Amnesty Hearings — Vereeniging — 1999-01-27

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: We came from this street when we went up to Slovo Park and as we came through this street, I suspect this house marked X could be the house, I'm referring to the house that is marked X.

MR STRYDOM: Chairperson, the witness refers to a house in Schloebe Street and the number he points out is house 743.

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I am saying I think so.

MR STRYDOM: When you went out of Boipatong, did you see any military vehicles?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I don't want to commit myself, I did not see any vehicle on our way to and from Boipatong.   On our way back, I was in a hurry, I wanted to get to the hostel.

MR STRYDOM: And after you've reached the hostel, did you go to bed or to the stadium, or where to?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I went straight to my room.

MR STRYDOM: And the next day, were you at the hostel?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: Did you attend any meetings during the course of that day?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: Who addressed the meeting?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I remember Mr Mthembuta being a speaker at the meeting, that is if I think very well.   I remember Mr Mthembu, I think Mr Mthembu was addressing the meeting, that is if I'm correct.

MR STRYDOM: No, but the question is, what did he say, can you remember that?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: He warned us that there were people who were going to attack us.

MR STRYDOM: Did you see that any loot that came from Boipatong was burnt?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: No, I did not see that, but I did see fire in the big dustbins.

MR STRYDOM: When was that when you saw that?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I think it was on the 18th, yes I think it was on the 18th, I remember very well.

MR STRYDOM: I want to refer you now to your statement concerning gross violations of human rights.   Is it correct that this statement was taken by a person who was employed by the TRC?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Yes, that is correct, even though I didn't trust the person.

MR STRYDOM: Now in this statement, on page 236, you set out your background and how it came about that you ended up in the hostel.

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: Now what I want you to testify about now is just briefly explain your experiences in relation to political deeds and violence which affected you, leading up to the time you went to the hostel?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: If I still remember very well, it happened this way, I was attending school at Zithuleli HLP School, that is lower primary school, that is where I left after an attempt was made to burn my parents' home.   Such attempts were made several times, seeing that my mother was an IFP member.  After that, the house was burnt down, during which time my mother was not at home, having gone to a night school.   That is the evening during which my younger sister, Nongeba, died as a result of a petrol bomb, and on the third day, if I still remember very well, I went to school in the morning, I had to be at school at seven o'clock in the morning, and I went to Room 2, that is the class that I attended, Bisunjese being my teacher.    On that day a group of people came to fetch me, saying that I should be killed because I am a child of an IFP member.   I was supposed to be burnt that day, but the principal refused to hand me over to these people, the people wanted the principal to hand me over to them so that I could be killed, and the person responsible for all of this was Sabata Ngwena.

MR STRYDOM: Just to interrupt you, this Sabata Ngwena, was he affiliated to any political party?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: Which party?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: The ANC.   I think they also used to refer to themselves as COSAS.   I was still very young, and I had to leave school and surrender myself to this death.   That did not happen because the principal refused to hand me over.   He too was supposed to have died because he refused.   He took me out through a smaller gate further down the school and he said I should go home, and he said I should run away and go home.   He did not explain to me what was happening, because he too understood that I was still a child, I knew nothing.   I went out of the school through that small gate, I fled to 2066 Evaton, Donald Road, where my grandparents stay.   I stayed there until such time that I was placed to another school, because I could no longer go back to Zone 8, running away from death.   Still, I was coming to yet another death, but yes I did struggle, I tried to survive in that area.    I attended school at Zone 3 till such time that two of my homes were burnt, that is when I fled and ended up in Kwamadala, having been taken there by my sister, Phome, my sister.

MR STRYDOM: You made reference to a family member who died when the house, your house, parental house was burnt.   Just repeat, who died?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Nongeba, Nongeba.   It was a female girl, still very young.   It was a female child who was still very young, who was one year, four months old.

MR STRYDOM: When you were moved to Kwamadala Hostel, did your mother move with you?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: No, I did not take her along, I found her at Vereeniging, at an IFP office, that is where we were welcomed by Oupa Nglapo so that we could stay at the office.  We went there by train.   I too didn't know where we were going.

MR STRYDOM: When you joined, or moved in at the Kwamadala Hostel, did you become a member of the IFP yourself?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I think I had been a member of IFP long ago, because my mother used to own IFP, or run IFP drama units(?), before the IFP had these five colours on their logos, then they had only three colours, that is when I took full membership of the IFP.

MR STRYDOM: Did you become a member of the Youth Brigade in the hostel?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I am still a member of the Youth Brigade.

MR STRYDOM: Now I want you also to explain - or let me just ask this about this statement I'm referring to now, you had another look at this statement, do you confirm the contents of this statement?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: Yes, I confirm the contents.

MR STRYDOM: Yes.   Now I want you to testify about your personal motives and objectives why you went to Boipatong on the night of the attack?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: I was motivated to go to Boipatong by my (indistinct), if I still remember very well all the things that I went through.   I left home naked, anybody made me a (indistinct), people were making fun of me.   I went to Sebokeng, Zone 5, and Evaton Donald Road 2066, and I went to Boipatong following all the things I was thinking about, my family that is.   I thought that these people too should lose their houses, because I have lost my family's two houses, my sibling died while asleep, I was trying to restore that which had been taken away.   I did these two things as a result of them having done the same to me.

MR STRYDOM: Now you've given evidence that you experienced all these problems in Sebokeng and not in Boipatong.   Can you give any particular reason why Boipatong was then attacked and not say Sebokeng or Evaton or one of the other townships?

BUMBUMONT GOMERES THEMBISO KHUBEKA: There are many people, Inkatha people, who used to die in my presence at Boipatong, people such as Bongali Batha, who died at Boipatong, therefore that was the reason why I went to Boipatong, seeing that the ANC and Inkatha had been at war since long ago and the people of Kwamadala did not have peace, they did not live at peace, that was the reason why I went to Boipatong to do these two things.

MR STRYDOM: Now, you admitted to kill a child, why did you kill a child?