Human Rights Violation Hearings — Alexandra — 1996-10-29

MR LEWIN: Is this the Alexandra Civic Association?

MRS MALAKOANE: It was the Alexandra Civic Association.

MR LEWIN: And that night when you were together at his house, was it?

MRS MALAKOANE: Yes.
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MR LEWIN: You were together there and you heard these people singing outside.  Now you describe them as people in blue shirts, navy blue pants but with their shirts hanging out.  Were they police?

MRS MALAKOANE: Yes, it was the police.

MR LEWIN: In your original statement you gave them another name as well.  Do you remember that?

MRS MALAKOANE: My name is Maria Malokoane.

MR LEWIN: You gave the police another name, you called them the Makabasa police.

MRS MALAKOANE: Yes, they called themselves Makabasa.

MR LEWIN: So you knew them as Makabasa.

MRS MALAKOANE: Yes, I knew them as the Makabasas.  That is the way they said it.  But the one thing that made me certain that they were police whilst they were singing they came from the direction of the police station.

MR LEWIN: But this Mtebi that you mention, was he SAP or Makabasa or both?

MRS MALAKOANE: He was a SAP.

MR LEWIN: But you recognised him as Makabasa.

MRS MALAKOANE: Yes. He was with this crowd that were calling themselves Makabasa.

MR LEWIN: Okay.  And then what actually happened to Ace after he came in?  You described how he said he was shot and was holding his side.  What happened actually to him after that?

MRS MALAKOANE: They went inside the house and asked where Ace is, I told them that he went inside the house and when he came in he just fell.  I don't know what they did to him because they were already assaulting me.  All I saw was that the house was on fire and he was there inside. He burnt
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inside the house.

MR LEWIN: So that is how he died you think.

MRS MALAKOANE: Yes, sir.

MR LEWIN: And then later you mentioned the funeral and you say they were buried.  Who else was Ace buried together with?

MRS MALAKOANE: It was many people.  There were supposed to be nine in number but only seven was buried.  I don't know what happened to the other two but I don't know their names but it was a mass funeral, there were nine but seven were buried instead.

MR LEWIN: And they had all been shot or killed by police.

MRS MALAKOANE: I cannot ascertain that but I can say that it was the police because they were shooting in the township.

MR LEWIN: And was anything ever done about the assault on yourself?  I mean were there any investigations either by the police or by anybody, did you report it to the court or to anybody?

MRS MALAKOANE: No, sir, nothing was done.

MR LEWIN: And what is the effect now on you?  How do you feel, what is your health like as a result of this?

MRS MALAKOANE: No, I am not healthy at all.  In March this year I was suffering from constant headaches.  I tried to find some spectacles because I thought it was because of my eyes but I decided to change doctors this year in March. My doctor transferred me to Florence to Dr Tyon where they did a brain scan on me.  Otherwise the headache it is still persistent but I do suffer from pain time and again.

MR LEWIN: Thanks very much.  I will pass on to the other people.  I am sure they have some questions too.  Thank you.
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MS MKHIZE: We thank you very much Maria.

COMMISSIONER: Maria, were you married yet with Billy?

MRS MALAKOANE: No.  No, we were not married.

COMMISSIONER: Did you have a child?

MRS MALAKOANE: No.

COMMISSIONER: Where are Billy's parents?   Are they still alive?

MRS MALAKOANE: No, they passed away.  They passed away after Billy's death.

COMMISSIONER: Is it because of Billy's death?

MRS MALAKOANE: No, it is just natural causes.  The mother passed away due to a car accident.

MS MKHIZE: We thank you.

YASMINE SOOKA: ... you recognise some of the Makabasa, you recognised Mtebi whose name has been mentioned quite often over the last two days.  You also talked about John.  What was John's surname?

MRS MALAKOANE: It is John Ranamani.

YASMINE SOOKA: Do you know the other names as well?

MRS MALAKOANE: No, I don't.

YASMINE SOOKA: One of the other witnesses today mentioned that the police in these incidents would simply take out their shirts and let it hang over their pants and they would tie some kind of cloth around their head and they would pretend that they were this group Makabasa.  Was this your first experience with them?

MRS MALAKOANE: It was the first time I saw them dressed like that on that day.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did you recognise the other people who were with these guys?

MRS MALAKOANE: No, as I said I only recognised two of them.
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YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.

MS MKHIZE: We thank you very much with your evidence that you have given here in front of us and we are grateful to know that you are still following this matter up although you didn't have any child with Billy.  It is a good spirit of commitment. We thank you very much.  We will keep on troubling you as long as we are investigating this matter.  Our investigating unit will keep in contact with you should there be any further information that they will need from you.  We have also heard about your health, about your persistent headaches.  One other thing that we do is to help people with letters so that their hospitals must help them with less costs if they suffered due to these human rights violations.  I think you as well, you will get help until we come to the end of your case.  Thank you.