Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

TIMOTHY SMITH: Now I am going to start speaking about the Seven Days War.  On Sunday the 25th of March it was a miserable day and it was raining.  It was also foggy.  But many people went to Durban to attend the Inkatha meeting.  We heard as well as saw buses which were proceeding towards Durban.  We do not know what actually happened at Edendale or along the way when they were going to Durban or when they were coming back.  Some said the Comrades were pelting the buses with stones, some alleged that Inkatha members were alighting off the buses and attacking people and provoking them.  After the Sunday the tension in the valley rose dramatically.  On the 26th, Monday, as well as 27th, Tuesday, I was attending a meeting in Durban, but I came back on that Tuesday and I heard that the people at Sweetwaters were attacking Xaluza and Ashdown.  There were also gatherings of Inkatha members near Taylor's Halt and KwaShange.  On the Tuesday of the 27th I passed David Ntombela's house and I was heading to town.  I saw quite a number of vehicles which were parked outside his place, and it was pretty obvious to me that it was quite a big gathering.  Early Wednesday morning, that was on the 28th, a certain vehicle which had a loud hailer was calling upon people, men as well as women, to the meeting which was taking place at Ntombela's place.  They said that they should listen to a speaker who was coming from Ulundi.  A person who was present at that particular meeting told me that when he arrived women were told that they should get into a certain room and take of their clothes, and turn them inside-out and put them back on again.  When they came out of the house they saw a number of lorries, as well as vehicles from far and wide, with a number of men in them.  These were unknown men.  The registration plates were covered with a sack cloth so that there could be no identification.  When the people asked Mr Ntombela as to where the lorries were coming from he told them that they were Mnyavus from the area of table mountain.  Thereafter the warriors were sprinkled with "inthelezi," a medicine to protect them, and then they moved off to attack.  I think it was at about 10 or 11 in the morning we heard that people had been attacked down the valley, for instance at Gezabuso, KwaShange and KwaMnyandu.  We heard that people had run away from the areas.  Presently I know that 35 or 40 people were killed at that time, and about 150 houses had been set alight and people fled down into the valley.  Many witnesses saw David Ntombela amongst the attackers, together with Chief Shayabantu Zondi, that is the induna, Gavaza Khanyile, Lololombo, as well as others.  Many also alleged that they saw the police assisting the impis.  They were also transporting them in their car and giving them live ammunition.  When we heard these reports I phoned the archbishop.  He arrived on that afternoon to come and see what was going on.  In the late afternoon of the 28th we had just begun to see the impis returning.  Amongst those who were on foot they had brought quite a number of cattle.  Others were carrying furniture, TV sets, as well as clothing.  We heard that Mr Ntombela did not quite like it.  He said they were supposed to have killed not to have stolen.  On the 29th of March people were gathering at Ntombela's place for a meeting, but on that particular day they did not attack anyone.  Some of the cattle which were brought on Wednesday were slaughtered and eaten, and the men said, "We eat the Comrades' things."  The situation was quite tense.  Almost everybody was having a traditional weapon or a gun.  At times there would be false alarms, as I remember on Thursday we heard that the Comrades were attacking the Emaswazini area and all the man ran to that area, but it turned out to be false.  That very same evening, that is the 29th, at about 9.45 in the evening, we were watching TV when a certain youth came to the mission.  He looked very troubled.  He said that houses were being burnt and there were shootings at Kokwane, close to the mission.  I then called the Boston police and asked them to come and assist us.  I went along with the young man to the place where there was an alleged attack.  When we got there we saw some houses burning down, but we could not see the cars or the people.  We decided to go to the police station to see as to why they weren't arriving.  When we got there we discovered that they could not find the keys of their vehicles.  I offered to take some of the police in my own car.  We drove off to Kokwane.  We saw four houses which were burning.  We went slowly into each one with the policemen.  In the first three houses we could not find anyone, alive or dead, but in the fourth house - know this house quite very well because my employee was staying there, and we got people.  In the main building we discovered an old man, together with his grandchildren.  They were hiding behind the cupboard.  The old man took quite a long time to come out from behind the cupboard.  When he came out he said they had finished his children up, and he led us to the other house, the back building.  That's where we saw his daughter, Emmarentia.  She was full of blood.  She obviously looked dead.  Lying underneath her was a child, a small child.  I thought the child was also dead.  Then I noticed that the child was breathing.  I reached down and pulled him from beneath the mother and I realised that he was alive, and it was her four-year-old son.  When his mother shot she apparently fell on top of the child and trapped the child under her.  He must have been trapped for more than an hour or so.   We went to the last hut in the yard.  The house was also burning and we could see inside the house.  We saw a body of a woman who had been shot and burnt, and she was underneath the bed at that time.  I decided that it was better for me to take all the survivors to the mission.  I took the old man together with his grandchildren, after searching for the place, and we went back to the mission.  When I got to the mission, that is at the crossroad, in that darkness I could see a car, and three men were standing next to this car.  I stopped my car and went out and I saw these men coming closer to me.  It was Ntombela, as well as two white policemen.  Ntombela was having his ammunition belt on, as well as two guns.  He did not say anything to me.  I explained to him as to where we were coming from and what we saw.  I went into the mission with them.  It only occurred to me afterwards that this had no explanation, it was strange, because when I got there Ntombela and the police were supposed to have gone past the houses that were being burned.  Now I knew that we were the very first people to get to the area after the attackers.  That is why we asked ourselves as to why he did not go past that area to see what was happening.  Thereafter I thought that my future at Elandskop was at stake, and the people or the community members decided that I should leave the place, and the following week I went to Gauteng.

TIMOTHY SMITH: After all this was said and done we tried to get some justice, but to no avail.  We approached policemen, as well as attorneys, and we wrote to newspapers.  I met

TIMOTHY SMITH: /the Deputy-

TIMOTHY SMITH: the Deputy Attorney-General and spoke to him, but we   failed.  After all these attempts it seemed to me that the ordinary people had been failed by the organs of the State, as well as the criminal justice system.  Because as from 1987, when Angelica Mkhize was killed, up til today, all these people who were killed during the Seven Days War, I personally have found out that one who was arrested was convicted because of these acts.  (Sic)