Human Rights Violation Hearings — Queenstown — 1996-07-23

BONGANI FINCA: Welcome Ma'am, and we now hand you over to Revd Xundu who will lead you in your evidence.

REV XUNDU: Hallo Ma'am.

NN DYWASHU: Good day.

REV XUNDU: Please come closer to the microphone.  What is your clan name and into which clan are you married?

NN DYWASHU: I am Maphuqwana, I am Maphuqwana, married to (indistinct).

REV XUNDU: Do you have any children there?

NN DYWASHU: Yes, I do.

REV XUNDU: How many children do you have?

NN DYWASHU: There are 7.

REV XUNDU: You have come to give evidence in connection with the death of Tembole Mvolani.  Just tell me in the village, what was Mvolani a member of?

NN DYWASHU: He was a member of the ANC.

REV XUNDU: Was there any other organisation there?

NN DYWASHU: There were two organisations.  There were the ANC and the ADM.

REV XUNDU: And there was conflict between these two organisations?

NN DYWASHU: Yes, from what I could see, they could not get along.

REV XUNDU: Tell us the story about the death of your
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husband, when he was seen, found by a shop owner, what had happened?

NN DYWASHU: This is what happened.  I last saw him on the 26th and he was going towards Tendergate.
 I then slept.  When I woke up the next morning ...

REV XUNDU: Was he on his way to a meeting or was he on other business?

NN DYWASHU: ; No, he was on other business.
 When I woke up the following day, I saw people arriving and this shop owner as well, and I could see that he had gathered these people all night.
 This man said at approximately 8 o'clock, he saw a police van arriving at his place with this man inside, my husband now.
 The police had said that they had found him along the way and that he should please identify him.
 The policeman opened the van and he looked at my husband and said that he knows him and that it is someone that lives not too far from there and he wanted to know what the matter was.
 The policeman said no, we don't know, we just saw him, by the side of the road, just laying there.  When we looked, he seemed like someone that had been injured and we tried to get help for him at the hospital.
 I then said, well fine, let us go to another man from the Hicqa clan and he didn't see him either.  And then they went to this man.  This man looked at him and recognised him and also asked what the matter was and the police explained how they had found him and said that they are going to take him for help because it is possible that he might, you know, he might be attended to.
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REV XUNDU: Did the policeman say that they were taking him to the mortuary?

NN DYWASHU: No, they said they were taking him for help, that it is possible that he could be helped because he had been injured.

REV XUNDU: When he was seen by the shop owner, was he still alive?

NN DYWASHU: He said when he looked at him, he could see that he was not alive any more, but the policemen were saying that they were taking him for help, maybe he'd get better.

REV XUNDU: Was your husband in any position in the ANC, was he a Chairman or anything?

NN DYWASHU: No, he was not anything.  He was not an office bearer, he was merely a supporter of the ANC.

REV XUNDU: They then took him to the mortuary and then the policemen arrived at your place at some other stage and said that they had arrested the people responsible?

NN DYWASHU: The policemen came in the morning and said that they had found the murderers.

REV XUNDU: Were these people that you knew?  Did you recognise the names?

NN DYWASHU: Excuse me?

REV XUNDU: Did you know the names of these people?  Who were they?

NN DYWASHU: Their names were Matutsu Mvula, Maquzinani, Mrola, Job Mrola, Kumbelekaya Metusi, Xilu Saule.

REV XUNDU: Lumko?  Which Lumko?

NN DYWASHU: I am not sure which one.  I don't really know which one it was and I can't even recognise him if I were to see him.
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REV XUNDU: Did you know these people to be members of the ANC or the ADM?

NN DYWASHU: They were all members of the ADM.

REV XUNDU: All these people?

NN DYWASHU: Yes.

REV XUNDU: When they had appeared in court, what happened?

NN DYWASHU: The police came back to tell us that we just want to inform you that these people have been released.  One of them had phoned Gqozo and Gqozo had instructed that they be released and be given their sticks and go and do their work, and they were then released.

REV XUNDU: The one by the name of Nkoliseko Mrola, what was his role in all this?

NN DYWASHU: Nkoliseko Mrola was the one that had given the names of the others.

REV XUNDU: Is he the one who disappeared?

NN DYWASHU: Yes, the one that up to this day we don't know where he is.  Maqwalo is the one taken by Nkoliseko Mrola and he then called the people and they caught him and he told them everything and Nkoliseko said that now I was told to bring him from the graveyard there at the bottom.
 They wanted to know what were you going to do with him and he said, no we are going to kill him and then Nkoliseko disappeared because he realised that these people were after him.
 We were informed that attorneys had taken him to Bisho and that was the last I heard about Mrola.

REV XUNDU: That Mrola said that these six people were responsible for your husband's death?

NN DYWASHU: Yes.
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REV XUNDU: After your husband's death, was there any trial or inquest into the cause of his death?

NN DYWASHU: I beg your pardon?

REV XUNDU: Was your husband taken to hospital and was the Doctor able to say what the cause of his death was?

NN DYWASHU: Yes, 8 bullet wounds were seen on his body in the front and in his neck, there was an assegai wound, the ninth wound.

REV XUNDU: Did the trial then not proceed because of an order from Gqozo?

NN DYWASHU: ; No, nothing came of it, the police came back to my house and said that they were sent by the Government to tell me that the case is going to be conducted in Bisho, but the day on which it is going to be conducted, I must wait that they will come and fetch me.
 Up until today, I am still waiting.

REV XUNDU: Was you husband working?

NN DYWASHU: He was not working.  No he was not working, he was someone who was doing his own thing.
 He was a livestock farmer, he used to tend to his own livestock.

REV XUNDU: Is there anything that you would like to ask the Commission to do for you?  Any way in which the Commission can be of assistance to you?

NN DYWASHU: I would like the Commission to assist me in commemorating his death.  I'd like the Commission to be of assistance to me in commemorating his death in the traditional manner, a tombstone.

REV XUNDU: A tombstone?  What else Ma'am?

NN DYWASHU: Since my husband's death I am battling at home.
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REV XUNDU: How was your health affected by this?

NN DYWASHU: I have never been healthy, I am still under a Doctor's care ever since then.

REV XUNDU: What is the main problem?

NN DYWASHU: I suffer from short breath.

REV XUNDU: Do you receive any pension?

NN DYWASHU: Yes, I do.

REV XUNDU: How much do you, oh, you receive a pension?

NN DYWASHU: Yes.

REV XUNDU: How many children do you have?

NN DYWASHU: I have 7 children.  I gave birth to 7 children, 3 are still at school.

REV XUNDU: What are their names?

NN DYWASHU: Mqweqwe is in standard 6.  Mpoqwana.

REV XUNDU: What standard is Mpoqwana?

NN DYWASHU: He is in standard 1 and then Boqelani is in standard 2.

REV XUNDU: Thank you very much.  Back to you Mr Chairman.