Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-20

ENIDE JAFTA: That is correct.  Then around three pm there were other boys at the hill.  They said it is burning, there is fire.  We were at the foot of the hill.  This shooting was going on still.  There would only be a pause just for five minutes or so and it would continue again.  When I looked back I could see that there was smoke from the direction of my home, but I did not think that it was my home that was burning.  Now towards the evening when I was approaching my home I found that my home was in flames and there was smoke all over.  I could hear now not only the guns were used.  You could even hear that there would be loud, loud sounds.  Even the gas cylinders that I had in my house exploded and I could hear that it was not only the explosion of the gas cylinders only and I thought now there were also other, there was another dam that was bursting.  My house was in flame, it was in red and green flames.  When I looked at that sight I became very weak, I lost all my strength.  I heard myself saying, how can I be sentenced without any court proceedings?
 My husband was still in those police vans.  One of the policemen said, no, this man has no problems.  He has got three children at university, the other one is in a high school.  I do not know why he is doing all this.  The second man said, no, but he is much better than you.  He said to this white man, this man has two shops, the third one is in Qumbu.  You see Jafta, I am going to make you starve, you will not be this proud anymore.  You are going to starve until your children starve as well.  You are going to be just like other people.  Just like that policeman said, I am UMTATA HEARING EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE
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starving today.  When we came back from prison, I was the first one to be released.  I had a problem of my leg which was hurt, which was hurting.  I had cellulitis.  When the other one was healing, the other one started to have the same problem.  I had cuts in my legs and feet that was caused by the, by grass.  
 On this day, the whole day, that was the following day now I was taken from the charge office on the second day, on the third day and I was swollen, my feet were swollen.  I stayed in the charge office for three days and this whole period the policemen were doing whatever they wanted to do with me.  Verbally abusing me in any way they liked.  Another one would just come with a gun and poke me with the gun and I could see that this gun can go off because these people were not mentally well.  I was called a mother to the terrorist.  They were talking through their walkie-talkies.  There was another, there was a command from Umtata saying destroy everything and these boys now were very happy.  They use to say how many cars do you have in the garage, where are your ledger books and so on.
 When I got back home I discovered that they did obey that command from Umtata.  Everything was destroyed in my home.  I had nothing left.  All my belongings beginning from the day when I got married, all my valuable things, everything that I have collected in all my life was destroyed.  When I got into the garage three of these cars were vandalised.  They could not work anymore.  The house that was the lighting plant was also demolished.  When it came to the shop it was worse.  They took out everything that was inside the shop.  They looted my shop.  Even if you can go back there now you can see the samples of how my 
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house was demolished and my shop.  We had a lot of stock in our shop because it was after Christmas, trying to prepare for the January holidays and all.  The store was full of bullet holes.  We could not even sell it after it was being, it was looted.
 The other one was, I only saw it only yesterday that, parts of the shop was also affected by the shootings.  We would say that when we were trying to sell something thinking that had survived from the shooting and after selling it somebody would just come, bring it back again and say did you see that this has been shot.  That was the last time we sell, we sold our furniture.  We do not have any other power now to go back and try to resume our businesses.

BONGANI FINCA: Mama, your destruction and the demolition of your belongings, it looks like it happens at the time when the person who was wanted was at the bushes.

ENIDE JAFTA: That is correct.

BONGANI FINCA: Now who was being shot in the shop when the person is in the bushes?

ENIDE JAFTA: They are destroying just the whole house because they are obeying the command that was coming from Cape Town saying destroy everything.

BONGANI FINCA: Were they angry because now this young man was not coming out of the bush?

ENIDE JAFTA: Even their helicopter now had given up trying to find him.  Kaye was fighting back.  Because now of the anger that they had for not getting Kaye, that is how now they started to demolish my property.  They are asked me is there is anyone in the house.  I did say to them, no, there is no one in the house.  I told them everybody is outside, outside the house.
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BONGANI FINCA: Mama, I am going to ask you now what you wish the Commission to do for you?  Now before I do that there is something that I would like you to bear evidence to.  After all that battle that went on for 36 hours, did Kaye survive?

ENIDE JAFTA: Yes, Kaye survived.  He escaped the same night, the first night.  Boy gave himself up on the following day.  I heard about that when I was in prison that Kaye had escaped and Boy had given himself up.

BONGANI FINCA: Now Mama what would you like the Commission to do for you?  Something that is within its power.

ENIDE JAFTA: Mr Chairman, firstly, I would like to say my husband was arrested for nine months at Wellington.  At the time I was struggling very much such that there was another van that ended up with one of the Boers who was trying to fix it.  I lost it because I could not retrieve it, I could not pay it.  I could not pay the repairs.  We also lost our, the goods we lost our shop.  That is the most property that we lost.  People left without paying their debts and because the people, the policemen said to the people that nobody will pay any debts that belonged to that shop.  That is how much we lost.  After we lost all those properties that we had people did not even come to the shop because there was nothing to buy in the shop.  There was nothing in the shop and even my husband was in jail at the time.
 They even went to Kaye's bush where he was hiding.  They threw in the smokes so that people cannot see well and in the same week there was a helicopter from the Electricity Department.  People had left from the shop because they were afraid of the Jafta incident.  People use to ask me, Mama what are these helicopters all about?  Now before I can tell you what I would like to wish from you I just want to give 
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you the picture of how our condition was after what happened to us.  I would like the Commission to please talk to its seniors to help us out to reparate us for what we have been doing, trying to fight.  We must not be left out.  Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Reverend Xundu.

REV XUNDU: Mama, among the policemen who arrived at your house were there any ones that you know?

ENIDE JAFTA: No, I did not know a single one.

REV XUNDU: Even at the time that you were interrogated in the prison.  Do you know anyone there?

ENIDE JAFTA: The one that, who interrogated me was Mziyati.

REV XUNDU: Do you not know the others?

ENIDE JAFTA: There were these other young men who told them, who told his name, he was Mr Madulwana.  There were other policemen who my husband knew their names.  Those policemen who use to ill treat us our whole lives.

REV XUNDU: Do you know their names?

ENIDE JAFTA: No, I have forgotten it, but my husband knows.