Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1999-10-26

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: The reason for me to come forward, I just want the people to get the truth and they should know that it was a mistake from my side.

MR RILEY: Now Mr Yekwani, is there anything today that you would like to say to Mr Pro Jack's mother and his family to in fact express the way that you feel as a result of causing his death?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: I can say I feel very bad and Pro Jack was more like a brother to me because we were fellow comrades and I had no intentions to kill him.  If there was an instruction from a particular person I was going to be able to mention the name of that person.  There's nothing to hide when it comes to this case.  I want to tell them that this is the only truth and even the ANC people should know that.

MR RILEY: Is there anything else that you want to say, sir?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: There's nothing at the moment.

MR RILEY: Thank you Mr Chairperson, there's nothing further.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR RILEY

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr Riley.  Mr Yekwani, in the light of what you have said in your evidence, if you known that it was Mr Jack who was driving the vehicle, would you still have fired on the vehicle?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: If I knew that the driver was Mr Jack I couldn't have done that because he was a well known comrade but to me I didn't even know him and I didn't even know his car.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you.  Yes, Mr Toyise, is there anything that you wanted to ask Mr Yekwani?

MR TOYISE: No I have no questions at the moment.
NO QUESTIONS BY MR TOYISE

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.  Mr Williams, have you got any questions?

MR WILLIAMS: Yes thank you Mr Chairperson.  Mr Chair, can I just confer with Mr Gladstone for half a minute?

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, certainly.

MR WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr Chairperson.
	Mr Yekwani, before you decided to go and attack the police as you've stated, did you tell Mr Gladstone Ntamo what you were going to do?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: No, he knew that whenever I borrow a firearm from him, saying that I was going to patrol he was aware of the fact that I was going to hit the police.

MR WILLIAMS: How many times did you actually hit the police?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: I can say in Khayelitsha, one incident in Khayelitsha and in Nyanga East.

MR WILLIAMS: You told the Committee earlier in your evidence that you told Mr Ntamo that "I used to tell him that I was going to patrol"?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes.

MR WILLIAMS: Now did you tell Mr Ntamo after this incident, immediately after the incident that you committed this deed?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: No, I didn't tell him, I only told Mr Langa.

MR WILLIAMS: Why did you go to Mr Langa when according to your evidence Mr Ntamo was your commander?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: I wanted to get some advise, as an elderly person I knew that he some experiences so I wanted to get some advice from him.

MR WILLIAMS: Now why didn't you go to your commander, wasn't your commander the best place to get your advice?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: It is because I didn't tell him even before the mission.

MR WILLIAMS: Yes but according to you he was your commander, so weren't you in terms of the way you operated, weren't you answerable to your commander?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes he was a commander but not in the battle field.  I used to recognise the commander only in the battle field not just an ordinary, not a commander like him, I never used to recognise such people.

MR WILLIAMS: So are you trying to tell the Committee now that Mr Ntamo wasn't really a commander?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes he was a commander but not in the battle field.

MR WILLIAMS: I fail to understand your distinction?

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Yekwani, who was the commander in the battle field?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: At the time I was the commander, at the time of the incident.

MR WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you Mr Yekwani.  Now Mr Yekwani, isn't it correct that the one firearm that was in Mr Ntamo's possession was obtained by the community and it was allocated specifically for yourself or to yourself?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: And this is then the weapon that you went to fetch by Mr Ntamo?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: And is it also correct that on occasion Mr Ntamo asked you if he could borrow the weapon from you for a period of time?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: He never used to borrow the firearm from me but I'm the one who used to borrow it from him.

MR WILLIAMS: So are you saying that the weapon was allocated to yourself but it was merely kept under the control of Mr Ntamo?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Mr Yekwani, if I understand your evidence correctly, you and your accomplices or the people who were with you that night, you went out there with the specific mission to shoot at the police, is that correct?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Did you know exactly when the police vehicle had passed by the place where you were hiding out?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes I knew that the time was ten o'clock but if they were late that would be at least half past ten.

MR WILLIAMS: So in other words you expected a police vehicle to pass there between ten and half past ten?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Did other cars make use of that road?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes.

MR WILLIAMS: Did a lot of cars use that road or did only a few cars use that road between those times?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Lansdowne Road is a busy road, it's a public road.

ADV SIGODI: Sorry, can I just clarify something with the applicant?  When you wanted to target a police vehicle did you have it in your mind what kind of a police vehicle you wanted to attack?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes I knew that a police vehicle is different from private cars.

ADV SIGODI: And what kind of a police vehicle were you targeting?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: It was a van, a Cantor.

ADV SIGODI: And what car did the deceased drive on that day?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: I did not take note of the colour of the car because when I turned I was disturbed by the light of the car therefore I could not get a chance to see the colour of the car.

ADV SIGODI: What make or type of vehicle did the deceased drive?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Even the make of the car I couldn't see that.

ADV SIGODI: No I did not get that opportunity because we had to cross the road and we started running.

CHAIRPERSON: But was it a van or a motor car or what was it?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: I think it was not a van it was just a motor car.

CHAIRPERSON: It was just an ordinary sedan car, an ordinary vehicle?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: It was just an ordinary car with four seats.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  Yes Mr Williams?

MR WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr Chairperson, I was going to come to those questions later.  I think the last question I asked you, your answer to that question was that Lansdowne Road was a very busy road.  Do I then take it that you knew that cars were driving up and down that road and that road was indeed very busy?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Now Mr Yekwani, can you tell the Committee where exactly were you and the people that were with you placed?  Did they stand in the road or did they stand next to the road or did they stand under trees?  Where exactly were they located?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: We were next to the road, there were trees there but myself and Tobani were placed under the first tree.  Michael and Ntandaso were placed under the second tree.

MR WILLIAMS: So in other words you hid yourselves so that -you hid yourself?

XOLA TEMBINKOSI YEKWANI: Yes, we were hiding because we were waiting for this squad and we did not want to be visible.