Human Rights Violation Hearings — Uitenhage — 1996-08-26

CHAIRPERSON: Could you please rise so that you can take an oath.

NOTEMBILE FRANCIS NQINHI: (Sworn duly states).

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome Mrs Notembile Nqinqi she is going to be lead by Mr Denzil Potgieter.

MR POTGIETER: Thank you Mr Chairperson.
 Good afternoon Mrs Nqinqi. I add my words of welcome to those of the Chairperson and re-emphasise that the fact that your case is the last one for the day, doesn't make it less important than any of the other ones. It is just as important as any of the other cases that we have heard here today.
 You will tell us about your son Edgar Monwabisi Nqinqi who was killed by necklacing during September 1985. Would you like to tell us what you know, or what happened to Monwabisi?

MRS NQINQI: It was early on a Saturday at 6.30am and his brother Kenneth woke us up and said it would seem that they had killed, they had burnt Monwabisi.
 We woke up and my husband asked me to remain behind and they went there to the scene and they saw his body and identified him. They waited for the policemen who took his body away and came back. 
 It was quite for some time with us not hearing anything and for about 10 months, it was quite, that was in 1986. At night we saw some light showing into our yard and we woke up. There was a knock at the door and there were two white policemen. They were detectives. We let them into the house. They asked for Thola or Ulani or Xtholile, then we said "No, we don't have any of those except Xthola". Then they asked where was he, then we said "He is sleeping", so they asked him to come and he came, then they said, "No, we don't want one of this age", because he was only 13, they said we want an older one, because in connection with the case of Monwabisi Nqiqhi who was set alight in Nginza. 
 My husband then said, "That is my son, that is my last born, I had sent him to the location to his Uncle on a Friday". Then they said, "No, we cannot take this one, he is under age". So they left and time went on. 
 After six months, we again heard another knock and it was very late at night and we opened the door and that was still in 1986 and it was Sgt. Pelser with Zibuko. They asked for Kenny, who was my eldest son, then I said he was "voting".
 They were going to send us a summons because we were going to court. We did receive the summons that they wanted my son and my husband to appear in court and they said there was a boy that had been arrested in connection with the incident of Monwabisi and he was under arrest.
 My husband and my son went to court and they saw this boy and they knew him. His name was Jacob Saku living in Bangeli. That was in the Regional Court and the case lasted three days, there was also a lawyer by the name of Pillay who was standing for the other boy and my son was saying "No, it was not this boy" and they said the sock that he had one, he knew it because it belonged to his brother and so the lawyer was trying to deny that this was my son and yet my son was saying, "No, I know this is my brother", so this boy was sentenced to 17 years, that is as far as I can go.

MR POTGIETER: Thank you. I would just like to ask you one or two questions to make clear to us what happened. Your son Monwabisi was working at Volkswagen Factory is that correct?

MRS NQIQHI: Yes. That is where he was working.

MR POTGIETER: Has he got any children?

MRS NQIQHI: He has one boy. My son who got injured.

MR POTGIETER: Yes, I am talking about the one who is deceased, about Monwabisi. Has he got one son?

MRS NQIQHI: He has got no child.

MR POTGIETER: He has got no children?

MRS NQIQHI: No, he has got no children.

MR POTGIETER: What was his age when he was killed?

MRS NQIQHI: He was 25 years. He was born in 1960.

MR POTGIETER: Thank you. Did he belong to any organisations, any political organisations or civic organisations?

MRS NQIQHI: No. At that time he was in jail for having stabbed Tando Sisant in the neck. He was sentenced to six months' he was at St. Alberts and I used to go there and tell him about the situation where the people were being murdered by necklace.
 When he was released from jail, it was in July, he was out of jail for one month and then this incident occurred. He was sentenced in January and then went out of jail in August. I used to go there to the jail and tell him about the burning that was happening to people here in Nobuhle.

MR POTGIETER: Is there any explanation, do you know of any reason why this happened to him, why he was killed?

MRS NQIQHI: No. We didn't know anything because my husband was keen to know the reason. He even went to one man who was at the head of a political organisation by the name of Mr Gonomo and he asked what could have caused them to necklace my son, then he said, "I wouldn't know", because my husband was telling him that my son had just come from jail and then there he was being burnt. He had been away, he had just come from jail, it was just only a month that he had come out of jail.

MR POTGIETER: Where was it where he got killed, where in Uitenhage?

MRS NQIQHI: In Nobuhle, the township at Hinsa Street, before Mrs Njokwa's house here in Uitenhage.

MR POTGIETER: This person that was convicted and sentenced to prison for the killing, Jacob Saku, does he belong to any organisation or did he belong to any organisation?

MRS NQIQHI: I really don't know this boy, because I wasn't there in court, but when I was in Khayalitsha, because they had relocated from here to Khayalitsha, one day his mother called me, unknown as she was to me and she said to me she was asking for forgiveness for what she said to me. I then asked her what? and then she said "It is my son who murdered your son", then I didn't say anything. I kept quiet and then I asked "Is that all that you wanted to say?" and then she said "Yes".
 I could see that there was, later on I discovered that there was a relationship between the two of us. I didn't say anything, I kept quiet. I said "No, I know you from Langa before we were re-located".

MR POTGIETER: Did she give any explanation for what happened?

MRS NQIQHI: No. She did not explain anything to me because she also got a shock of her life when she got to know that it was my son. She said that she got an explanation that he was my son and then I said, "No, I don't know your son" and then she tried to explain to me, then I said "No, I don't know your son, but I recognise you as the mother, because we used to work together".

MR POTGIETER: The Regional Court, where the case was held were Jacob Saku was sentenced, was that here in Uitenhage or was it in Port Elizabeth?

MRS NQIQHI: It was here in Uitenhage.

MR POTGIETER: Is there anything in particular that you want to draw our attention to, that you want us to as a Commission to respond to?

MRS NQIQHI: Yes, there is. I would like to say that what bothers me most is that my husband is not enjoying good health ever since that time. This really bothered him and he died in August 1989 and I was left with my grandchild who is still attending school. We are the only two left. If perhaps you could help me to educate my grandchild because I live on pension.

MR POTGIETER: Jacob Saku. Does he also live in Khayalitsha, you said?