Human Rights Violation Hearings — Duncan Village — 1996-09-23

JANE MXOLI: She is by my daughter here in Ntanzani and my daughter has got a baby now.

MR SANDI: Can you please tell us Ms Mxoli, what is your request in front of this Commission?

JANE MXOLI: My request is that I need assistance.  I need to
be helped with this child because I am unable to support this child at this present moment.

MR SANDI: Is that all that you want to say Ms Mxoli?

JANE MXOLI: Yes, there is nothing more.

MR SANDI: Thank you, Ms Mxoli.  I would give this opportunity to this Chairman, thank you.

BONGANI FINCA: June Crichton?

JUNE CRICHTON: She will need to put earphones on, I think.

BONGANI FINCA: There is some technical problem so we are going to resume later.  We are going to adjourn whilst the technicians are attending to the problem - thank you.  We are now going to hand over to June Crichton.

JUNE CRICHTON: Can you hear me Ms Mxoli?  Can you hear me?  Good.  I just want to clarify something.  I want to ask you about a statement you made when you said that you went to the hospital and the child that was with you was affected by the teargas that was constantly being thrown, is that the same child  Nothozayo or is it another child?

JANE MXOLI: Which one, I can't - I don't understand your question.  No, it is not, this was a child, this was a child who belonged to Kinq, not mine.

JUNE CHRICHTON: Thank you.

BONGANI FINCA: Over to you, Revd Xundu.
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REV XUNDU: I would like to know at the time of your son's death, was he working?

JANE MXOLI: No, he had just been discharged from hospital because he was ill and he was on his way to Mtansani.

REV XUNDU: Did he have any family?

JANE MXOLI: Yes, he had two children which he had got from another lady and this other one does not stay with me.

REV XUNDU: Where do this children live?

JANE MXOLI: One stays with me.

REV XUNDU: Who is Fundiswa?

JANE MXOLI: Yes, I was paying for his education.

REV XUNDU: Do you always get medical examination and treatment?

JANE MXOLI: Yes, I do.

MR SANDI: We are now going to ask Ms Ngcaka to come forward.  Let me thank you Ms Ngcaka for your presence here today to explain to us what happened to your son.  By the way what was your son's name?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: His name was Thembekile Ngcaka.

MR SANDI: Who shot him?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: I was in King William's Town and Thembekile was here in Duncan Village so my father came to inform me that my son had been shot and he was in hospital.  I was shocked and I thought he was dead.  I then immediately went to hospital and I saw my son admitted in hospital.
 And he had been shot on his tummy and I used to visit him in hospital and until he was discharged, one of the nursing sisters said they did not see anything in his tummy so he had an operation from the diaphragm down to the abdomen.   So he was discharged and I took him to King William's Town.
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 And whilst we were there he couldn't eat properly and I didn't know what was wrong with him and I had forgotten that he had been shot.  When it is hot, he used to feel very sick and we didn't have money to send him to the Doctor, so one other day he went with my mother and my mother came with the report that he had taken ill.
 And he would feel thirsty and I had the impression that he healed completely, but I wasn't satisfied with his state of health.  But I did not bother myself much about taking him to Doctors, so he fell ill until I was perturbed and I decided to take him to a Doctor who diagnosed that his tummy was swollen so I took him to the Grey Hospital in King William's Town and I was told that he had been referred to Frere Hospital.
 I could not make a follow up.

MR SANDI: I noticed that your child at the time you are shot was very young.  How old was he at the time?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: He was 8 years old at that time.

MR SANDI: Did you perhaps go to any lawyers?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: No, no, no one went to any lawyer.

MR SANDI: You did not go to any lawyer to seek advice?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: No, we didn't.

MR SANDI: Are there any people who were eye witnesses at the time this child was shot?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: Yes, there were.

MR SANDI: What did they say?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: My brother was there, because I am talking about hearsay.

MR SANDI: Could you tell us what your brother said to you?  He said your brother was playing with other children at Douglas Smith highway.
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NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: Yes, my brother said all the children were playing behind our home and they heard some gunshots, because ultimately all of them were shot, though he tried to run away and he was shot on the tummy and he fell and my brother picked him up and took him to hospital.

MR SANDI: In your statement you said these children was shot by the soldiers?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: Yes, but my brother said my son was shot by the police.

MR SANDI: So how were you affected by the death of your child who was very young at the time?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: Since 1986, I have not been enjoying good health.

MR SANDI: How is your health at this present moment?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: I had a heart condition.  My husband too is suffering from high blood pressure because this really affected us.

MR SANDI: In your statement you have made mention of you have requests to this Commission that you need to know who actually shot your child together with his playmates, is it like that?  You want to know who shot your child?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: Yes, I do want to know.

MR SANDI: Do you perhaps have any other requests to this Commission?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: No, I cannot answer that question.

MR SANDI: In other words do you have any other thing to say in addition to what is in your statement?

NONKULULEKO NGCAKA: What I would like to say is that I was really hurt by the death of my child.  Says that I wish that he had died at the time they shot him.  I was really hurt that he still lived and he suffered the way he suffered and he could DUNCAN VILLAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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not eat properly and had to undergo an operation where they discovered some pellets in his stomach and this really hurt me.

MR SANDI: I now will hand over to the Chairperson.  If you still have any additional information you are welcome to say it once more.  Over to you, Chairperson.