Amnesty Hearings — Vanderbijlpark — 1999-05-12

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I will explain because I was the one who was attacked.  My sitting-room is, should I say, similar to this open space here and you have my bedroom door right in front of the sitting-room.  I was standing in the sitting-room as they were getting in and I stood at the door to my bedroom and held the door and I was looking at them as this was happening.

MR STRYDOM: And then you testified that you slammed the door on him, on the attacker, is that correct?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: That is correct.  Yes, I am the one who did that.  When he came he climbed that step with an intention to hack me and I moved backwards.  I wanted him to climb that step so that I could hit him with the door.
	After he had climbed the step, I them pushed the door against him and he fell onto the sofa.  The sofa is still torn as I speak, but then I fixed it later.

MR STRYDOM: What I basically want to know is, if you closed the door so he ended up in the sitting-room and you in the bedroom?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I did not close the door.  I did not get inside the bedroom, I was just standing there holding the door like this.  I did not close the door in such a way that I could not see them from inside the bedroom.

MR STRYDOM: So you slammed the door but you kept the door open so you can see what was going on in the sitting-room, is that what you're saying?  Is that correct?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: And then he came back at you again and you did something similar, you slammed the door again?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: He came back and I moved a little backwards, still holding the door, and I slammed the door against him for the second time now.  That is when the suitcase that they had brought along, full of clothes, glassed, flipped open and these things fell out.

MR STRYDOM: So it's not a situation that when they entered you went into the bedroom and locked the door and stayed behind the locked door?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: No, I did not lock myself inside the bedroom.  I could see them as they were taking that box full of records.  They took a hi-fi set and those who took those things, the people who took those things went out of the house there and then and this one came to me as the suitcase was down there.

MR STRYDOM: You see, in the statement I referred you to yesterday, Exhibit CC - just to refresh your memory, that's the statement made to, when the interpreter Mr Matengane was used, you said the following
"They broke open my front door and a black male entered the house.  I punched him away and went into the bedroom and locked the door."
...(intervention)

MR BERGER: I'll just check the original.

CHAIRPERSON: Where are you reading?

MR BERGER: If you number the paragraphs it would be easier, and it would be the seventh paragraph.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, okay.

MR STRYDOM: Ja, it's the original I'm just reading
"I pushed him away and went into the bedroom and locked the door.  I won't be able to identify the black male who entered the house"
I'm reading from the original.
	Chairperson, I've made copies of the original, maybe I'll just hand them out.
	The portion I put to you, which I want to ask you a question about, is this portion.  I'll break it down.  Firstly, it states that:
"A black male entered the house"
You testified that three people entered the house in this court, in front of this Committee.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, that is correct.

MR STRYDOM: Can you give me an explanation why there's only reference to
"A black male entered the house"
- in the statement.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I don't know.

MR STRYDOM: Then it goes further
"I pushed ..."
...(intervention)

MR BERGER: Chairperson, in fairness to the witness, if one looks at paragraphs number 8 and 9, there's talk about "they".

MR STRYDOM: Yes, I see that.  Let me ask you this way; the three people you say, did they come into the house at the same time, or just one and then later two more, what's the situation?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They came into the house at the same time because they broke the door.

CHAIRPERSON: They broke the front door ...(intervention)

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, the front door.

CHAIRPERSON: ... but only one male came to you with an axe?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, only one of them came to me with an axe.

CHAIRPERSON: Whilst the remaining two helped themselves to those items?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: One of them took my hi-fi set and the other one took a box full of records.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, I understand.

MR STRYDOM: Yes, but the question I really want to ask you is, why did you state here that after this person entered the house
"I pushed him away and went into the bedroom and locked the door"
Because you testified here that you never locked the door, in fact you sort of reopened the door and pushed him away again.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I was doing that.  I know what I did.  I was holding the door, I knocked him with the door.  This person did not know the geography of the house.

CHAIRPERSON: All that you're being asked is, what appears in this statement, do you understand that?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I knocked him with the door, not the front door, no.

MR STRYDOM: So you never locked the door?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: When he held the door for the third time, that's when I held the door.

CHAIRPERSON: Did you lock yourself into the bedroom?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: No, I did not.

MR STRYDOM: Now when you were attacked, why didn't you lock yourself into the bedroom?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I could not have done that because I wanted to see their movements.

MR STRYDOM: When they left what did you do?  Immediately after they left the house, what did you do?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: When they left I also got out of the, I got out of the bedroom and I went to the front door and I watched them as they were leaving.  Windows were also broken.

MR STRYDOM: So you say that they were still in the close vicinity of your house and you just came out of the bedroom and started to just casually watch them, is that so?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, I saw them as they were leaving.

MR STRYDOM: When you came out what did you see?

MR BERGER: The witness never said "casually watching them".

MR STRYDOM: I'm putting as a proposition to the witness, Chair, but I'll move on.

CHAIRPERSON: Did you see these three people leave your house?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: The first two left as I was watching and one of them was carrying the box full of records and the other one a hi-fi set.  And I also saw this one that I was fighting leaving and before he left he took some clothing, children's clothing from the sofa and he left behind the suitcase that he had brought along.  And these clothes had come from Mgena.

MR STRYDOM: You must tell me if I'm wrong now, but I get the impression that whilst they were still in the house you came out of the bedroom and that enabled you to see now that they took the things and then left the house, is that correct?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: As I was peeping through the door I could see them leaving.

MR STRYDOM: Were the lights in the house still turned on or off at that stage?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They are the ones who switched the lights on.

MR STRYDOM: So it seems to me that you had ample time to identify these people, to see them, is that correct?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, yes.  I was waiting for them because I knew.

MR STRYDOM: You knew what?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: When I testified yesterday morning I indicated that I received a telephone call that we were going to be attacked, so I knew that they were coming to attack.

MR STRYDOM: So in this house, during the attack, you looked at these attackers so as to enable you to identify if needs be at a later stage?