Human Rights Violation Hearings — Newcastle — 1996-09-10

WITNESS:   I would like to start by saying I am a member of ANC.  I was a member of executive committee for ANC Youth League.  I was an organiser.  What happened is that after I left - I had received some threats from Inkatha that they will kill me.  I knew why they wanted to kill me.  That was because Inkatha and ANC never saw one eye.  Police, ZP, were always for Inkatha, they didn't like ANC.  In 1993 we were harassed all of us ANC members and supporters at Madadeni.  We were harassed.  This went on until in 1993 one day, it was late at night, I think it was about half past eight - comrades at that time, ANC comrades, never used to sleep home because they were scared, so they used to run away.  Up until today there are a lot of cases which were opened and they were never investigated.  One day I went and visited a friend opposite the street opposite mine in section 5.  I am staying from section 2.  As I was approaching section 5 I saw a group of people who were coming, and I just didn't think that those people were Inkatha supporters or Inkatha members so I kept on walking.  When I reached to this group of people, I think it was just a distance of a metre, I stopped and then they also stopped.  I didn't pass them.  When we were facing each other one person said, "Here's Mandela's dog."  I didn't even want to take an interest.  One person chopped me at the head.  At that time I saw a person, in fact three people who were talking to someone in a police car.  It was an NP Cressida and a blue Golf.  Those cars belonged to ZPs.  This blue Golf was parked there, and I saw - I realised that those policemen who were driving that Golf were the very same police who warned me that they were going to kill me, so I realised that I was going to die.  I went to one house nearby.  As I was running that Golf turned and then they started shooting at me.  One bullet went through my hand and one through my back.  And then they thought the gates of that house were locked.  They left and they were laughing.  At that time the comrades heard and then they started following them.  Police as well followed Inkatha supporters and left them somewhere where Inkatha used to go, or to take someone who wasn't supporting them to that area.  That's where they used to kill people who were not supporting them.  In that house I asked one lady who was renting there, I asked her to go and tell my parents that I have got hurt.  So they came, they brought a car, they took me to hospital.  When we were going to hospital there was a blue Conquest which used to be driven by Inkatha people, and there were also two cars, and the driver tried to get away and we went up until to the hospital.  One car that was following us left us there.  And then in hospital they stitched me, they gave me stitches.  What I told the people in the hospital is that I don't want to be admitted and sleep over there because it wasn't safe in that hospital.  Even the security guards were scared of Inkatha, so Inkatha used to come to that hospital.  So I left, I refused to be admitted.  And Comrade Mbele came and Comrade Mboyisa.  They took me.  They didn't take me home, because at home at that time police were around the house, so things were really bad.  I went to 16 section, where I had a girlfriend whom I had a child with.  The ZPs used to arrest people who were not Inkatha people and tell them that they were accusing them of things that they didn't know.  They came, they were driving a Golf.  They said they were looking for me because I was involved in a certain offence.  So the nurses at hospital told them that I wasn't there.  In 1994 Inkatha came to my house.  They attacked my house, they broke windows, and the ZPs were there.  I even know the KwaZulu Police who shot me, because one of them told me that he's Bravusi, and he's from Durban to kill me.  Now they aren't driving that Golf, they are driving other cars, but they are still around.  That Golf disappeared.  Even that Cressida, that white Cressida, disappeared.  We don't know where they took those cars to.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Do you know the Golf registration number?

WITNESS:   It was NN 15997.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Of these 30 people who attacked you did you see people that you can identify?

WITNESS:   Some of them I can, like one guy who's my neighbour.  His name is Zinhle.  He's now in prison.  Zintho, that's his name, Zintho Jiyane.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: You said he is in prison.

WITNESS:   Yes, he is in prison.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Which one?

WITNESS:   I am not sure whether here or in Waddervaar.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Why was he arrested?

WITNESS:   He was arrested because they were harassing ordinary people.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: In which court was he sent to prison?

WITNESS:   I am not quite sure whether it's Madadeni Court or Newcastle.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Besides Zintho is there any other person that you can identify?

WITNESS:   No.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Were there people who were arrested for whatever happened to you?

WITNESS:   No, because the following day one comrade, Dudu Sibiya, went to police station to open a case, but nothing happened because I was scared, I never wanted to go to the police station, because I knew the police were looking for me and I didn't know why except that they wanted to kill me.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: When you were discharged, or when you ran away from Madadeni Hospital, did you go to another hospital or to another doctor?

WITNESS:   I went and saw Dr Zazi, who is in section 1.  He referred me to other doctors in town because my hand couldn't work.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: How is your hand now?  Is it working?

WITNESS:   Yes, a little bit.  It's not as it used to be.  Sometimes I have cramps.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Are there any other pains that you feel in your body?

WITNESS:   It's only where I got hurt and nowhere else.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: You mean your shoulder?

WITNESS:   Yes, from my shoulder and the rest of my arm.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: And then emotionally how do you feel?  Do you have nightmares or sleep problems?

WITNESS:   I have hatred for police.  After this incident I got worse.  I haven't forgiven anyone.  Even today when I look at the police, or even them when they look at me, I can tell they still hate me.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: If you say you still have this hatred, do you see these policemen who did this to you?

WITNESS:   Yes, I do sometimes.  I do meet them on the street.  And sometimes they just pass very slow and then come back past me again.  They are still police.  They are here at Madadeni Police Station.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Do you know their names or their surnames?

WITNESS:   Yes.  One is Nhlanhla, and then this other one is Bravusi.  I don't know his surname.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: But if one can take you to Madadeni Police Station can you identify them?

WITNESS:   Yes, I can because I know them very well. If you are saying you haven't forgiven and you still feel this hatred, is there anything that a person can do to make you better?   ---   What they did was terrible bad.  I think the only thing that will make me relief is that if I can see them in prison, or if they can come here before the Commission and tell why they did what they did, and who sent them to do what they did.  I want them as people who are working for the community, so that people can trust them tomorrow they must come before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: You also said that in Madadeni Hospital comrades were not safe.  Are there any other comrades that you know that were hurt after they were admitted in hospital?

WITNESS:  Yes.  One comrade from 11 section was admitted there and he was almost killed, and after that comrades were scared of sleeping in that hospital or being admitted in that hospital.  No, I am not working.

BONGINKOSI DLAMINI: Why aren't you working?

WITNESS:   I couldn't get that one.