Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

WITNESS:   I also want to see this attorney.  I want him to explain to me what was happening.  Was this some sort of a plan to get me into trouble?  What happened to the attorney, because the attorney never turned up on the day of the case?

MR LYSTER: Is there anything that you would like to add?

WITNESS:  My wishes are the same as my husband's.  I want to know why was he being attacked without having done anything.  I also want the attorney concerned to be investigated.  Maybe he can come forward with some information that we don't have at hand.

MR LYSTER: We sympathise with you.  It sounds really unreasonable for you to be just attacked, tortured and harassed for no apparent reason whatsoever.  This is a matter that should be investigated.  We shall try by all means to meet you halfway, to assist you in trying to investigate this matter.  We have heard your wishes.  Thank you.

MR LYSTER: Mr Mnikathi, and Mrs Dorothy Mnikathi, like many other witnesses you have told us about conditions in Imbali township at that time in the 1980s.  We have heard a lot of evidence about Imbali yesterday and on Tuesday this week, and we have heard the names of many of the perpetrators who were responsible for the conflict and the lawlessness which affected Imbali in those days.  In your particular case the incident was sparked off by the presence in Imbali of a Cabinet Minister of the apartheid government ... (incomplete)
SIPHO ZWANE

MR ZWANE: I am Sipho Zwane.  We are four at home.  I am the eldest, then there's my sister, Nomusa, as well as Sindisile Zwane.  The last one is Ntombifuthi.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible)

WITNESS:   No, I am not working.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... 1990 you were also living in Mpophomeni township, is that right?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... at that time?

WITNESS:   I was 23 years old.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... working at that time?

WITNESS:   I was working.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... Mpophomeni at the time of this incident.  Was there conflict in that area?

WITNESS:   It was on a Saturday morning.  We were being attacked by Inkatha.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... by Inkatha.  Were they from outside of Mpophomeni?

WITNESS:   Yes, that was in Mpophomeni.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... you said you were attacked by Inkatha.

WITNESS:   They were from Chief Mkhize's kraal.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... rural area outside Mpophomeni.

WITNESS:  No, it's a location where I am staying, but the Inkatha was coming from outside.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... Chief Mkhize's kraal.  Is that a rural area next to Mpophomeni?

WITNESS:   Yes, that is correct.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... were attacking the people in Mpophomeni.

WITNESS:   That is correct.  They had come to attack as well as burn houses.  It was a usual occurrence for them to do that.

MR ZWANE: Do you know why they were doing that?

WITNESS:   I don't know.  I don't know what their problem was.  Maybe because we were not really - we were not seeing eye to eye with Inkatha.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... what happened to you.  You said in your statement that you were preparing to go to work on that day, the 31st of March 1990.

WITNESS:   It was early Saturday morning.  I wake up and wash myself.  After dressing myself I was about to take my jacket to take a taxi.  I heard from other children that the Inkatha people are coming.  I went out of the door and I looked at the top of the hill, and I could see a group of people coming down carrying spears and dangerous weapons.  I decided to move towards the rank.  I had options, either to go to the rank or to go to the other rank on the left side.  I was travelling down the road and I just covered a distance about from here until the Commercial Road.  I was walking along BBI Street when they started shooting.  Before I arrived where the Inkatha people were standing they started attacking the families which were nearby.  As I was approaching them, the people who were staying in the location, they were holding stones, trying to defend themselves against the Inkatha people.  After that I saw a Hippo, and it was followed by a bus, and as I was walking, talking to one of the boys who was standing on the road, I heard the sound of a gun.  When I looked up I saw a white policeman standing on top of the Hippo, and at that moment I could feel some warmth on the other side of my stomach.  When I put my hand inside I could feel the blood inside.  At that time the Hippo was just passing.  After I had turned to feel the other side I was facing the other side and I heard the gunshot.  I tried to run and the bullets were coming from behind, and one of the bullets hit me on my leg.  When I tried to pull my leg it was difficult, and I fall on the ground.  I became weak as if I was shocked.  I tried to turn.  When I tried to hold my back it was cold, and there was blood all over my body, and the blood was dripping.  I was sweating and it was painful.  I tried to take off my jacket but I couldn't.  When I looked up it was dark.  When I tried to breathe I could see some smoke coming out.  I tried to move, but I couldn't stand up.  The gunshots continued and I could heard the sounds.  I tried to sort of like go for hiding, but I couldn't move from there.  And from there I wake up in hospital.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible)

WITNESS:   I went to Eden.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible)

WITNESS:   Three months.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... there was operations did you have?

WITNESS:   Yes, I woke up the following day after I had undergone an operation in my stomach.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... you appear to be partially disabled, is that correct?

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... these injuries that you sustained?

WITNESS:   Yes, that is correct.  After that day I couldn't walk properly.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... with me a copy of your - a certificate from the Department of Health and Welfare which certifies that you have partial paralysis of the left leg and a laparotomy, is that correct?

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... with a rifle shooting bullets, or was it a shotgun shooting pellets?

WITNESS:   These were real bullets, because after the operation I heard that I had been shot with an R1 rifle.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... lose your job, or did you ... (intervention)

WITNESS:   I could not work because I was - this is the foot I was using at work.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... were you doing?

WITNESS:   I was a driver.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... worked since that time?

WITNESS:   No, I could not work because I used crutches.  I couldn't walk properly without any aid.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... back to the time that you were shot.  You said that you heard from other people, young children in the township, that there was going to be an attack, or that an attack from Chief Mkhize's area was taking place, is that right?

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... say you saw these people coming down the hill carrying dangerous weapons and spears.

WITNESS:   I saw them.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... shortly after that that you saw the police vehicle, the Hippo.

WITNESS:   I saw the people first, then I saw the police after I had left home.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... the police making any effort to prevent those people coming into the township, those people carrying dangerous weapons?  Did they make any attempts that you saw to disarm them?

WITNESS:   The police were doing absolutely nothing.  They were trying to help the people who had come to attack us.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... whether there were any other people injured on that day, injured or shot on that day?

WITNESS:   Yes, I know.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... or do you know how many there were?

WITNESS:   I met another one at the hospital.  His name is Duma Umlunyeni.

MR ZWANE: (Inaudible) ... that after you had been shot they left you on the ground thinking that you were dead.  Is that correct?