Human Rights Violation Hearings — Empangeni — 1996-11-06

KHOZA MGOJO: 2B/0 ... in and she said, "There is a guy who has been killed at the bus stop.  That guy is wearing red shoes, a maroon shirt and jeans", and I said, "That's my child.  I heard him saying - he made his sister to give him those clothes", and I realised that my child is now dead.  And somewhere I could hear these killers singing and my mother (?) said to me, "Mrs Shandu, I can see that now you can't do anything and you are finished", and she went to the wardrobe.  She opened the drawer.  She took the purses.  I was wearing a gown at that time and it was cold.  It was in winter time and she opened my breast and she put the purses.  At that time I was confused and something was telling me I must just pray and praise and I kept on hearing my voice in her ears saying I must pray, I must sing, I must praise the Lord.  I kept on doing that and thing woman realised that I was confused.  She left and she came back and she said to me, "Mrs Shandu, you must leave.  Go and sleep in the forest, because if you hear these songs it means something terrible is going to happen to someone", and then I said to her, "I can understand.  I have to go to Mrs Shandu's house and sleep there, because that's where I first came when I first came to this area".  We took our blankets.  We left for Mrs Shandu's house and when we arrived there we sat down and when we were chatting I couldn't say anything, because I knew that the guy that I have seen lying down in the street at the bus stop was my son and he was dead, and I realised he was ... (inaudible) ... and I sent my children and Mrs Shandu's children to go and tell Mrs Shandu that my child has been killed.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Mrs Shandu is the one who came and fetched you?

WITNESS:   Yes.  I stayed there.  Her name is Nomajaju Shandu.  We stayed in Mrs Shandu's house and her daughter, the one who said she was going to accompany my children to go and check at the bus stop, left and then she came back after a while.  I was sitting next to the door and she said there were people coming.  At that time I got scared.  I was panicking.  I lost strength.  I couldn't even close the door and I said, "Please close the door".  At that time I was stiff, because I was terrified.  No one stood up and closed the door.  Something came to my mind and at that time I could feel as if someone was lifting me up and at that time I was thinking to turn off the light, because there was a candle light and I could feel like someone was lifting me up and I went to the candle and I turned it off - blew it off.  At that time in my heart I thought of hiding myself and I heard these people screaming and they said - they were asking that the Shandu family from this house must sit down and the Shandu family who just came here for rescue must stand up, and then at that time my children thought of coming to this side where I was sitting and the daughter from Shandu family said, "I don't want anyone here", and I heard my daughter-in-law - my sister's daughter-in-law, was crying, and I took her.  I put her under my arm, because I could hear crying.  I put her under my arm and I told her, "Quiet, don't cry".  And then they said, "All the Shandu family members from up, they must stand up", and then my daughter, Ntombifuthi said to them, "We are also Shandu" and one boy who said to grab them, grabbed my children by the neck and he was pushing each of them to the door and he said, "You aren't Shandu from this house".  And then my grandchild laugh and they threw her away and they said, "We don't kill stupids", and then Zipporah said, "Mbatheni, my sister, please help me take care of my child", and this boy who was busy grabbing them said, "Take your child.  We came here to finish you.  No one will remain behind", and then she took her daughter with her.  And then they ... (inaudible) ... her up and she also took her child with her and they also took Bethwell's child and I could hear the child crying outside.  Zipporah said, "Would you please give us a chance, people?" and I said, "We just need to know one thing.  Why are you going to kill us, because we just came to this area and we don't even know anyone?  Even if you had your meetings you used to tell us and we used to go to your meetings", and this other guy who was pushing them said, "No, this one is lying to us.  All of you, you must go to your house", and then they took them to my house.  When they arrived there they said they must move back and hold the wardrobes and they were behind them.  The boy who didn't die there was the one who opened the wardrobe and went inside the wardrobe or hid himself in the wardrobe and they chopped him by a panga.  I could hear their voices.  They were not firing twice, they were firing only once and I could count them, 1, 2, 3, until they were finished.  After they finished only one was safe.  That's when they started pouring petrol on those bodies and then they lit all the corpses and when the fire caught the wardrobe my other grandchild, the one who was inside the wardrobe, got away.  Linda, Thulile were on fire.  They couldn't get away.  They were crying.  They were not shot, but they were burnt.  On the 20th, in other words, Bethwell, Mfiki, Linda, Zipporah, Primrose and Thulile, those are the only people who died on the 20th, and Masiki as well.  Mfiki was the last one to die, because after they've burnt the corpses and I was - from where I was hiding myself I could hear Mfiki.  I heard one of the attackers saying, "I want him dead.  Don't let him loose", and I heard him crying and then they shot him and they burnt him outside the house.  They put a big plank and they burnt him.

KHOZA MGOJO:  What about you and these other two sons?

WITNESS:   They were not at home, because we just came to that place.  They couldn't see me because the Lord has put a heavy blanket for any human being to see me.  They asked as to where I was, but they said I wasn't there, while I was there.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Now, tell us more about Nomajaju, the one who took you from your area to Umgababa.

WITNESS:   She is no longer there, because after my children died there was violence.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Do you know the names of these people, because we do have names here?  We will just make a copy, because these names are a lot.  We are just going to make a copy.  We have never heard of something terrible like this, killing small kids and all family members like that.  What's really sad is that we've discovered that the media doesn't tell us more about these things and we understand the pain that you are going through and one saddest thing is that it still is like this, they don't come out of the media.  Now, we want people to know and realise how bad it was, the pain they've put people through and media is not going to take this out.  People aren't going to see about this or read about this or hear about it.  Your story is one of the most saddest stories that someone would lose members of the family - all your family - at a time.

WITNESS:   Now, Mrs Shandu's children are the ones who told these people who attacked us to come and kill us because we were Inkatha members.  I am very, very sad.  I am dead.

KHOZA MGOJO:  What's troubling you?

WITNESS:   What's troubling me is the voices of my children.  I can still hear them crying.  I hear their voices in my ears all the time, and the pain of suffering, because my children were the ones who were looking after me.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Are you working?

WITNESS:   No, I'm not working because I'm very sickly and there's no one who can hire me like this.

KHOZA MGOJO:  What about Jabulani?   Who is treating Jabulani?

WITNESS:   He's not receiving any treatment.  Gertrude is receiving treatment from Wentworth Hospital.

KHOZA MGOJO:  Is she paying?