiate with him there was one who approached behind me.  I don't know whether he threw sand on his eyes because I saw him reaching for his eyes and suddenly Boetie Nkala, I would like to apologize because his family is here, shot him.  I told him, you shouldn't have done that because look at the damage you have made now.  Suddenly I found myself on the ground and I don't know how I was beaten.  After that I found myself at the Heidelberg Hospital and I had lost consciousness but I regained it again.  Magdeleni Nklapo was also injured that day on his foot and came to my hospital bed with the late Mr Skothana and said to us, the reason we are here in this hospital is because we've been shot by Speed, the late Ngakane.  I said, did he shoot us ?  What did we do ?  I asked Nklapo that and he said, the whole thing transpired as we were offloading the buckets at his house.  I asked where he was and he said he was also killed on that very day.   I said to Magdeleni Nklapo, look at this now, he created all this damage but if only he had listened to me this wouldn't have emanated at all because I suggested to him that he should leave the whole thing alone and let the people do whatever they wanted to do and we will clean up the mess thereafter.  That's what happened.  I felt really bad when I realized that he was killed.  If only he had listened to me this wouldn't have happened and we wouldn't have been hurt either.

DR RANDERA: How many people actually died on that day Mr Mnisi ?

MR MNISI: There was one who died on the way to hospital by the name of Boetie Nkala.  The other one, Sugar died after him.  The two of us, myself and Magdaleni are the ones who survived this ordeal.

DR RANDERA: And your friend, the Councillor also died on that same day ?

MR MNISI: That's what I heard because we were already at the hospital.  We heard that he died that day or the following day.  I'm not too sure about that.

DR RANDERA: Can I just take you back a little.  I know it's a long time ago.  What was this struggle against Councillors in Siyathemba, had that been taking place for a period of time or did that only start in 1990?

MR MNISI: The Councillors were working for the Government of the day and also working for the community and had made promises to the community.  Time and time again the community would have meetings about this until they reached a decision that they would destroy and use buckets to show the Councillors what they were up to, that they were not keeping their promises.  That's how they wanted to penetrate through.

DR RANDERA: Were there other protests against the town's Councillors before this incident in 1990 ?  Was this one of many protests that took place ?  Sorry, can I just stop you.  My understanding of the protests against Councillors started long before.  In the Vaal we go back to the early '80's already.  Was there a similar situation pertaining in Siyathemba at the time or had people just started being against Councillors in 1990 ?

MR MNISI: An incident like this had occurred before but not as bad as this time in 1990.  There were conflicts and debates and things but not to this extent.

DR RANDERA: The protest with the buckets, was that a protest against the bucket system in itself or was it just a way to show the Councillors that people were against them ?

MR MNISI: The community was trying to show the Councillors that they should not make promises that they know very well they won't fulfill.  They promised a sewerage system and they were not installing that.  So the community decided that they will use the buckets to effect service and show the Councillors that they were tired of promises that were not fulfilled.

DR RANDERA: Earlier on you said that people were so angry they wanted to kill Councillor Ngakane even before your intervention.  Was that the plan ?  Was that the thinking as people marched to Councillor Ngakane's house that they were going to actually kill him or were they going to drop all the feces there in his yard and walk away ?

MR MNISI: I would like to explain this point.   There was no conflict, even the people who were there in that march were not up to a conflict.  People were just going to offload the buckets.  As I tried to negotiate with him that he should take his gun back into his pocket and leave the people to do what they wanted to do and we will clean up afterwards but he didn't see any sense in what I was saying to him.  Everyone that was there was not up to any mischief except that they wanted to offload the buckets and not kill.

DR RANDERA: Now I understand the Councillors lived in the community and people were against the Councillors and they were the direct point of entry in terms of anger that people were showing but you said earlier on that the Councillors were just working for the Government.  Why did people not go and drop all the shit out in Balfour itself ?  Why were the Councillors chosen as the ones they should be attacking ?

MR MNISI: The offices of the Councillors were in the Black township, not in town.  They went to the offices first and after that they went to their respective houses.  They wouldn't have gone to town because the Councillors were working right in the township.

DR RANDERA: So people had been protesting for some time against the bucket system.  Councillors had been forewarned about this is other words.

MR MNISI: Yes, the Councillors were aware of that.  They committed themselves to changing the entire system and install a sewerage system but they never fulfilled their promise.

DR RANDERA: Mr Mnisi, my last question.   I understand that after you came out of hospital you were charged for the killing of the Councillor.  Can you just tell us what the outcome of that was.

MR MNISI: We were discharged at the court of law.  We won the case, all of us.

DR RANDERA: How many of you were charged ?

MR MNISI: I think we were about thirty or fifty something around that neighbourhood.  This has happened a long time ago so I can't remember quite well.

DR RANDERA: Thank you, Mr Mnisi.