Human Rights Violation Hearings — Duduza — 1997-02-04

RUSSELL ALLY: Sorry, sorry to interrupt you, sorry to interrupt you.  Please, if you put the headphones on, then the interpreters find it easier to interpret.  So, could you please do that and sorry for interrupting you, but it is a request from the interpreters.  Thank you.

EVELINA PULENG MOLOKO: And at that time Maki asked me as to what sort
of a gun was that that went on outside and we were all surprised as to what was happening and who was being shot outside.  The house actually shook when this explosion took place, it was like an earth tremor.  Thereafter we heard quite a number of cars outside and we were quite scared to go and look as to what was taking place outside.  We were scared, we did not even look through the window because we thought whoever was shooting outside would also shoot at us if we peeped through the windows or we opened the doors.  We ended up not knowing what had happened until the following morning at five.  
 Maki was a Comrade, she was politically active.  We woke up and we saw quite a number of corpses around the place lying on the ground.  Maki went to have a look at these bodies because we were preparing to go to work on that particular morning.  Maki came back and she was in tears when she came back and she was in shock.  She also mentioned the names of the people or the bodies that were lying around on the ground.  She said they were Ngungun Yani, Lucky and others.  After that incident we heard that there were rumours around the location and it seemed it was common knowledge that Maki had a hand in the killing of those youths.  We did not know how to broach the subject because we knew the truth.  Even the fact that these were hand grenades was the knowledge that we got later when we saw in the newspaper, that is on the following day.  
 I spoke to Maki as a sister and I told Maki that it was better for her to run away and she told me that she was not going to run away because whatever they said she had done, she had not done, she was innocent.  Maybe they will realise later on that they were making a mistake.  That is when Maki decided to stay at home and not hide.  There was death in Soweto amongst our family members.  We went to that funeral and I told our mother that there were these rumours in Duduza that they wanted to kill Maki and my mother was also surprised.  She was also sick and she did not know what to do and when we came back from Soweto, Maki came back before I did and they were sitting in the house when I got there together with other youths, quite a number of them.  I asked them as to who they were and apparently these were the people who were keeping watch over Maki so that she could not run away. 
 When she came back they kept guard on her so that she could not run away because they initially thought that she had run away.  These were Comrades, her co-comrades and on the day of the funeral of the three who were killed by hand grenades, Maki also went to the funeral, I also went to the funeral.  On that particular day of the funeral, then on the day that Desmond Tutu was present and he actually saved another man's life because they also wanted to necklace that man.  On the following week they were burying certain youths.  
 I do not know whether these were, these youths were active politically or not, but there were four youths who were being buried at that time.  During that time I was affected by all this commotion that was going on including the incident of the hand grenades.  That affected me very adversely so I could not sleep and I had decided to go to my husband's place because I wanted to have a peaceful sleep then we went to my husband's place.  
 On that Saturday when this funeral was being conducted, Maki went to the funeral and I was just pressing my skirt and my skirt got burnt, then I decided that I was no longer 
going to the funeral and I decided to just go and watch the funeral without actually participating.  Then I went to fetch Dinel.  We went with Dinoah and we waited for the funeral procession from the stadium and they had divided themselves into small groups and they were heading for the graveyard.  Dinel and myself were standing on top of a large rock and I realised that there were too many people.  I said to Dinel we must not go to the graveyard.  
 As we were standing there I felt very cold and I told Dinel that I was getting cold and we should go back home.  She was actually surprised as to how I could get cold because that day it was very hot and I made fire when I got home.  Just when I was taking the ashes into the dustbin, three girls went past my place.  They were shouting slogans and they were saying that they had burnt Maki.  Now, I could not hear properly whether they were saying we had already burnt her or we were still going to burn her and I just looked at them and I was just in turmoil and in confusion at that time.  I decided to iron my clothes and Silwana came at that moment and said to me, Puleng, you have got a call.  Your mother has phoned and I went to pick up the phone to find out as to what will my mother, was saying.  
 As we went out, Silwana told me that Maki had been killed at the grave site and I asked her as to how she got to know this and she told me that my, her brother was crying and saying that Maki had been killed and, apparently, in Soweto they knew that Maki had already been killed.  When I got to Silwana's place, I found that whoever had phoned me had already put the phone down.  I dialled the number, but I was very scared to pick the phone up because I was not sure as to what I had to say.  I went to the grave site to go and have a look as to what had happened earlier on and Silwana came with.  
 When I got to the grave site, when you look at your sister's body, you do feel it in your own body.  You feel something as a sibling.  Then I saw her body.  I approached her from the feet and I could identify the feet, I could identify her as my sister, but I could not see her face because there was a large rock on her face as well as her chest and I went around to try and identify the body.  I was disgusted at the way she was killed.  I looked at the body.

RUSSELL ALLY: Please, please take your time.  Do not feel under pressure.  When you are ready to continue you can start again.