Amnesty Hearings — Vanderbijlpark — 1999-05-17

MIRIAM MOLETE: It was just from this machine what I've just pointed to where Advocate Sigodi is sitting, that's where the child was in relation to the window.

MR STRYDOM: Now the windows, did they have curtains or the window, sorry, the window in the bedroom, you referred to one window, did it have a curtain?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Yes it had curtains.

MR STRYDOM: Were they drawn?

MIRIAM MOLETE: The curtain was closed.

MR STRYDOM: So that must have prevented the light from coming in to some extent, is that correct?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No.

MR STRYDOM: Why not?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Because it was only lace it could not prevent the light from coming in.

MR STRYDOM: When these window panes were broken, what happened to the curtains including the lace curtains, sorry.

MIRIAM MOLETE: They removed that curtain and threw in the stones while they were shouting and telling us to remove our weapons.

MR STRYDOM: Now after the candle in the bedroom fell over and died down, it must have been pretty dark in that room, isn't it so?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No it is not so, in the shack whenever you touch something everything falls down, so now because they threw in stones, so almost everything fell down and then they entered from where they smashed the shack.  A shack is not like a  well built house so it was easy for the curtain to fall as well.

MR STRYDOM: How many people would you say entered that shack and started hacking your husband and injuring Florence and then dragging your husband out?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Florence was in the kitchen.  In the bedroom where I was there were three people who came to attack my husband and then from there I was busy trying to protect the child if I could not see other people.  I only saw those three people.

MR STRYDOM: And the person that then started to attack you, was he one of the three or was it a fourth person?

MIRIAM MOLETE: He was the fourth.

MR STRYDOM: Did you see how he entered the house or the shack?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I've already stated that I was trying to remove the child to another room so he entered from the kitchen.

MR STRYDOM: Now at what stage did you see that he's got a white area, uncovered area close to his eyes?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I have already stated that there moonlight and Apollo light.  The door had already fallen and we could see and also the paraffin lamp was still on in the kitchen so we could see clearly.

MR STRYDOM: But when did you see it, when he started to attack you or before he attacked you or when?

MIRIAM MOLETE: The time when he was trying to hack me and when I was holding his hand and I was holding the child on the other side and then he stabbed me with that sharp object and also on the eye so when I tried to turn around, that's when he hacked the baby.

MR STRYDOM: You made mention of a door that fell down, was that the kitchen door between the kitchen or bedroom or which door?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Both doors fell.  The first one that fell is the kitchen door that is leading to the outside and the door between the kitchen and the bedroom and in this small room there was no ...(indistinct) it was only lace and there is no one that entered into that small room.

MR STRYDOM: Could you see the attacker's hands?  Well your attacker?

MIRIAM MOLETE: He had hand gloves, I only saw his face.  He only had that balaclava but I could see his nose and the eyes and he was just near me.  He was fighting me and I could see him clearly while I was holding the baby.

MR STRYDOM: Do you remember the colour of his eyes?

MIRIAM MOLETE: He had blue eyes.

MR STRYDOM: Do you know what he was wearing?

MIRIAM MOLETE: He put on a Balaclava but I could see his nose and the eyes and it was clear that he was white.  In his hand he had hand gloves.

MR STRYDOM: Now apart from that can you give a description maybe just the colour of the rest of his clothing?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No I cannot.

MR STRYDOM: I must put it to you that under the circumstances of an attack like this you must have been - well I take it that you must have been very scared.  Do you say that you still managed to look him in the eye to see the colour of his eyes?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Yes that's true, he was just next to me, I was trying to protect the child, I was looking at him, I was not fighting, he was fighting, I was just holding the baby.  I was also surprised.

MR STRYDOM: Did you speak to him at all?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No I did not.

MR STRYDOM: Do you know what the colour of the Balaclava was?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No I don't remember.

MR STRYDOM: You see the reason why I'm asking these questions ...(intervention)

LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE: I must just place on record Chairman that the question was do you know what the colour of the Balaclava was, the answer that was interpreted is "don't remember" and I don't think that was what the answer was from her, the answer was "no".

MIRIAM MOLETE: I said no, I don't know.

MR STRYDOM: Chairperson, I see it is half past, would this be a convenient time?

CHAIRPERSON: We'll take a break now and come back at 12 o'clock.
COMMITTEE ADJOURNS
ON RESUMPTION

CHAIRPERSON: Ms Molete, may I remind you that you're still under oath?

MIRIAM MOLETE: (s.u.o.)

CHAIRPERSON: We will take the lunch adjournment at quarter past 1.   Yes Mr Strydom?

MR STRYDOM: (continues)  Now after the man which you discovered was a White man attacked you, did he leave the shack again?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Yes he left the shack.

MR STRYDOM: Could you see in which direction he went?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No.

MR STRYDOM: Apart from that White person, did you see any White persons thereafter?

MIRIAM MOLETE: The other two were standing at the door.

MR STRYDOM: Is that the door giving entrance into the house?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: When was the first time for you to see them?

MIRIAM MOLETE: When I threw myself on the ground.  When I lifted up my head I saw them at the door.

MR STRYDOM: How did you see that they were White?

MIRIAM MOLETE: They did not put on Balaclavas.  They wore camouflage clothes and caps.

MR STRYDOM: Did they have any weapons with them?

MIRIAM MOLETE: They had guns with them.

MR STRYDOM: When you were on the ground or on the floor and you saw these people, what were they doing?

MIRIAM MOLETE: They were just standing there looking at the house, the inside.

MR STRYDOM: Did they say anything?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No.

MR STRYDOM: At what stage did they move on or leave the house?

MIRIAM MOLETE: After they shouted uSotho they left.

CHAIRPERSON: After who shouted USotho?

MIRIAM MOLETE: It was from outside, there were many people who shouted USotho outside.

MR STRYDOM: Apart from stating that they were White and they wore this camouflage clothing and a cap, can you give any further description of these two people?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No.

MR STRYDOM: In which room were you lying on the floor when you saw them?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I was at the door leading to the kitchen from the bedroom that is straight from the door that is leading outside.

MR LAX: Sorry, could you please repeat that please, there was a bit of interference from the back, I couldn't hear you properly?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I was next to the door leading to the kitchen from the bedroom.  They were standing at the door leading to the shack from the outside.

MR STRYDOM: When you saw them or at the stage you saw them had the other, the person that attacked you left already?

MIRIAM MOLETE: He left when he threw myself on the ground, that is when he heard people shouting USotho from outside and they all left.

MR STRYDOM: When they left did you remain on the ground for some time?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No I stood up.

MR STRYDOM: After you stood up did you see these people again which were standing in the door?

MIRIAM MOLETE: After they heard people shouting USotho, they left.

CHAIRPERSON: What you're being asked is, you threw yourself onto the ground?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: When you stood up again were these people still there?