Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1999-04-29

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: We went to Mr Cobus' place.  I think it was a quite a large number of us, between 15 and 20, or more than 20.  We went to the servant's quarters, we knocked, they refused to open, we told them that we were comrades, they opened - I beg your pardon, we told them to open for us because we had, we were looking for something.  He opened and we asked where Mr Cobus was staying.  The person told us.
	We borrowed a pinchers.  He gave it to us.  We left.  We went to the main house.  When we arrived at the main house we saw a gate that looked like it was used for the cows.  It had a pole that was, a telephone pole and we realised that that was a telephone pole and we disconnected it or we cut it.  Jimmy climbed up and cut the wire.
	We went inside - we went straight to the main house and there were dogs that were barking, but they were so small because, they ran away because we were quite a large number of people.  We went to the front of the house, we knocked.  We told them that we were visitors and we were his visitors.  We told him to open for us.  Mr Cobus he will not do that because we were going to shoot him and he said that, as he was saying that he started firing.
	We ran away.  We went to the backyard.  We saw a bathroom window with a net, those are the windows that you normally pull them up when you open them.  We destroyed that net, we removed that net and we opened the window and we went inside and the others were on the sides where his bedroom was, or where he was and he did not stop firing.  
	I took a broom that was on the veranda, I tried to disturb him at the window because I did not want him to access to the others who were trying to get inside.  He continued firing from my direction.  It was myself and Bonakele Bhayi and Rhandile Bhayi who were next to this window.  There were others who were surrounding the house, trying to distract, to disturb him so as to prevent him from shooting at the people who were already in the house.
	I got into the house through the kitchen door.  I saw a rope that was on the passage with a burglar door.  They tied a rope at that burglar door.  The only person that I noticed there was Jimmy and Mr Ntonga.  They were inside and there were also other people inside.  It looked like they were trying to pull and open this burglar door, and Mr Cobus who was in that room was shooting towards the side where there were people who were trying to open.  
	He was shooting in all directions.  Even if he senses that there were people who were at the windows who were trying to disturb him, he was just shooting at the people who were banging the windows.  I heard a sound from the inside, from the side where Jimmy was.  I was already outside at the time.  
	We took the gas cylinders, three of them, the big ones, we put them on his bedroom window, outside next to his bedroom window because he was not willing to get out of the house.  We opened the gas cylinders to release the gas and I lit a match setting them alight.  A big flame went through the window.  His window was open, but it was just slightly open.  
	Even at that time we were also scared because he was shooting in all directions as we were trying to disturb him, but he was shooting in all directions.  There was fire and we ran away.  We thought that the tanks or cylinders were going to explode.  It was towards the early hours of the morning and he was giving us trouble.  I did not notice whether Mr Cobus was shot at.  I only heard that - when I was at home I heard that Mr Cobus was shot.

MR KINCAID: Who had the firearm, Melville?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: It was Mzuyanda Ntonga.

MR KINCAID: The next incident - before I move onto that, the time that you attacked Mr Cobus, Melville, did you harbour him any ill-will, any spite, any personal grudge?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: No.

MR KINCAID: The next incident would have been the incident in which Joe Senti was injured and Mr Pretorius.  You were party to that attack, you were there on the farm, were you?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, that is correct, I was there.

MR KINCAID: Could you tell the Committee what you did?  Mzuyanda Ntonga has told the Committee what he did and Jimmy has told the Committee what he did during those incidents, but can you tell the Committee what your personal role was in the attack on Joe Senti if you were involved in that and also on Mr Pretorius.

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, I can tell the Committee.

MR KINCAID: Please proceed.

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: We went to Mr Joe Senti's in Mr Pretorius' farm.  Mr Joe Senti was working on that farm.  We went there to ask about Mr Pretorius, where he was staying, where his house was.  We arrived at Mr Joe Senti.  I was the one who knocked at the door.  he didn't want to open the door, Mr Joe Senti.  We told him that we were comrades, we were there to see him.  He opened the door and then he closed the door again.  He said that he was not going to open the door because we were soldiers.  When he was closing the door a shot was fired.
	The person who was next to me was Mzuyanda Ntonga, who had a weapon.  After that somebody asked why was this person shot.  We then tried to open and we realised that that was a mistake, the intention was not to shoot at him.  
	We tried to open and Joe Senti finally opened the door.  We went inside, we apologised to him.  We told him that we didn't intend to shoot at him but because he didn't want to open the door he got shot.  We asked his wife to accompany us to take us to Mr Pretorius' house so that Mr Joe Senti can be taken to the hospital.  His wife agreed.
	We went to the next door house, the house next door to theirs.  We knocked at the door and the people inside that house were frightened.  They opened the door for us because they also heard a gunshot.  We told them that we were not there to fight them, we were there to ask for a person to accompany that lady, Mr Joe Senti's wife, so that we can go and ask Mr Pretorius to come and help Mr Joe Senti, to take him to the hospital.
	A man came out of that house and he accompanied us.  We arrived in that farmhouse and there is a ...(indistinct) in that house next to the gate.  That lady stood there and we stood next to her.  We told her to call out for people inside.  Mr Pretorius came out because this lady called him.  The lights were not on at the time.  There was a searchlight outside, but it was also off, it was not on.
	When he went out he came towards us and there was a dog barking.  It was coming towards us. When I was still watching that dog I heard a shot, a gun shot and I heard screams and there was a white lady who asked something from Mr Pretorius and Mr Pretorius was lying down at that time.
	When we were trying to reach the house an ambulance came and then we decided to run away.  We then ran away at that particular time.

MR KINCAID: Did you do anything to Mr Pretorius, Melville, did you in any way assault him yourself personally?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: Yes, I did because I had a stick with me, because we wanted him to take us to the house to show us where the weapons were.

MR KINCAID: What did you do to him?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: I hit him with that stick three times.  He stood up and he went to the direction of the house.  When he was next to the house he stood next to the door and an ambulance and a van came and we then ran away.

MR KINCAID: Did you assault Mr Pretorius for any reasons which were motivated by spite or malice, any ill-feelings that you harboured towards him?

MELVILLE NOKAWUSANA: No, I didn't take part in that because I hated him, I wanted him to stand up and go to the house and show us where the weapons were.  After that we would take him to the servants quarters to take Mr Joe Senti, so that he can take him to the hospital.