Human Rights Violation Hearings — Empangeni — 1996-11-05

WITNESS:   Shabani was a reverend.  He came to my place whilst he was preaching in our area and my husband gave him a piece of land so that he could plant his own.  So Shabani said he did not want my land.  He only wanted the portion that was given to him.  He did not want the rest of the land and Shabani reiterated his statement that the part of land that was given to  him by Msweli was quite enough.  He didn't want to take any more of Msweli's land.  Then I went to Ngwelezana to report the matter.  I went to the Home Affairs Department together with him, the reverend, and I reported the matter.  The reverend told them at Home Affairs that he did not want to take my husband's land and they chased me and said I shouldn't come back with this matter.  They sent summonses several times and the third time I took the summonses to Ngwelezana.   We were called to Ngwelezana so that we would reach a settlement as to our argument.  There was the chief as well as the induna and the magistrate said I should address the court.  The magistrate asked as to where the chief was coming from and where he got the authority to allocate people's land.  It was a white magistrate who was presiding over the case.  Then the induna said I had a very big place.  I said to him I was not speaking to him, I was speaking to the chief and I wanted to asked the chief as to how do they plan to take my land whilst I was ploughing on my land and I had planted my land.  I was farming on it.  And I told the chief to go and look at my place and decide whether I was not using the land.  Then, if I was not using the land, it should be given to other people.  The magistrate reiterated that and said he will send someone to go and check whether I was using the land fruitfully and the matter was thought to be resolved and when we went out of the court, I had planted mealies in the field and I had planted all sorts of vegetables.  I was really working on that field.  Then after this was supposedly resolved we were at home one day and we saw a group of people coming.  They took  out a document which they were reading.  I said to them they must give me that document so that I could read it by myself.  They said they were sent by the chief.  They said they were the chief's police and they came.  They were heavily armed and they said they were sent by the induna.  They said they had come to undo the fence that was around my field.  I went to KwaMbonambi and I called another boy from the Shandu family to accompany me.  We went to KwaMbonambi and the police asked me as to whether we had fought.  I told them that the people were heavily armed.  I couldn't have fought with them.  I had just come to report the matter.  And they also had guns at that time.  And I went to KwaMbonambi.  When I got to KwaMbonambi and related the story, they said to me if we had fought or we had had a problem or somebody was injured they could have come but now that there was nothing going on, they did not attack me, they did not kill anyone, so they couldn't come.  They sent me to Ngwelezana.  When I came back, I found that they had undone the fence and they had taken out the poles that support the fence and they went to throw the fence at my place and my plants were exposed to animals such as cattle.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Then you went to Ngwelezana?

WITNESS:   Yes, I went back to Ngwelezana to report the matter.  I don't know what's the name of this policeman that I got there.  He said to me my matter was no longer dealt with in Ngwelezana.  There's a certain person who was interpreting in my case and he had interfered with the evidence.

KHOZA MGOJO:  What about the interpreter?  Do you know the  interpreter's name?

WITNESS:   I do not remember the name of the interpreter because the first time I went to report the case I got him and he could not speak to me thereafter.  He said to me I must go to see an attorney.  Then I went to my attorney Van Hellen(?) and I engaged the services of Van Hellen.  I understand that Van Hellen has died.   But Van Hellen never actually got around to helping me.  I paid him R250,00 and he promised that he was going to go to Ngwelezana to open up a case and the magistrate said he was not prepared to preside over my case thereafter because he had dealt with it sufficiently.  Then he said I should sue for damages that I had incurred with regard to what the people or the police from the induna's place had done.  So my attorney reported thereafter and said the magistrate said there was nothing he could do.  So it was Makhathini, myself as well as Musa's wife and my children, we went to the fields and I brought a certain document and gave it to Van Hellen.  And I think they bribed Van Hellen because thereafter he couldn't even look me in the eye.  He couldn't face me.  And now the damages were not paid.  Simon said he was going to re-erect the fence that was taken out as well as the poles and the youth from Nseleni used to attack my son and I told him that he should stop being at Khombindlela and he left Khombindlela and went to start at another school.  I think it was in 1990.  So he had to go to another place.

KHOZA MGOJO:  We have heard the background now because that is what we needed.  Now we need to get to the core of the matter, that is the killing of Solomon(?).  I just want  to rectify certain things in your statement and be sure that whatever you said in your statement is what you are going to say now in your testimony.  Is it correct that your son Simon was a very quiet person?  He was not violent?

WITNESS:   Yes, he tried to put back the fence and that is when the whole violence started.  Then they said he was a criminal.

KHOZA MGOJO:  You say Simon was a member of the ANC?

WITNESS:   That is correct.  At the time I wasn't a member of the ANC.  I was a member of Inkatha.  I only started being a member of the ANC in 1992.  I was a member of Inkatha for eight years and I was the treasurer there.  I was the treasurer and at some time they threatened me.  The induna pointed a gun on my forehead.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Then you joined the ANC thereafter?

WITNESS:   Yes, I got ANC attorneys who represented me and they were asking the question as to why I was being repeatedly attacked and Ma Khumalo had taken me to those attorneys.  They are the ones who helped me.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Do you know the name of the attorney?

WITNESS:   I do not know the attorney's name but the attorney sent summonses.  The attorney was Mr Mlaba.  I do not know his name but he was Mlaba.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Now, let's deal with this matter.  In your statement you said Simon had gone to visit Mthetwa from Sobuhle.  It was on the 14th of August in 1992 and the member of the stability unit as well as the KwaZulu Police were coming from KwaMbonambi - got to Michael's place, is that correct?

WITNESS:   Yes, a number of youths came to my place during the night.  By then Simon had been shot. Where was he shot?   ---   He was shot at Michael's place.

KHOZA MGOJO:  They took Michael, is that correct?  They took them to a certain forest called Sappi Gum-tree?

WITNESS:   Yes, they took them to Sappi to a certain corner.  That's where they assaulted them.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Is that where they were shot?

WITNESS:   They were never shot.  I think they were assaulted until they died because we couldn't even identify him.  His eyes had been gouged out.  He was never shot.  He was tortured.  He was violated.  He was also mutilated.  We could not identify him.  I only identified him through his thumb.  There was a certain mark on his thumb.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Who came to report the matter to you that your son had been assaulted?  Who came to report the matter to you?

WITNESS:   There was a certain helicopter that fetched them to take them to the hospital but they were certified dead on arrival and we were told that they were assaulted at a certain forest.