Amnesty Hearings — Ermelo — 1998-07-30

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I was member of the ANC.

MR PATEL: Let's deal with each offence separately.  Firstly the murder of Mrs Zini Shongwe in 1991.  Could you explain to the Committee the circumstances in which this incident took place?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I was working at a shop in the township and when I went to Chris Ngwenya's parents' place I learnt that they had a meeting with Mr Mkhwanazi in which they said Bobolina should be sought and killed.  Sugar, myself and China and others then left.

MR PATEL: Do you know the full names of Sugar and China?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Sugar's full names I really cannot remember.  I only also know China to be the other name, I don't know any other.

MR PATEL: Very well.  Continue.

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: We went to Bobolina's parent's place.  We didn't get into the house, we stood outside and China knocked at the door.  China and Sugar then got into the house and it appeared as if there was a woman with whom they were talking inside the house and as we were waiting Sugar came out to say he didn't find Bobolina but instead his mother and they said he too should be killed.  He went back and we heard two gunshots being fired, a hand grenade followed and that's when we fled going back to Chris's parents' place.

CHAIRPERSON: Tell me are you serving sentence for all these matters?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: No.  I was not even arrested.

CHAIRPERSON: Now when you went back into that house you say it was said that she - she was the deceased Mrs Shongwe - had to be killed.  Did you agree with that?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes we all agreed that she should be killed.

MR PATEL: In perpetrating this offence had you been ordered by anybody to go to the house and commit this offence?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes.

MR PATEL: Who gave the orders?

CHAIRPERSON: Which offence were you ordered to go commit?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: The Zini Shongwe incident.

CHAIRPERSON: Weren't you ordered to kill her son or husband?  The son, ja.

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes that was the instruction.

CHAIRPERSON: The instruction never mentioned her not so?  You didn't go to the house to kill her.  That's what you told us.

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Then why did you kill her?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: We killed her because we couldn't find Bobolina and therefore we just had to kill the mother.

CHAIRPERSON: How did that effect the politics those days, how was that politically motivated, now you tell me?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Zini's mother was also a member of the ANC.

CHAIRPERSON: And so?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: And she too had to be killed?

CHAIRPERSON: Why?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: We agreed as we were standing outside that she too should be killed because she was an enemy.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes carry on.

MR PATEL: As it pleases you Mr Chairman.
	You went to Mrs Zini's Shongwe's house on the instruction of somebody, is that correct?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: That is correct.

MR PATEL: Who was it that gave the instruction?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: It was Ntobo Gazi.

MR PATEL: Alright, the second offense, the murder of Carlton Maseko, could you explain to the Committee how this particular incident took place?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: We actually were on our rounds looking for Happy who had been beaten up another Happy who was an IFP member and Chris Ngwenya instructed us to go and look for Happy.  We then went to Moola and somewhere in the middle of the street we came across two boys.  One of us said these are some of them and we turned around the boys flat.

MR PATEL: By some of them, what was meant?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: There were two of them.

MR PATEL: Yes but who were they identified as being part of?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: They were member of the ANC.

MR PATEL: Yes okay, carry on.

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: They ran away and one of them fell whilst the other one continued fleeing and others who were in my company remain behind and we could not get hold of the one that we were chasing.  We came back and as we were walking back we came across Mkhwanzai and Estiba and this other one was already lying down.

CHAIRPERSON: Tell me, why did you regard the -  to be a member of the ANC at that time as an enemy?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Would you please repeat the question?

CHAIRPERSON: Why did you regard a member of the ANC, any member as an enemy?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I don't quite understand.

CHAIRPERSON: You say that you killed Shongwe.  You said you regarded Mrs Shongwe as an enemy because she was a member of the ANC and therefore she was killed.  You say you were looking for another person named Happy because he was a member of the ANC, you couldn't find him, you chased somebody else and Carlton Maseko died.  Now I'm just trying to find out why you regarded members of the ANC as enemies at that time when you were a Black Cat?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes they were enemies, they were our enemies.

CHAIRPERSON: Why do you say so?  What did they do to become the enemy at that time?  What did they do so that you had to regard them as enemies?  In other words why were they regarded as enemies that needed to be killed?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: If a person was not a member of the IFP he would obviously fall in the category of people that had to be harassed, that's how I can put it.

CHAIRPERSON: Why?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Because they are not members of our organisation.

CHAIRPERSON: Was that the reasoning at the time?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Now when you changed allegiance, became a member of the ANC, did you have the same attitude towards members of Inkatha that they were now the enemy?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Why?  What did they do?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I don't understand Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: What don't you understand?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I don't get you quite well.

CHAIRPERSON: Is it something to do with the mechanics of the communication apparatus or what?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I don't understand the question.

CHAIRPERSON: What don't you understand?  What of the question don't you understand?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I don't quite understand what you're trying to say perhaps you could explain.

CHAIRPERSON: When you changed, when you became a member of the ANC you say members of Inkatha then became your enemy.  Is that correct?  Then you started harassing members of Inkatha, correct?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Members of the IFP also harassed and intimidated me when I defected.  They troubled me quite a lot and they would chase me on my way home and they also broke windows at my home.

CHAIRPERSON: So did that mean any member of Inkatha was then an enemy or only certain members?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: They were enemies to me.

CHAIRPERSON: All of them?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Why?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: It's because they were harassing me as well.

CHAIRPERSON: Only certain members were harassing you, not so?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: All of them except for women.

CHAIRPERSON: So women weren't your enemies even though the belonged to the IFP?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I had no problem with the women, they too had no problem with me.

CHAIRPERSON: Fortunate.  Did you really know what it meant to be a member of any political party?  Did you know the implications of it?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I didn't know.

CHAIRPERSON: Do you know today what the implications are of being a member of any political party?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I would say if a person is a member, a person is a member.

CHAIRPERSON: Does that mean if you're not a member of your party then you're an enemy?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: No he's not an enemy?

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, Mr Patel.

ADV BOSMAN: Mr Patel can I just ask one question?
	What is your level of education Mr Shongwe, how far did you get at school?

DAVID ELVIS MAJOLA: I never went to school.

ADV BOSMAN: Thank you.

ADV SANDI: Zini Shongwe was a woman, why was she killed?   You said IFP women were not your enemies involved with things.