Amnesty Hearings — Carltonville — 1998-08-11

MR MOKOENA: I can say that from the first one in 1991 to Mr Cassius Mahuma who was the then General Secretary of the committee of the ANC Youth League, he came to us as a fellow comrade, we are staying at the very same section, we share almost everything everyday, and he was on his way home from work when it happened to him.  The matter was reported the very same day to the police station but no-one was held responsible, every though they were known by both the victim, us and the community.  Even the police did know them.

CHAIRPERSON: How did you know?

MR MOKOENA: I came to know about the attack on Mr Mahuma the very same day after it happened to him.

CHAIRPERSON: No, I'm asking you how you knew about the identity of the deceased, that the deceased were amongst those who did the attack?

MR MOKOENA: I can say that I know the deceased and other member of the gang from a long time ago.  Some of them I grew up with and we were all at the very same school at the time, during the days of schooling.  	I know them as residents of Kutsaong and I know them because of their wrong deeds to the community.

ADV DE JAGER: Yes, but did you see them killing this person?

MR MOKOENA: The attack on Mr Mahuma, I didn't witness it.

CHAIRPERSON: I think we are concerned to find out what evidence is there that the deceased and not other members of the gang, I'm talking about the deceased, that the deceased were responsible for that attack.

MR MOKOENA: Yes.  As Mr Mahuma was saying at the time, the deceased were also present during the attack.

MR KOOPEDI: So your answer is that you were told by Mr Mahuma?

MR MOKOENA: Yes, I was not - at the time he was held at gunpoint.

MR KOOPEDI: That is what the Honourable Committee Members have been trying to establish.

MR MOKOENA: Okay.

MR KOOPEDI: Now there are other incidents where your fellow comrades were terrorised.  It is I believe in the interest of this Committee to know the link between the deceased people and the acts of terror in the community, would you be able to tell the Committee how you linked the two people?  Was it just a mere suspicion or did you have facts, how did you know?

MR MOKOENA: I know the deceased.  Like I've said, I did know them about their attack, which to my political awareness and belief that I have that and I believe in that, that since they are known to the police, they've been reported to the police, they are known to the community, it was to my concern that there was something like maybe being involved with the police because most of the time whenever they have committed a crime, a crime has been reported, but yet nothing happened to the perpetrators of the actions.

MR KOOPEDI: Shall we move on to the Lucas Manxgane Bodibe incident.  You said he was attacked, is it true he was attacked?

MR MOKOENA: Yes, it is true.

MR KOOPEDI: And what happened to him?

MR MOKOENA: Manxgane was attacked by the most notorious members of the very same gang, including Twala, Big Five, officially the notorious amongst them all, and the late KK Nxaku.  He was attacked and hospitalised.  He died when he arrived at the hospital.

CHAIRPERSON: You say that Manxgane was attacked by members of the gang, including Twala and Big Five, is that the name of a man, Big Five?

MR MOKOENA: Yes, it's the name of one of the criminal gang members.

CHAIRPERSON: And who else, just Twala and Big Five, or was there somebody else?

MR MOKOENA: And one of the deceased, KK Nxaba.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, carry on.

MR KOOPEDI: It will be in the interest also of this application to perhaps explain how you know that Manxgane was attacked by these people, did you witness that?

MR MOKOENA: Yes, I witnessed that.  I was with Manxgane during the day of the attack.

MR KOOPEDI: So you saw him being attacked?

MR MOKOENA: Yes, I saw him being attacked by the notorious three of them, criminal gang.

MR KOOPEDI: Okay.  What happened thereafter, after the attack?

MR MOKOENA: After the attack, as fellow comrades of Manxgane we organised transport to rush Manxgane to the hospital where he died on arrival.  After that, as Manxgane was one of the Kutsaong Student Congress members, and myself too as my school-mate and my class-mate, it was a mandate which was made by the student to go and search for those who were responsible for the stabbing to Manxgane.

CHAIRPERSON: Who gave that mandate?

MR MOKOENA: It was a mandate which was reached by the Executive Committee of the Kutsaong Student Congress ...[intervention]

CHAIRPERSON: Just hold it.

CHAIRPERSON: What was the mandate?

MR MOKOENA: The mandate was to go and search for those who were responsible for the attack on Mr Manxgane.

MR KOOPEDI: To search and do what?  Supposing you searched and found them, then what?

MR MOKOENA: To search and to find those who were responsible and to hand them over to the police as the school was near the police station that time.

MR KOOPEDI: After that mandate was given, what happened?

MR MOKOENA: We did go in search of those who were responsible for the attack on comrade Manxgane, including searching them in their residence or parental homes, but we didn't find any of them.

MR KOOPEDI: And?

MR MOKOENA: And from then on the matter was reported to the police station with identifications of those who were responsible for the attack on Manxgane, but up until now no-one was held responsible for the attack.

MR KOOPEDI: What happened thereafter?

MR MOKOENA: Thereafter they kept on terrorising the community with their actions, ranging from attacking the students, attacking the youth around the township, and mostly victims were the ANC Youth League members.

CHAIRPERSON: Hold it there.  You're talking about terrorising the community, I'd like you to tell me about that.  What do you mean by: "terrorising the community", why were they terrorising the ordinary members of the community?

MR MOKOENA: In fact to my foresee at that time, their actions were meant to terrorise the community because as they were best known with their actions ranging from pick-pocketing, stabbings, stealing and harassing the students without any reason, stabbing comrades and ...[intervention]

CHAIRPERSON: I didn't hear what you said.

MR MOKOENA: And stabbings to the Youth League members who were mostly the comrades, and they were students that they attacked.

CHAIRPERSON: Were any of these members of the gang, were they themselves students at the time?

MR MOKOENA: At the time when they attacked Mr Manxgane, some of them were no longer students.  Some of them did leave school in 1985/1986, before Manxgane was attacked.

ADV DE JAGER: You said you witnessed the attack on, who was it, Mr Manxgane, did they tell him why they were attacking him?

MR MOKOENA: In fact the matter that led to the attack on Manxgane was one of their actions being pick-pocketing.

MR KOOPEDI: Please explain, deliberate further.

MR MOKOENA: Okay.  Manxgane was attacked after he refused to be searched or to be robbed of his money, that is when the perpetrators stabbed him in a manner that doesn't show any feelings for a comrade like Manxgane.

MR KOOPEDI: But was Manxgane attacked as a member of the Youth League or was he attacked just as an ordinary person who had refused to be pick-pocketed?

MR MOKOENA: I'm really sure and I believe that they did know Manxgane as a comrade, they did know Manxgane as one of the Student Congress members, and I think the attack was because he was a member of the Kutsaong Student Congress.

ADV DE JAGER: You told us that they mostly attacked ANC people or Youth League people, did they also attack other people?

MR MOKOENA: Yes, they did attack mostly other people around the section.

ADV DE JAGER: Not being involved with the ANC?

MR MOKOENA: What I can say is that mostly the victims were the followers and supporters of the ANC Youth League.