Amnesty Hearings — Messina — 2000-07-05

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: We went to the Northern Province in February.  Upon arrival we were based at Moses Motapo's home, that's where we spent our time.  Moses Motapo was our unit Commander, the four of us, he is the one who was commanding us.  We were engaged in APLA activities.  It so happened one day that Moses said we should go and look for our targets.  It was on the 6th of February.  We left and one person who knew that place was Ashley because he once studied there, so he knew the territory and he was our driver.  He accompanied us and we went to Ebenezer Dam and Morapapa knew that place and before we went to that place, Moses Motapo said he knew that place from long ago and he said that place is always frequented by the boers.  It's actually a dam.  He wanted us to go there to attack the boers and we went.
	It was on the 6th on a Sunday and upon arrival, it was round about 4 o'clock and there were no people, maybe we arrived late after they had left and when we came back - when we returned actually we came across a vehicle which was carrying dogs.  We just drove on and one white person who was driving an Exa, a sky blue Exa, came along and as he was coming from a distance .,..(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, driving a what?  What was he driving?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: He was driving an Exa.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, what's an Exa?  A motor vehicle, a Nissan?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: A Nissan Exa, Chairperson.  It's a two door sedan.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: It's a two door sedan, a Mazda - a Nissan, I mean to say.
	As the vehicle was coming from a distance Moses Motapo said:  "This is our first target" and when we got nearer, you see the road on which we were travelling was so narrow, such that one car had to wait for another in order to pass and this white person stopped and Ashley was driving and we had firearms.  I was carrying a rifle and Moses Motapo and Lebohang had a hand grenade in his possession.  Only Ashley was not armed because he was driving.  Moses Motapo told him to stop this white person and pretended as if he was asking something and when the car came to a stop, myself and Moss opened the doors and removed him from the car and made him lie down and we searched him and we found nothing and we wanted to ascertain that he didn't have a firearm and he didn't.  We put him in the boot.  I cannot recall whether we put him in the boot of the vehicle in which he was travelling or our boot.  We drove him to some place called Boyne near Moria.  There was some bush there and we took him out and took him to the bush.  It was myself and Moses who removed him from the boot.  The other one and Lebohang, Ashley and Lebohang remained behind in the vehicle and we told Ashley and Lebohang to signal to us because we wanted to shoot the person and they would have to signal if there was no car approaching so that we could shoot the person.  I remember Moses asking him which organisation he belonged to here in South Africa and he indicated that he was an AWB member and we told him that we are APLA members and we made him lie down and we shot him.

MR MBANDAZAYO: What else did you ask him?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: We undressed him and we found a bank card and we asked him how much he had and we wanted the numbers for the card.  He gave us the numbers but we didn't trust him.  We threatened him and we promised not to kill him if he gave us the numbers and he gave us the numbers and we took his canvas shoes, his tackies and we left him there.

MR MBANDAZAYO: What did you do after that?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: After that we left him there.  We went into a car.  There were two vehicles now.  Myself and Ashley drove in a BMW and Lebohang and Moses Motapo drove this white person's Exa.  Myself and Ashley went actually straight to Pietersburg in town, we wanted to make a withdrawal from the card that we took from the white person.
	Myself and Ashley drove in Ashley's vehicle to Pietersburg, we wanted to draw some money from the card obtained from the white person and Lebohang and Silo drove in the white man's Exa.  They went to Motapo's place and when we came back from Pietersburg on the same night, or actually when we got to Pietersburg, we discovered that the car - the account had about One Hundred and something and it didn't have much money.  We came back and informed the other ones.

CHAIRPERSON: Did you draw that money?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: Yes we did and we left Ashley's vehicle at Morapapa's home and we drove in this white man's car to Alexandra.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Yes, continue.  What happened in Alexander?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: On the Sunday evening upon arrival in Alexander, we had to go and sell the vehicle.  I think it was on a Monday, if not Tuesday morning, we went to 9th Avenue and we sold this vehicle for R7 000.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Did you get the money?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: Moses Motapo showed us R700.  We don't know what happened to the other money because he's the one who was negotiating the deal, negotiating the price but the money that we saw was R700.

CHAIRPERSON: What do you mean the money that you saw?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: I mean the money that he only got from the person was R700 and that is the money that we used to go back to Pietersburg.

CHAIRPERSON: 10% deposit probably on the vehicle.

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: 10% deposit.

CHAIRPERSON: Well you said he sold the vehicle for R7 000 but you only saw R700.

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: I think so.  That's what we discussed with Moses.  We don't know whether they gave him the full money or not, but he only came with R700 to us.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Can you explain to the Committee, were you present when this transaction with this person to whom the car was sold, were you present when the whole transaction took place between Moses and this person?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: No, I was not.

MR MBANDAZAYO: The only thing you know is that the agreed price that this car would be sold at R7 000?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: That is correct.

MR MBANDAZAYO: And Moses came back with an amount of R700?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: That is correct.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Now just whilst you are there, you are telling the Committee that this car was sold at R7 000 but in your statement, in your confession to the Magistrate you told them that you stripped the car and sold the car parts, of the car, can you explain that to the Committee?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: In fact we sold the vehicle, we did not strip it of its parts.  We sold it to the person in the 9th Avenue.  The police were beating us up and we were trying to protect the other one, that's why we told the police that we stripped the vehicle and sold its parts to various people, because we were trying to protect this person.  We didn't want the police to go to this person.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Now, can you then proceed to the second incident?

ZWELI ABSOLON MHLONGO: Okay.  The second incident was, should I say we came back on a Wednesday.

CHAIRPERSON: When you say we came back, to Pietersburg?