Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1999-04-29

MR KINCAID: Now the last incident we need to cover is the attack on the trading store of Mrs Clackers.  Could you tell the Committee how it came about that it was decided to attack Mrs Clackers' farm store?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: There was a consumer boycott in Stutterheim, we were not supposed to buy in the shops that were owned by white people and there would be a board that would be written in the township that tells people that they were not supposed to buy in the shops in town.
	After that a decision was taken during the roadblock and we were elected, there were three comrades that were elected to go to Mrs Clackers to close down her shop because we heard that she had a shop that was operating in that side, in Kologa, and people from that side were buying in that shop when the boycott was still on, when the shops were closed.
	Our intentions to go to her, we just wanted to intimidate her.  We wanted her to close down her shop, not to sell anything to the people because people were not supposed to buy at shops that were owned by white people.

MR KINCAID: What happened, Melville, what happened when you got to Mrs Clackers' trading store?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I was together with Mzuyanda Ntonga and Jimmy Nokawusana.  We went to that shop. Jimmy Nokawusana, we left him outside.  We in, it was myself and Mzuyanda Ntonga.
	We went inside the shop.  There were three people inside the shop.  When we arrived there we asked those people why were they buying in that shop knowing that there was this boycott, we were not supposed to buy at white people's shops.  We then saw Jimmy coming in and he spoke to Mrs Clackers.  He asked her why was she operating.  He then said that she must close the shop.  We saw that Mrs Clackers was reaching for something under the counter and it is when Jimmy Nokawusana tried to grab Mrs Clackers.  
	And there were dogs, two small dogs and one other dog, a police dog.  That police dog wanted to bite us. Mzuyanda took a broomstick and he hit those dogs and they went out.  What I did, I waited at the door watching for the police because we didn't want the police to arrive when we were there because they would arrest us because we wanted that shop to be closed.  
	Mzuyanda Ntonga after hitting those dogs came back and he said that we must run away because there is another person who was there, who was a white person and he was coming towards the shop and when he saw him he went back to the house, so we must run away because maybe this person would come out with a weapon, maybe that person would shoot at us.  We then ran away. 	There is nothing else I saw except for that.

MR KINCAID: Mrs Clackers is, it is her case, put through her legal representative that as it was in the criminal trial, that she was throttled and choked and threatened with a knife.  Did you see any of this, Melville?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I didn't see that.  The reason why we went to that shop is, we wanted her to close the shop because she was selling things to the people even though people were not supposed to buy things from the white people's home.  That boycott lasted something like six months.

MR KINCAID: Money, batteries and a knife were taken from the shop, did you see anyone take those items, or did you take any of those items?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: No, I didn't take any of those.

MR KINCAID: Did you see anyone else take them?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: No, I didn't see anybody taking those things because when we were running away it was the three of us running away and it was during the day.  We didn't have anything with us.

MR KINCAID: Did you, when you attacks Mrs Clackers, harbour her any ill-will, did you attack her out of spite or malice?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: No, I just regarded her as one of the white people and the reason why we went there was because she broke the law, she opened the shop while there was this boycott.

MR KINCAID: Melville, can you say that after your arrest in 1990, that the farm attacks, the attacks on farms in Stutterheim and that area, did they continue or did they stop when the seven of you were arrested, do you know what happened?  Was that the end of the attacks on the farmers?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: There were things like that that happened after we were arrested.  Even though people would arrested, they would be released.  They would just be suspects and they would be released.

MR KINCAID: Jimmy has tendered an apology to the victims of these attacks.  In your confirmatory affidavit you state that you wish to echo that apology, do you do so now?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, that is correct.

MR KINCAID: Do you confirm the contents of your affidavit signed on the 21st of April this year?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, I do confirm that.

MR KINCAID: Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR KINCAID

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr Kincaid.  We are going to take a very brief adjournment.  We are hoping that we will be able to conclude the testimony of this applicant and we will receive the evidence of Mrs Clackers, but we'll adjourn very briefly.
COMMITTEE ADJOURNS
ON RESUMPTION

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Nokawusana, you are reminded that you are still under oath, do you understand?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: (s.u.o.)

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Clarke, have you got any questions?

MR CLARKE: Thank you, Mr Chairman, I do.
	Mr Nokawusana, did I understand that you accepted the correctness of the convictions that you were found guilty of in the Supreme Court?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, that is correct, because I did what I was convicted for.

MR CLARKE: Including the conviction of robbery, in respect of Mrs Clackers?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I don't remember us going there to rob, we went there to close down the shop.

MR CLARKE: There was evidence that you were the only three in that shop and that the goods were stolen by you, money, batteries, a carving knife.

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I don't remember us taking such items.

MR CLARKE: Now did I understand that it was your duty to keep watch at the entrance of the shop, is that your evidence?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, it was myself.

MR CLARKE: Did you have your brother Jimmy and Mrs Clackers in your view?  Were you watching them?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, at the time when I was still inside the shop.

MR CLARKE: And did you observe your brother assaulting Mrs Clackers?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I saw a scuffle between Jimmy and Mrs Clackers, Mrs Clackers wanted to go out of the door.

MR CLARKE: That's correct, she was trying to get out.  And what happened in the scuffle?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I then went out to guard people, not to, I guard the police so that they cannot see us.

MR CLARKE: Slow down, you said you saw a scuffle between your brother and Mrs Clackers, did you not say that?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, I did say that.

MR CLARKE: Now I want you to tell me what happened in this scuffle that you saw.

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: When Jimmy told, or asked Mrs Clackers why she was operating in her shop she reached for something under the counter and then Jimmy went to her side because he thought that she was reaching for something, a weapon and I also thought that there was a weapon there.

MR CLARKE: What gave you reason to think that?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: It is because when she was told to close the shop she reached for something under the counter, whereas when we arrived there she was not reaching for anything under the counter.

MR CLARKE: She was at the counter when she was first accosted by your brother Jimmy, not so?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I don't remember because I was not looking at one thing there, I was also guarding the police.

MR CLARKE: You saw the scuffle, don't start not remembering and thinking about other things.  You saw the scuffle.  I want you to tell us about that scuffle.  You saw them at the till, not so?