Human Rights Violation Hearings — Grahamstown — 1997-04-09

CHAIRPERSON: We will now call Kivi William Tyiwa, Mr Kivi William Tyiwa, Nokwaka Sylvia Nkwalase and Millicent Shumikazi Swartbooi.

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: (sworn states)

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: (sworn states)

MILLICENT SHUMIKAZI SWARTBOOI: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Thank you.  Mr Chairperson, let me lead Mr Tyiwa's evidence.  I will start with you Mr Tyiwa.  In which clan name are you, what is your clan name?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: I am Zikhali.

REV XUNDU: There is one Zikhali here in the panel.  Let me start by asking where you a member of any organisation while you were attacked or was there a conflict between organisations or were you just attacked by the criminals?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: I was a member of an organisation, I was a member of the ANC at that time.
 I was from Port Elizabeth at work, I came home at night at about nine to ten.  There were two of us.  When we were through the gates at Gonsi I was together with Mr Fani.  Two people came behind, they were in a hurry.
 Gantwani then said let us wait for this people to pass.  We then did, but they didn't pass, they came to us and they greeted us.  They addressed us as comrades.
 We then agreed.  They asked us where we're coming from, we told them we are coming from Port Elizabeth.  They asked us where are we staying, we told them we are staying in the township.  I then told them that I was staying in the Dumba location. 
 After that I heard sharp instrument on my head.  Gantwani managed to escape.

REV XUNDU: Did you notice these people?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: No, they had balaclavas on.  They then ran away.  Reverend Hartland came.

REV XUNDU: Was he together with these people?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: No, he was driving a car.  He was the one who helped mr, Reverend Hartland.

REV XUNDU: They ran away and they ran to the tents of the Amagolota?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes, they ran away to the Amagolota tents.  The Reverend then took me to hospital.  I was admitted at the hospital.  It was during Easter weekend.  After the Easter weekend I was still in the hospital.

REV XUNDU: In your statement you mentioned that you suspect that the people who attacked you are members of the PAC?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes, they were members of the PAC, because they ran away to the Amagolota tent.  The Amagolota were members of the PAC.  Amagolota were PAC members.

REV XUNDU: They ran away to the area of the PAC?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes.

REV XUNDU: Did you open a case concerning this matter?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: No, because if you would go to Fort Beaufort to make a statement, the police would arrest you.

REV XUNDU: According to your knowledge,  were you
oppressed in the same way as the PAC by the Government?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: The PAC was working for De Klerk for the past Government because they were the ones who were assaulting us and attacking us.

REV XUNDU: The PAC says it is against the Whites, where you in conflict because of what was going on in the township?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes, because the PAC - there was a mayor in the township and the mayor was on the PAC side.

REV XUNDU: Up until now, did you meet with the PAC and make peace?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes, today we are united.

REV XUNDU: What is your wish to the Commission, what would you like the Commission to do for you?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: I would like the Commission to assist me because I cannot work now.  My children are still at school and I am paying for my house.  I do get a pension fund, but sometimes it gets taken away.

REV XUNDU: Who takes it away?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: I don't know, but it was taken away and I received it last year again.

REV XUNDU: How many children do you have?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: I have four schoolgoing children.

REV XUNDU: Is your wife working?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: No, she is not working.

REV XUNDU: In which standards are your children?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: One of them is doing standard 8.

REV XUNDU: Thank you.  You would like to be supported concerning your children's education?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes and about my pension.

REV XUNDU: Is that all you wanted to say?

KIVI WILLIAM TYIWA: Yes, that is all.

REV XUNDU: Mr Chairperson, let me now go to Nokwaka Sylvia Nkwalase.  Are you also from the Mazikhali clan?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: No, I am Maqacen.

INTERPRETER: The speaker's microphone is not on.

REV XUNDU: In Fort Beaufort there were various organisations?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: Yes.

REV XUNDU: Which were those?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: They were the ANC and the PAC.

REV XUNDU: Which one did you support?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: I supported the ANC.

REV XUNDU: Where did this conflict come from which led to Luvuyo's shooting?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: In 1993 on a Sunday in February, Tamsanqa Duma's house had been set alight and this child was standing at the gate and when Zondani and them passed, going to that house, they shot at this child who was at the gate.  I was told that this child was still alive.

REV XUNDU: Who was Tamsanqa?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: Tamsanqa was a PAC supporter.

REV XUNDU: Who burnt his house?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: It was the organisation that burnt his house.

REV XUNDU: Was this child shot while standing at his yard at home?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: It was a child that had come to me, my sister's child who had come to school here from the farms, from the rural areas.

REV XUNDU: How old was this child?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: ; He was 18 at the time, he was born in 1974.  He was 18 at the time, in 1993.  He then died in hospital.
 When we went to the hospital, we were told that he was in East London and we went back home.  When we got home, Mr Nqowe and Mr Sitini came to tell us that the child did not survive, that the child had passed away in the location already.

REV XUNDU: Did you obtain a death certificate?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: Yes, we did.

REV XUNDU: Were you able to establish who had shot at him?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: Yes, we were told by an investigating officer by the name Gani that it was Mvulo.
 He came and told us to take it - to give a statement and that we were going to (indistinct) see court.  When we got there, the matter was postponed, and we were told that it was going to be heard in Fort Beaufort.
 The matter was heard in Fort Beaufort and thereafter, we were told that the people whom had shot the child, were going to be sentenced and that it was not necessary for us to come back.

REV XUNDU: Were there people charged?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: Yes, there were people charged.

REV XUNDU: Were they sentenced?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: We don't know because we were told it was not necessary for us to go back.

REV XUNDU: Did you see them again, thereafter?  Who was charged, what were their names?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: Zondani and Biko.  Soki Zondani and Vuyisile Biko.

REV XUNDU: Vuyisile Biko.  Were these people in the location after the trial?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: The person that I did not see was Vuyisile
Biko because I was told that he had disappeared.  Whom I saw was Zondani.

REV XUNDU: What can the Commission do for you?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: I ask that the Commission do for me whatever it can.

REV XUNDU: Let us hear what your hopes are.

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: The Commission can help me because this child was an only child, his mother has been left childless.

REV XUNDU: Thank you very much.  Is there nothing else you would like, is that all you have to say?  Is there nothing else you would like to say?

NOKWAKA SYLVIA NKWALASE: No.

REV XUNDU: Thank you Chairman, I would like to go to Millicent Shumikazi Swartbooi.   Did this incident happen on the same day as the one we just heard?

MILLICENT SHUMIKAZI SWARTBOOI: Yes.

REV XUNDU: These people were just shooting?

MILLICENT SHUMIKAZI SWARTBOOI: Yes, they came and they were shooting.

REV XUNDU: Did you know who these people were?