Amnesty Hearings — Pinetown — 2000-02-16

ME DEHAL: You say you found yourself as a leader of the UDF Umtwalumi Youth League, under pressure to make the special arrangements for arming your people to protect your innocent people.  You were under pressure to protect your people which means that you were forced to shoot to kill on occasions and you also gave the instructions to all your comrades to do the same.  It is unfortunate that 13 people belonging to the IFP were killed by you and your comrades.  Is that correct?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Who exerted this pressure on you?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: It was the attack that was launched by the IFP.

CHAIRPERSON: So it wasn't any particular person who exerted pressure on you, it was the event?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: It's not that I was pressurised by a particular person, but it was the situation that took place in the area.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, carry on.

ME DEHAL: Thank you.  On page 15 you then continue in the second paragraph, to deal with the day following the incident of the 25th March.  You say
"On the 26th March 1990 at Mawakwe, Inkatha supporters with a group of strong armed SAP invaded Mawakwe and Umgangeni which resulted in the loss of at least five lives of your people.  Comrades Mrs Nthombilesi Gambushe, Comrades Miss Bonakele Majola, Mr Nkanaza Mzelemu, Comrade Mrs Malunga with her five month old baby on her back and Comrade Miss Pungzile Gambushe, were seriously wounded, lost her unborn baby, she was hospitalised for months at Port Shepstone Hospital and that 12 more houses were burnt down in that incident of the 26th March."

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

ME DEHAL: You then set out that on the 29th of March 1990, two days later, on the third day following, you and others narrowly survived death.  You were accompanied by others, that's three comrades, on the way to Durban.  That's Comrade Mzongile A Madlala, Comrade Miss Nanake Shanga, Comrade Mr Fikane R Madlala and yourself, Tom Madlala, when you were kidnapped by the three members of IFP Third Force and then you go on to page 16.  You say
"Madlala and Mr Raymond Fikane Madlala were shot and wounded and you were rushed to Port Shepstone Hospital, under a strong armed policemen escort."
You say one man was killed instead, but no arrests have been made.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: The Madlala you mention there is not the person who is the second applicant, Falake Professor Madlala?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: No.

CHAIRPERSON: That's not the same person.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: No, it's not the same person, but he's also present here.

CHAIRPERSON: No, I understand that.  I'm talking about being involved at that time.  Whether he was present with you or not.  Yes, carry on.

ME DEHAL: So the second applicant was not involved in this incident.  Correct?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: No.

ME DEHAL: You then say in the next paragraph on page 16
"The main suspect."
That's the second paragraph, sorry.
"The main suspect was the IFP leader, Mr Mbabana Sengani."
Is that Sengani?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: Sengani, yes.
MR DEHAL
"But the police refused to arrest him just because he is an IFP leader."

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

ME DEHAL: You say you personally made a sworn statement and implicated Mr Sengani, but despite this, no one was arrested by the South African Police.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

ME DEHAL: You then continue to say that the residents were all totally evicted from their homes, their goods confiscated, their houses forcefully occupied by IFP supporters, that not a single former resident was restored to his or her home, but despite this, no arrests have been made.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Now this incident, this paragraph, when you say the residents were all totally all evicted, is that relating - is it a general statement you are making or is it an event that occurred on that day when you missed or you escaped being killed, 29th of March?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: It's something that started on the 10th of February 1990 up until the 26th of March.

CHAIRPERSON: ...(indistinct - speaking simultaneously)

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Alright.  Carry on.

ME DEHAL: Thank you.  Then I see that you skip a few months and you go to the 8th of August 91, at the bottom, page 16 on the last paragraph.  You say that on the 8th of August 1991, you were tried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for four counts of murdering the IFP people.  You were sentenced by Justice Andrew Wilson at Scottburgh Supreme Court, a Circuit Court.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

ME DEHAL: Then again you generalise.  On page 17 you deal generally with the background of the issue and you say
"There was a dispute in the area between IFP members who were led by chiefs, Chief Luthuli, Chief Galaku, Gwelaluko from Mkwawula and Councillors of the area on the one side and the UDF Youth League,"
... which was formed and led by yourself on the other, consisting also on your side of the ANC who was then in exile at the time, of course represented locally by yourself through the UDF.  You say the chiefs were opposing any formation of an organisation associated with them.  By "with them" I presume you mean with the ANC?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: With the ANC, yes, of course.  That is correct.

ME DEHAL: You say arising generally from this general dispute between the two sides, many people were killed on both sides.  Some went missing and houses and kraals were burnt.  The UDF Front was operating with the ANC approval.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: That is correct.

ME DEHAL: Now if I may just stop there and go a little backward.  If I may take you to the occasion when first you became politicised.  Do you recall when that occurred?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: I first became involved in politics in 1986.

ME DEHAL: Can you tell this Committee briefly how that arose?  Which organisation did you support and how did you become a member of it and whether it was still in exile, etc?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: I supported and joined the UDF but the organisation that existed in my area was the IFP and it was through the IFP that I learned about the ANC, although it was difficult at that time to identify ANC members and supporters.  The IFP would let it be known that there were people they were fighting against, people who were imprisoned, that was when I became interested in knowing who these people are and where they are.  That is how I gained knowledge about the ANC, but my first involvement and active role started in 1989.

ME DEHAL: Thank you.  Mr Madlala, I see that you say on pages 20 - sorry on page 21, 22, that these are 62 persons whom you could recall being a list of known names of the UDF people whose houses were burnt down at Umtwalumi by the IFP people.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: Yes, I compiled that list.

ME DEHAL: And I see you say to the TRC on the side of page 22 that if they wanted more information on this, they should contact myself at my offices.

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: Yes.

ME DEHAL: Is it correct that - sorry, firstly may I ask you, will you please detail how it came about that I, as your lawyer  of this area during that time, came to have a record of these people who died, dealing with their funerals etc within the ranks of the UDF in the course of that struggle?

TOM JABULANI MADLALA: I was associated with Mr Dehal because I knew him to be a lawyer for Human Rights.  I then approached Mr Dehal after certain comrades had been detained without trial, after a police raid in Umtwalumi.  I then approached Mr Dehal at his offices to seek assistance because we did not have money but we requested legal assistance.  That's how I got to know him.

ME DEHAL: Just go a little slower, okay.  Carry on.