Human Rights Violation Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-06-09

NOTAYINI NOMANGESI GALAWENI: In June in the year 1986, it was on a Monday, on the 9th of June 1986. We woke up and went to work.  I was working at Diep River and my husband was working at Wynberg. There were rumours that the people from Crossroads were going to enter into the area because there was conflict. We woke up. They didn't come in on Saturday or Sunday. We went to work on Monday. When I went to work I could hear people talking in the train.  My boss hadn't left yet. She was also working at Wynberg at a high school in Wynberg.  It could have been 10 o'clock in the morning, I didn't look at the watch. The telephone rang. I picked it up and the person identified himself as John.  I asked if he had come back from work, he said yes, and I have heard, and we have heard from my colleagues that people from Crossroads are going to KTC.  My answer was that he should run and go and fetch my children.  I had a child called Tobego that was five years old at the time, and another one who was older, and another one who was called Nancy, she was 11. She is sitting right there. We were sitting together.  Before I had even finished speaking he said that they are now coming into the centre, good-bye and he put down the phone.  I was still holding the phone at the time. My boss had left already. I couldn't work. But I said I should try and work and try and get the jobs that are mostly of priority. As I tried to work I realised that I couldn't work.    I am not sure if it was one o'clock by that time.
 My next-door neighbour, a young girl came to the house and she knocked on the door. I started feeling anxious and she told me that KTC was burning. I asked has KTC burnt already, because I had heard that the Witdoeke were in the area.  She informed me that I shouldn't stay, I should leave and that I should leave the keys with her and that she would inform my boss that I had left. I took my bag, I took off the overall and left.  When I got to Wynberg I was lucky, the bus was about to leave. I got into the bus and I could see the fires in KTC before we approached the bridge. I saw that it was burning. We were all worried in the bus. When we got to Manenberg we were informed that the bus wouldn't even go beyond that.
 We got off at Manenberg.  We started running.  I was the only one who was going to go to 3A. As I was about to enter New Crossroads, I saw a child running up and down. I tried to establish who that child was.  It was Nancy and I called for her and she picked up her head and I asked where she was going.  She said she doesn't know. I asked here where is the child.  She said she doesn't know.  She didn't even know where her father was. She said that he had informed them that they should go to New Crossroads to her sister's house.  
 We were running because we were being chased and I had been informed that there were a lot of people who were being shot.
 We then went to my sister's house in Section 9 in the old section of the township.  I could see that there was a lot of chaos in KTC and the fires were burning.  I didn't even have something to wear. I put on an old jacket and my sister had also returned from her work in Plumstead and we left. 
 We decided to go to another part. We heard the gun shots and then I saw another crowd and asked people what was happening and where others were and then I met another crowd as well. They didn't know where my husband was at the time.  Then I asked these old men where my husband was.  I could see some men, I couldn't see the others. 
 Round about four o'clock in the afternoon I went to the last crowd near Joe Pama. I asked my eldest child, my daughter, because I found her with some people, Pujali.  I asked Nonbowela where is your father.  She said that she didn't know where he was because she has been seeing comrades coming in and out. Other people were running away from me when I posed the same question.
 As I was on my way to New Crossroads, I saw Mr Jali. I asked him where Jali was. And I wanted to find out who these men were, the men that had been shot. He didn't answer me, he just left me.  No one seemed to give me any answers.  Everyone was running away from me.  They couldn't give me clear answers.  
 As I was standing there, I saw a journalist taking pictures. At that time there were no buildings.  I was behind him.  The police station at that time was a bar.  There was a sand dune in that area. I could see the place burning, but I wasn't happy because I couldn't see my husband. Nobody was telling me where he was.  Men from Crossroads came out from the bar, which is now a police station.  There were police present as well. The people that I was standing with, ran away.  When they ran I remained behind. These men were going straight, were being accompanied by the police, and photographs were being taken of the incident. I looked back and my sister called me and asked me why I was remaining behind, when you can see that we are not far from these men and people have run away from them.  
 I was very near to the photographer.  I ran way past John Pama. A few minutes later when I heard that it was five o'clock, a policeman by the name of Barnard said Witdoeke, people from Crossroads, it is five o'clock now, go and get paid at the superintendent's.  The Hippos left, there were many Hippos.  Hardly a few minutes later, there were no Hippos, they had gone.  
 The sun was going down, because I could see it.  One woman and some men, I asked them where my dogs were and what was happening to my house.  We went to my house and I found it burning, and I asked where my dogs were.  I was informed that these dogs had been stolen or taken away.  We went to John Pama's and we could see that people were motionless. I wanted to know what was happening.  My sister said that there was no point in us walking up and down, we should go home.
 In the evening, not very late in the evening, we were standing at the gate when two men or boys arrived. One was Laliza and the other one is a nephew, a cousin, Zonwabu. They said that we have come to you.  They said that we should go inside the house. They informed me that Mr Galaweni had been shot and I started crying and I asked when did this happen.  I asked where was he shot. My sister held me and I was informed that he had been shot at the hill, in the late afternoon. 
 Where is he?  I was told that he had been taken and the police wanted to put him in the Hippo and the comrades didn't want to give him over. They wanted to take him to the mortuary themselves, because they felt that the police were not going to take him straight to the mortuary.   They left him at Guguletu.  
 We slept and the following morning in that pain that I was suffering, what worried me a lot was that there was a child.  When she sees other people's fathers, she asks where her father is.  This child was a problem.  I used to say to this child your father is around, and I couldn't answer properly. It was so, until comrades came to my house, Thembezi Damo and another one who is deceased. They informed me that I should get ready, because I have to go to Cape Town to the lawyers.  I prepared myself and they came.  Zimika was there, Memani was there, Mr (indistinct) was there, I am not sure, maybe he was there and Thembezi Damo was there.  
 We all went to Cape Town. We got to Cape Town.  I couldn't even speak. I couldn't even talk, and the lawyers said to me I must go home, he will call me back later, at a later stage.  
 Three weeks went past and we didn't know how we are going to bury my husband.  Mr Ndima, a certain man called Mr Ndima, came to my house.  He had gone to another person's house as well, prior to coming to my house. He said that he had gone to Mr Yamile to find out what would be done.  I was informed that he had been instructed that we should go to Woodstock where we would be held.  Mr Ndima left with someone else. I know his face, I do see him from time to time, he comes to KTC, to Themzile.  He took us and we went to Woodstock and they fixed things for us, and they said they would bury him. I was asked where would they bury him.  I said I was not going to bury him in Cape Town but elsewhere.
 In the third week they took out a cheque so that he could be buried. It was about, I was also given 200, but I never got the 200.  Mr Ndima never handed it over to me.  I didn't even bother to follow it up because I was suffering so much pain.  We then went to bury my husband. There were about two Kombis that accompanied us.  Themzile was there. Themzile and Thambo was there and other comrades and another man who died.  Mr Khombiza Ndima was also present at the funeral. We came back.
 When we came back, I was never, I didn't become happy. I then rebuilt in KTC. I left New Cross and went to build in KTC with that pain. My children were crying. I couldn't cry in front of them, I had to do it when they were not looking.  Every time they walked with men from KTC they would cry. 
 I was never called to a court case because our houses 
had been burnt, because that is where we were going, until the case got finished.   We were informed that people would receive damages. I received R1 000,00. I cried. Themzile used to come and visit me. I was very tired, so was Themzile. I am going to stop there.