Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-08-29

WITNESS:   From that day we continued to have the prayer meetings until we were joined by the women of Black Sash.  We continued with these prayer meetings, and at that time I think I was singled out because I was the leader of the woman.  One time when I came back from work I heard some gunshots, and I discovered the following morning that my dogs had been shot.  I went to call the SPCA, and they told the SPCA that they had killed my dogs because my dogs disturbed them during their work at night.  I think it was on the 4th of June when I was from work I went to a certain house and we conducted a prayer meeting.  That was at Khuzwayo's place.  Just before we finished praying the lights went off and children were arrested outside.  We left the prayer meeting and went out to investigate.  We discovered that the soldiers had arrested our children.  Each and every one of them had a youth in his hand.  I asked them as to what the youths had done.  They left the youths alone.  The youths ran away, and at that time it was dark.  The lights had gone off.  We decided to wake other neighbours and tell them that, "Here is an attack that has

DR MAGWAZA: /"taken place."

DR MAGWAZA: taken place."  Women started screaming and waking up the neighbours.  Just as it was dark we heard there was a lot of gunshots.  Luckily I was saved, I survived.  There is also a friend of mine who is in this hall who was shot on that day.  We ran away and went into Khuzwayo's house.  Just as we were there the electricity came back, and the soldiers came an knocked.  Mr Dubazana opened up the door.  When they were still knocking I had made a call to the Parliament.  At the time we were not represented at Parliament.  There were certain members of the DP whom we used to tell that we were now being harassed.  And we indicated that the police were harassing us, and I made that call and told them that we were being attacked by the police at that time.  That is when they barged in and got into the house, and at that time many people were already hiding.  They got inside.  They got the people out.  Whoever was hiding was taken out of his or her hiding place.  They started searching the house and they pointed out that they were actually looking for a certain woman.  There was a soldier, a white soldier, but he was speaking Zulu, and he was saying they want a certain very dangerous woman who was staying in Chesterville.

DR MAGWAZA: Did they ever say who the woman was?

WITNESS:   He never mentioned the woman's name, but I believe they did not want to mention the woman's name.  But they came to me and they surrounded me.  They said I looked like the one I wanted.  Then I said, "I am happy.  If you people could be looking for me I could be happy."  But there is one who had a great suspicion that I was the one they were looking for, and he ultimately went out, and at that time i did not go back home.  My sisters and I went away.  I knew that the police were searching for me, and we were on the wrong path.  So we started to be on the run.  We went away from our homes.  My son at that time also ran away from home, and we were not seen thereafter.  We only came back in 1988.   We were not hiding in Umlazi.  I only went back to Umlazi in 1987 when I had got a house.  When I got there I told myself that all was behind me, the past belonged to the past, but on the 7th in 1990, during the night, I heard some knocks all over the windows.  People were saying that they were police and that I should open up the doors.  I heard that the voices that were speaking outside were white people's voices, and the knocks were noticeably violent, and I told my children to sleep so that whoever came at that time should kill us whilst we were sleeping.  I told my children that we shall die inside the house defenceless, even if they may tell lies later on, but the truth will come out at the end of the day.  They started throwing tear-gas canisters inside the house through the windows, and they even sprayed through the open windows, especially the bathroom window.  And at that time we started suffocating, but luckily it never really affected us.  Apparently it affected them.  Just when I was trying to grab a towel - I wanted to protect myself, as well as my children - but it did not affect us at the end of the day.  There was a two-year-old child at the time, but nothing happened to the child.  They started once more threatening us that they were going to throw tear-gas canisters again.  They threw in more tear-gas canisters.  I said whoever was scared amongst my children must come to me.  They came to me and I protected them.  I started praying because I lived by prayer.  They started

DR MAGWAZA: /... (incomplete)