Human Rights Violation Hearings — Grahamstown — 1997-04-08

REV XUNDU: Albertina Gobizembe, please stand up.

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: (Duly sworn in, states).

REV XUNDU: Thank you.

PRETTY MKALIPI: (Duly sworn in, states).

REV XUNDU: Thank you.  Mr Chairperson, they have been properly sworn in.

CHAIRPERSON: Over to you Ntsiki Sandi.

ADV SANDI: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Let us start with Albertina Nomboysela Gobizembe.  Are you from Port Alfred?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: I am from Bathurst.

ADV SANDI: You are going to tell us this incident.  Where did it happen?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: It happened in Port Alfred.

ADV SANDI: But you are from Bathurst?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes.

ADV SANDI: When did this incident happen?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: It was in 1985, if I am not mistaken, it was in June.

ADV SANDI: In your statement you have also stated that it was in June 1985.  You said that at the time of this incident you were a member of a certain organisation.

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes.

ADV SANDI: What was the name of the organisation?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: It was AZAPO.

ADV SANDI: You said that you were attacked?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes, I was attacked.

ADV SANDI: Please explain to us how were you attacked, what happened on that day?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes, I can explain.  Certain Comrades came to Bathurst.  At that time there was no organisation in that area.  These Comrades formed AZAPO in our area, people joined AZAPO in Bathurst.  If I am not mistaken it was on a Sunday.  Certain Comrades were arrested, but they were not from Bathurst, these Comrades they were the ones who came to launch this organisation.  They were taken to Port Alfred.  There were three ladies, three of us, this disturbed us.  It was myself and Pretty together with Titan Matiyasi, but she is not here.  We visited these Comrades, we had food, we brought them food.  If I am not mistaken, when we arrived there they were released, they were in the township.  We wanted to go to the township to visit them there so that we can find out what happened.
 We went to the township on Sunday, where we arrived there and they explained to us what happened to them when they were arrested.  It was late at that time and there was no transport for us to go back.  There were no taxis at that time.  We stayed there, we discussed together with the Comrades.  While we were still discussing there we got a message that there was a meeting in the hall.  The community from the township were invited to that meeting.  We also decided to join this meeting.  We went to attend the meeting.  It was opened with a prayer.  The, we were told about the agenda.

ADV SANDI: Are you talking about the meeting in which you were attacked in?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: No.  We knew that we were going to be attacked.  We heard from that meeting.  One person told us to leave that meeting, because we were going to be attacked.  We left the meeting.  We went to one house.  This, the owner was a member of our organisation.  We went in one room in this house.  We were about 20, we were not more than 20.

ADV SANDI: All of you, were you members of AZAPO?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes, we were all members of AZAPO.  We stayed in that room.  We were discussing our issues.  At night we heard that there were people outside the house, some of them were on the roof.  They were, some were kicking the doors.  We asked them what was wrong, we asked for forgiveness, because we did not know what we have done.  They assaulted us, they beat us, we tried to go through the windows.  When I was trying to get out of the window something struck me in the head, I fell down.  I do not know whether they thought that I was dead, but they just left me.  I could not walk because I was injured in my leg.  I crawled and I managed to go to one house and I walked with one leg to the door of this house.  There was, it was dark at that time, there were no lights in Port Alfred.  I went inside this house.  When I got in I heard someone crying, it was Pretty.

ADV SANDI: Take your time Ms Gobizembe.  I will wait for you.

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: I went to another room.  There was a man sleeping in that room.  He asked me what was going on.  I could not answer him because I was feeling pain in my back, I could not even breathe.  I hid under the bed.  One lady came, she told me to hide under the bed.  She told me to hide under the bed.  After a while she came back and she took me out.  She took some, she took something and she wiped my face and she also bandaged my leg.  While I was still sitting there we heard that there were many people coming towards this house.  Again this lady took me under the bed.  They came and they knocked in the door.  They asked whether there was someone in the house.  This lady said there was no one.  They then said if there is someone in this house, you are going to be burnt.  I just talked to myself, I was praying that the lady would not tell them.
 They searched the whole house, they looked under the bed, but they did not see me, although they had torches with them.  This lady came and she took me out of the bed again.  There was a knock.  It was a girl who was a member of our organisation, together with the third one.  They gave me a stick and I thanked the lady for saving my life.  I told her that I was going back home, because if they found me there, they will burn this house.

ADV SANDI: Did they take you to hospital?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: No, they did not take me to hospital.  We tried to go back home.  When we were about a corner, we saw that there were flames.  We did not know what to do at that time.  We did not realise that we were walking through the site where we were going to reach these flames, but we found out that our two Comrades were being burnt down.

ADV SANDI: Who were these Comrades?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: It was Kolani Anton from Grahamstown and Thembisele, he is also from Grahamstown, but I have forgotten his surname.

ADV SANDI: Is it Thembisele Mata?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes.  We passed this fire, we went back home.  When I was near the Malandela farm we decided to sleep there.

ADV SANDI: Who was with you?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: It was myself, Pumla from Port Alfred and Titi from Bathurst.

ADV SANDI: Where was Pretty at this time?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: I last saw Pretty when she was taken out of the wardrobe.

ADV SANDI: She was not with you at this time?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: No, I did not know where she was at this time.  We woke up in that place in the morning.  The man of the, the owner of the house said that he was going to go to the farmer and lie and say that I was sister.  When we were going back home we met an ambulance that and it took us to the hospital.

ADV SANDI: Who were these people who assaulted you?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: We did not know who they were, because it was dark when they came in, the lights went off.  We could not see who they were.

ADV SANDI: Were there rumours, did you hear any rumours about this?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: No, I did not know who these people were, but I can just say that they are people from Port Alfred, because they belonged to UDF, they did not like AZAPO.

ADV SANDI: Did you get treatment from the hospital after you were injured?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: Yes, we were taken to the hospital and we were operated.

ADV SANDI: In which hospital?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: In Settlers Hospital.

ADV SANDI: When did, for how long did you stay?

ALBERTINA NOMBOYSELA GOBIZEMBE: We were just operated and then given pills, we then went back home.

ADV SANDI: Did you get any other treatment after that?