Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1996-11-12

MR BRINK: When I was outside I didn't know whether anyone was here.  We looked, but well the people have arrived.  I'm told it's difficult to find this venue, but otherwise I am ready to start.

JUDGE WILSON: Thank you.

MR BRINK: This application relates to No.126/96 which is the first application in your bound papers.

JUDGE WILSON: It should have been the first application.  In my copy of the bound volume the first one is 127.

MR BRINK: Oh I am sorry about that.

JUDGE WILSON: Followed by 126.

MR NOTSHE: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr Chairman I have Mr Bonakele Horatius Jwambe who is prepared to take the oath.

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: (sworn states)

MR NOTSHE: Mr Jwambe you are presently an inmate at Middeldrift Prison?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes I am.

MR NOTSHE: Serving a term of 23 years imprisonment?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir.

MR NOTSHE: This results from the conviction of four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir.

MR NOTSHE: You are the applicant before this Committee?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir.

MR NOTSHE: Now Mr Jwambe is it correct that you made an
AMNESTY HEARING	TRC/EAST LONDON
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affidavit and is this the affidavit you made?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir it is so.

MR NOTSHE: ..which appearing above the word "Deponent", is your signature.

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir it's my signature.

MR NOTSHE: Now Mr Jwambe I will not go to the details of your affidavit but I will refer you to certain aspects of your affidavit.  Is it correct that the events which preceded the death of the deceased in this matter, this was preceded by the death of your brother Mkhuseli Jwambe?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir it is so.

JUDGE WILSON: Can I interrupt for a moment to check on something.  The form I have, Amnesty Application, which is in the bound volume before us relating to Jwambe, in paragraph 9A when he is asked to state the Acts, Omissions or Offences for which amnesty is sought there is an allegation that the act is "Murder".  Similarly in paragraph 12E the act in which he was sentenced, it's murder, there's no mention of attempted murder in the application for amnesty.

MR NOTSHE: Mr Chairman I noticed that on the application form and I would submit that it must have been a clerical error. I was not responsible for ...(intervention)

JUDGE WILSON: Well are you applying now to amend the application by adding in 9A.1 "Murder and Attempted Murder"?

MR NOTSHE: Yes Mr Chairman.

JUDGE WILSON: Because in 9B there is reference to four people killed and one injured.

MR NOTSHE: Yes.

JUDGE WILSON: I don't think there is any prejudice, I don't think Mr Brink ...(intervention)
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MR BRINK: No I don't.

MR NOTSHE: And even in 9C the person to whom the attempted murder refers, Mr Vellem, is included amongst the victims.

JUDGE WILSON: So you just want to amend 9A by the addition of the words "Attempted murder"?

MR NOTSHE: As the Chairman pleases.  May that apply to all the applications Mr Chairman, if the same error applies.

JUDGE WILSON: I can see no objection.

MR BRINK: I have no objection Mr Chairman.

JUDGE WILSON: Very well.

MR NOTSHE: Thank you Mr Chairman.

JUDGE WILSON: Carry on.

MR NOTSHE: Now Mr Jwambe firstly can you tell this court why you and the other applicants regarded the Killer Boys as people who were working with the Security Police?  Why did you regard them as working with the Security Police?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: These informers of the police, what they would do during the struggle, struggling for freedom, they would attack the residents.  Even during the bus boycotts people would be murdered.  We found out that the deceased's sister was ...(intervention)

MR NOTSHE: Which channel is the English channel - channel 2, thank you.  Is there anything else that made you decide that these Killer Boys are working for the Security Police?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes I have reasons.  These people were a problem.  We could not even send our children to the shops.  People could not walk around the streets in the evenings because of the enemy.

MR NOTSHE: Were the Police doing anything about their actions?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: The Police were doing nothing.  All these deeds AMNESTY HEARING	TRC/EAST LONDON
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of raping people, of stabbing people they were reported to the Police but the police would not arrest them.  Even if they were arrested it would be for only a short period of time and then they would be released.

MR NOTSHE: Now their attack on Mkhuseli Jwambe, and especially at house No.1106, did that have any significance in relation to your belief that they were working for the Security Police?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes.  1106 was a house for the comrades where they would meet regularly for meetings.  Comrade Pinki Phindi would go there regularly.  They would teach us about tactics to fight the enemy, to defend ourselves.  They taught us these tactics only for defence.  1106 was a well-respected home, even by the residents.  The police would go there regularly for searching.  On that day the police went to raid the house, they then started attacking the people, asking for their identity.  Mkhuseli was then attacked.  Nongele was a member of the community group.

MR NOTSHE: Of the Youth Brigade. ...on previous occasions by ordinary criminals, that is house 1106.

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: It had never been attacked before.  It always used to be attacked by the police.   Majwaga Simelele was killed by the police in the very same house.  It was the first time that it was attacked by such people.  Those people referred to them as the enemy.  He was a comrade who stayed in Ziphunzane.  He had gone to Mdantsane because there was some form of function.  Even if there was a funeral or any type of function the comrades would go to 1106.  The comrades met regularly at 1106.  It was a well-respected house even by the residents.

MR NOTSHE: Now from your co-applicant and the other people AMNESTY HEARING	TRC/EAST LONDON
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who were involved in this incident on that night, are they related to you and your family?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: No they are not related to my family.  There is no Jwambe member there.

MR NOTSHE: Besides at the time of the incident were they your friends?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: We were not friends, we were just all comrades.  We were all members of the Street Committee.

MR NOTSHE: Now Mr Jwambe after you heard about the death of your brother at some stage you went to report the matter to the police, is that correct?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: Yes Sir it is so.

MR NOTSHE: The police were not giving you any joy on previous occasions, why did you then decide to go and report this to the police?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: You have to report somebody's death to the police, even if it's a comrade, you have to report it to the police.

MR NOTSHE: Now were you present on the evening of the day the deceased was killed, when the decision was taken to go and hunt for them?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: I was not there.

MR NOTSHE: Was any member of the Jwambe family present when that decision was taken?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: I would not know because there is no Jwambe member that is involved in the case.  I don't know whether one of them was there at the time but I was not there.

MR NOTSHE: Was the decision to take the deceased to the scrapyard, a decision of members of your family or of your friends, or was it a community decision?

BONAKELE HORATIUS JWAMBE: According to my retrospection I think it was a
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decision taken by the residents that those people should be killed at the scrapyard.

MR NOTSHE: Now lastly Mr Jwambe during your trial, it was quite a lengthy trial, did you pay for your own fees, your legal fees?