Human Rights Violation Hearings — Newcastle — 1996-09-11

WITNESS:   He was the only one who was a member of the IFP, and he was not staying at his place, he was staying at Nxumalo's place.  And I am under the union, COSATU.  I had joined under NUMSA.  Whenever there were stayaways I never paid much attention, and the residents would ask me as to what was meant by the stayaways, and I used to explain to them because I was a member of the COSATU, because NUMSA is - COSATU is affiliated under NUMSA.  And they knew that I was a member of COSATU and I would explain to them whenever there were stayaways, and they would ask me what I was gaining out of the whole thing, and I would explain to them what the objectives of the unions were, because it was to fight the apartheid system as well as the oppression of the people.  And when we boycotted work the Government used to lose taxes, and I would explain it to the people that that's how we benefited as the union when we organised some stayaways.  That was part of fighting for our liberation.  I never paid much attention that this could possibly trouble the community.  And there's a certain boy who was staying at my place, and Nxumalo went around attacking houses in that area, together with his youths.  And we heard rumour later on that there's a certain youth who was no longer staying at his place but he was staying at Nxumalo's place, because his granny used to come, and he hated the ANC, and he used to say it's his son only who was an IFP member.  And the children would also tell this grandmother that she should more or less join the ANC, and she never wanted to see the ANC, she wanted to remain with the IFP.  And at some stage when Chris Hani died this boy was a delinquent.  I don't know where they got him, and he went to this particular boss.  There was an altercation between my son and this boy was injured.  I was at KwaMakuku's place when this granny went past Makuku's place, and we were standing next to the gate.  He called on to me.  He calls me his son-in-law.  I am not really his son-in-law, but we are distant relatives somehow.  Then he told me that, "Son-in-law, they had killed so-and-so."  And we went to that granny's place to the bereaved family, and his mother cried and said the Lord was going to answer her, and those who had killed her son would pay.  The mother died during the week, and the granny said the IFP was going to come and bury, and we were going to see as to who had killed the child.  And the people were now scared to go to the bereaved family because she was threatening.  The funeral went on, and we did not sleep at our respective places, we went out to sleep at different places because she had threatened that there were going to be attacks.  And the people - the community remarked that Nkosi had brought ANC into the area, as well as Buthelezi, who was the chairman of the ANC.  And they said the ANC was non-existent in that area, he had brought the ANC, and my son told me that we were being accused of bringing ANC members, and that the youth which had died was killed by ANC members.  He said he should now pay more attention to what the community was saying.  I told him that I am under COSATU, I am a member of COSATU, I did not have anything to do with the ANC, but my children were in the youth league.  I don't know how many weeks lapsed, it's plus/minus three weeks after the burial, and there was going to be a rally at the stadium.  I think Sithebe was going to be a prominent speaker, but I am not very sure about the exact details.  And Chief Mangosuthu Stadium, that's where he was going to arrive.  Then on a Saturday afternoon, just when it was getting dark, my four sons went to church because they had gone to section 42.  And we said they should go quickly and come back quite quickly.  They went to section 42 to the church, then we were left watching TV.  I was in my bedroom watching TV, I was just about to sleep.  I think it was at about half past seven to eight.  My children were in the kitchen and the doors were already locked because we were preparing ourselves to sleep.  And I could hear them screaming that there were three people who were getting in the yard, and the other one picked up the dustbin lid, and I saw the children peeping through the window, and they were remarking that there were three people suspicious looking, and they started breaking the windows, and especially the front windows.  They started at the kitchen, and I switched off the light and I went around switching all the lights in the house.  And they were holding the dustbin lid and they were having pangas with them.  And they went out, running out of the yard.  Then there is a certain lady called Dolly who was staying at that granny's place, but she is not related to that old woman.  Then my neighbour, Mr Ndebele, came to investigate as to what had happened.  I told him that I did not know what had happened.  I thought of an altercation that took place between my son and Nathi, a KwaZulu Police, and they said he had hit and stabbed the KwaZulu Police.  And they said I was the one who was teaching them to be members of the ANC because I had something to do with COSATU.  As he was going down there was nothing wrong, and he went to fetch these boys from Nxumalo, these IFP youths, and they were coming towards my direction.  Some are 20, some are over 20.  And they divided themselves into groups, and there were more than 20.  And at the time when this lady, Doreen, was with these youths she was no longer talking to us.  And there's another neighbour at my back opposite came to investigate.  And as we were just talking we saw the Inkatha members getting in through the gate, and we started locking the doors, as well as my wife, we started bolting the doors as well.  And when they came they started kicking the doors as well as chopping them with their weapons, up until such time that a big hole was made through the door and my wife started praying.  And when the door was broken down he had something - I think it was a gun - and my wife started screaming at that stage, and they went out.  There is another church house which is nearby, and we heard later on that Doreen was at that church house.  And my sons had not yet come back from church.  They just came back a little bit late, and we were surprised as to what had happened to them.  And this boy, the deceased, was the first one to come in, and they went to the back rooms.  I was just explaining that my children came back from church.  The story that I got was that my boys came in thinking that the IFP had gone.  When we were talking to Ndebele he was asking me as to what was happening.  Then we saw four youths coming in, and my boys were back now from church and the two of them ran away to the back side.  They chased them up until such time that one of them had to skip the fence and go to the opposite house, and the other one got into the wardrobe and hid himself.  They pulled the wardrobe, they opened up, and they put him out of the wardrobe, and it was a group of people.  They chopped him with axes all over the body, and I went out at that stage to find out what was happening.  I got him.  He was slumped on the ground and I didn't know what to do at that stage.  And I saw a car and I asked this driver to take him to the hospital.  He asked me where I was taking him because he had already died, but I just had that hope that he could get some help.  And we took him to the hospital, and I stayed at the hospital for quite some time and they told me that my son had died, there was nothing they could do to help him.  I came back, and my wife was sitting outside at that time.  All the children had run away.  There was absolutely nobody except for my wife.  And I told my wife that my son had died.  The windows were broken and the house was just in shambles.  There was so much destruction, and Mrs Mntambo, a member of the ANC came with her sister, and she is the first one who came and got into my house because the neighbours were scared.  And she spoke to my wife and tried to comfort her.  When I was in hospital the police came, because my wife went to the police station to report that the windows were broken.  And the neighbours had already told her that my son had died because they had seen the whole incident taking place.  And he showed the police that these were the youths who had killed my son, but the police never went to arrest them.  And the youths went to a certain place - I think it's Zwane's house, who was a councillor - and Zwane called me and told me that they had come into his place.