Human Rights Violation Hearings — Upington — 1996-10-02

CASE NO: CT/00697 /

MR POTGIETER: I am going to ask you to please take the oath before you give your evidence so will you please stand.

ZUKO XABANDLINI: Duly sworn states

MR POTGIETER: Thank you, you may sit.  Doctor Orr is going to facilitate your evidence.  I hand over to her.

WENDY ORR: Good afternoon, welcome, thank you for coming.  You have been with us this morning and heard, as we have heard, a detailed explanation of the events leading up to the 13th November and then also of the Court case which followed but we want to hear today about your own personal experience of that time and I would like you to start on the 13th November 1985, the day that Lucas Jetta Sethwala was killed.  Tell us what you were doing on that day and then tell us how you were arrested and what happened to you during the Court case.  So it is up to you now.

WITNESS:  Before I continue Chairperson, I think Mr Beukes omitted to mention something, Xiswa, he forgot to mention him so I would also like to observe a moment's silence for him.

WENDY ORR:  Certainly.

WITNESS:  On the 13th November I was present at the meeting and after the police shot tear gas at the crowd on the soccer field, I then just wanted to get home.  What happened later is that the police came to arrest us.  They had Casspirs vehicles there and we were loaded one on top of the other and we were taken to the Bantu Administration offices.  We were made to stand in a queue and we were told not to speak.  We were all handcuffed.  We were not allowed to ask for water.  We were just told to stay there but just before sunset we were released because the police weren't really sure what to do with us so we were released.  On the next day I went to work.  The Friday morning they came again and on the Monday I heard at Court that I was going to be detained for the murder of Jetta.  I think at that stage there were eight of us.  I was accused number six.  We were locked up and four months and three weeks and three days I spent in prison before being given bail.  I was arrested once again under the State of Emergency on the 17th June 1986 and I spent more than three months in prison before our case was heard.  The case took a very, very long time and we were eventually convicted.  The point I would like to make here is the following.  The reason why I am here is because the Court convicted me after I pleaded not guilty and I was not guilty.  The Court convicted me because I was a part of a group of people who had gathered in front of the house and who were stoning the house and that led to the policeman's death.  We called for reinforcements but the Judge was still not satisfied with it and he just continued with the case in his own way until he sentenced us to death.  What I would like the Commission's assistance with, is in respect of the four witnesses who identified me at the identification parade.  I would like these people to come to the Commission and tell the truth because during the Court case they told absolute lies.  They fabricated evidence against me.  I was innocent but my conscience bothers me on a daily basis.  I was put on death row without having committed any crime.  I also had dreams, I also had a job.  I supported my parents.  I was a breadwinner but look at me today and that is as a result of the four people who identified me and they know themselves that they were lying but here I sit as a result of their actions.

WENDY ORR:  Do you know the names of these four people?

WITNESS:  I think two are brothers, they are brothers.  It is the sister of the deceased and the other two, well the one is the daughter of Mr Xlaba.  I can't remember their names now, I have forgotten.

WENDY ORR:  And you say that you weren't even at home that day.  You, at the end of the meeting you went home.  Pardon me.  On the 13th November did you go to the Sethwala home or didn't you?

WITNESS:  I walked past the house.  I was in, present in that street at some point but at that stage nothing was happening there.  There was a witness who testified at Court, Mr Witbooi but his story was simply not taken cognisance of.

WENDY ORR:  Now you said that before these events you were employed at the United Building Society, is that correct?

WITNESS:  Yes.

WENDY ORR:  And now, what are you doing now?

WITNESS:  I am unemployed.

WENDY ORR: Do you have a wife, children?

WITNESS:  I am unmarried.  I live with my sister.  My father is still alive.

WENDY ORR: I have no further questions, I will ask the Chairperson to take over.

MR POTGIETER: Could I just ask you, after the appeal, what happened to you after the appeal?

WITNESS:  Is that after we were released?

MR POTGIETER:  What was the outcome of the appeal in your particular case?

WITNESS:  The outcome was that I was given a suspended sentence for one year and then I was released.

MR POTGIETER: Thank you.  Glenda Wildschut?

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: You said in your statement that after your release you were promised reparations.  Could you tell us who promised you the reparations and did they explain what reparations they meant and whether you in fact received it?

WITNESS:  Many different organisations were involved just after we were released and they promised us many different things.  There were, they made mention of certain projects that would be launched to send us to school and enable us to do some further study but those were just promises, they were never fulfilled.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT:  So you haven't received any psychological treatment or anything?

WITNESS:  That was also a promise which had been made after we were released, we were told that a doctor and a psychologist would come to treat us but that never happened.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT:  To your knowledge nobody has given you any medical or psychological treatment since you were on death row and since you have been released?

WITNESS:  That is so, yes.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT:  Could you just give us an idea, give the Commission an idea, if we were to have reparations for you, what kind of reparations do you think should be put in place?  What are the kinds of things that you would like to see happening to this community and to yourself as an individual?

WITNESS:  What I would like at the moment, you see my conscience still bothers me but I don't know whether you could help me as far as these four witnesses are concerned, to try and bring them to light so that they can come and testify.  I think that will make a difference in my life because my conscience bothers me and I still have this pain.  So the fact that I am unemployed is also a problem for me because before, I had a future but now my future is very, very dark.  I don't really know how speedily you would be able to help me but if something could be offered to me I would not say no.

GLENDA WILDSCHUT: Thank you.

MR POTGIETER: Mr Xabandlini I would like to thank you for testifying here today.  We listened to everything that you said and we have taken note of the situation which you sketched for us and all the consequences of the events for you in particular, how it affected your life, the fact that you were convicted and sentenced.  We take note of all these events.  The Commission will investigate possible ways of assisting you.  We have taken note of your request regarding the four people who testified against you at the trial or who identified you at the identification parade, who pointed you out falsely.  We will have to go and look at your particular case in more detail after hearing all the evidence and we will eventually contact you again but for the moment I would just like to thank you very much for coming to tell us your story.  Thank you.