Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1999-10-07

CHAIRPERSON: When you went there, Ms Narkedien, did you have to go around the block until a parking space became available, or did you, when you got to the vicinity of the hotel, find an open space in which the vehicle was parked?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes, as we got near to this hotel, he did point out a parking space to me, so it was there just as we arrived.

MR RICHARD: Now on the Marine Parade in general that particular night, when you drove up and down, were parking spots easy to find and many parking spots available, or was the parking congested.

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: As I say, I was not looking for the parking, I simply drove with him and waited for each instruction, so we drove down that road, as we got to that hotel, there was a parking, you could actually see it as we were coming up, so we didn't drive around.

MR RICHARD: And that was on your first attempt to find parking in that area or going past that place?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: No, the first time we went past, I actually didn't notice any parking.

MR RICHARD: And you wouldn't have noticed any other parking spots available anywhere else on the Marine Parade that evening?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: No I didn't bother, actually.

MR RICHARD: Fair enough.  Now you parked the car and what were you told to do next?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Well, when I parked the car he was still in the car with me and then he said to me "Wait here.  Stay here, I'm coming back just now."  Then he simply got out and disappeared.

MR RICHARD: And now you were left alone in the car, did you stay in the car?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes, I stayed in the car.

MR RICHARD: For how long were you alone in the car?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: It could have been ten, fifteen minutes.

MR RICHARD: Then after ten, fifteen minutes, what happened?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Then Robert appeared with the Ford Cortina, I can't remember which of the two was driving, but I remember that he indicated with his finger sort of that I must come out, so I drove the Mazda out of there.  Then I didn't quite know what to do next, so I just drove it back into the Marine Parade and I just stood there, but eventually I had to go because there were a lot of cars behind me and people were hooting for me, so I just drove the car into the next road and just waited there, because I didn't quite know what to do next.

MR RICHARD: Had you not been instructed where to go to next?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: No, he didn't instruct me at all.

MR RICHARD: So when you say you drove to the next road, which road was that?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: I don't know the name of it, but it's a very short lane, just on the other side of the hotel.

MR RICHARD: So you would have driven past the front of the Parade Hotel, past the next building and turned left.

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: No there wasn't another building.  We passed the front of the hotel.  It was actually the end of the hotel.  Maybe there was another, but it was one big compact building, if I can put it like that, so I just went into the very next, the first road actually.

MR RICHARD: Let's go through it again.  You were driving from South to North on the left-hand side, correct?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes.

MR RICHARD: You came to a parking spot outside the Parade Hotel and were instructed to park the car, correct?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: I don't think we have to go through the whole...

MR RICHARD: After you had moved out of that parking spot, you carried on in a northerly direction and so that meant, whether it was one complex or two complexes, you drove away from the Parade Hotel and turned left at the next available left-hand turn?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes.

MR RICHARD: Now did you know to stop and wait for them there?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: No, I didn't know what to do.  I just had to get out of the traffic of Marine Parade.  I didn't know how to contact him to say "I'm here".  I didn't know what to do.

MR RICHARD: Then how long did you wait there?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: I would say about 5 minutes.

MR RICHARD: Could it have been ten minutes, or less than five minutes?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: I don't know.

MR DEHAL: Sorry Mr Chairperson, I don't know where this is taking us.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, you estimating five minutes.

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: I estimated five minutes.

CHAIRPERSON: I mean whether it's a bit longer or shorter, I don't think much swings on it.

MR RICHARD: Then what happened?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Fortunately from where I was I could sort of see to the next road, you know along the pavement so to speak, so I was quite anxious to see whether they would see me or what would happen.  Fortunately I could see them now walking along the front of the hotel, so and then they must have seen my car then eventually so then they came towards my car and got in and Robert said "Drive, we're going back home."

MR RICHARD: Now did you drive away or did Robert drive the car away?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: No, I was driving still.

MR RICHARD: Where did he tell you to drive to?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: At that point he said "Drive to Wentworth", so I drove out, I drove that way, back down the small lane and made my way into  Argo Road, I wasn't so familiar with that area at that stage, but I know I managed to get to  Argo Road which I was more familiar with and tried to get to Wentworth from there.

MR RICHARD: Now, what did you think was happening that evening, when they had told you to park the car and now substituted another car for the car that you were driving?  Did you think anything?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Well initially I thought perhaps we're just going to hand the car over to some comrades or something, but it did seem once we left House and Home that this is rather an elaborate way to hand over a car, but then we did do things at time which seemed silly, but because we wanted to shake of people who maybe are watching us, or following us, or because of the secrecy and covert nature of what we did, I then took it that you know this is like a routine, or a normal type of thing.  I know to other people it would be down right stupid, but that's all I really thought at the time.

MR RICHARD: Now, when did you learn that a car bomb had been placed there?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: I only discovered the following morning actually, when I heard the news on the radio and then later on in the day when my sisters brought the newspaper and I read the newspaper that an explosion took place directly outside that hotel, more or less in the place where we had parked that car, so I concluded that what we actually did there was not just park an ordinary car for others who needed it, other comrades who needed it, it was in actual fact a car bomb.

MR RICHARD: No further questions.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR RICHARD

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.  Mr Prior, any questions?

ADV PRIOR: Just one or two aspects for clarity Mr Chairman.

ADV PRIOR: Ms Narkedien, on that evening, the vehicle that you were driving, was that your sister's car?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes.

ADV PRIOR: And you had asked her to use it that evening?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: Yes.

ADV PRIOR: Did she normally lend, or did you normally or usually ask her for the loan of her vehicle, when you were going out with Mr McBride?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: That's true, I normally did.  We shared it, so to speak.

ADV PRIOR: Did Mr McBride indicate that you were going anywhere specific on that evening, that you had to get dressed up, or...?

ZAHRAH NARKEDIEN: You see at the time I was actually a fugitive because there was this state of emergency and my brother Eric and my sister Jeanette were arrested.  Actually it was my mother who gave me, who asked her to let me use the car, and my parents told me that I was also wanted.  When the police came to arrest them, they walked into the house with all these big rifles demanding where am I and they said they didn't know.  I was actually in Botswana, I had gone away for the weekend.