Human Rights Violation Hearings — Umtata — 1996-06-18

MR SANDI: Can I take you back again and disturb you. Do you say the car was bumped on the left, the side which is the passenger's seat? I would like to know did you suspect that probably there is a foul - that you are suspecting, did you take photo's?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: No, we didn't. We couldn't be suspicious because it was said it was the bus, naturally we thought there were people on the bus and we didn't think anything about the foul that could have happened. Then we proceeded with the funeral. When we were continuing with the funeral there were just Boers all over the place, there were colleagues who were afraid - his colleagues were afraid to come and everybody disappeared, everybody who was on the programme didn't come. Nobody turned up, Moniwa was the MC and then I felt very bad because that person apparently we realised later on that he was a Security Officer because he was the one who took over as the Master of Ceremonies because the people didn't turn up because they were afraid of the Security Officers. After the funeral you could hear all the rumours, there were some of the people who said "that whore, that whore who is his wife has killed him", the others said "I bewitched my husband" and then I said I will build a wall around myself. I didn't want anybody and my personality changed at the time, I was a very humble person but from the day when the people were just saying bad things about me, made me to realise that you couldn't trust anybody. Some of the people would come to me as friends but I would be knowing what the people have said about me in my absence at my back. Most of the people became back-biters and I had no friends at the time, but this I could take it as something which is petty, I cannot just delve much on it. In 1992, I was following this Goniwe case, Luphondwana and the Goniwe's were the people who were very close to each other and I believe that when he was going to Cradock I suspect he was going to them.

MR SANDI: Can I just disturb you, I don't want to take you off from what you were saying now. Was there any inquest about your husband's death?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: Yes.

MR SANDI: What were the results?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: Yes, thank you for reminding me about that. I had a lawyer, a Mr Makiwane, he phoned me the other day to say that he would like me to go to the Court because there is going to be an inquest. I didn't want to go there because I was afraid. After what I saw at the mortuary, I am a person who is very sensitive but you can't understand because I am able to keep up a face I always run away with myself because I have this defence mechanism to avoid issues which may disturb me. So this day, my father and my brother-in-law they went. It was said no other person could be blamed for the accident except my husband.

MR SANDI: Can you state whether you had any information from the 8th April 1984. 1985 up to now did you hear anything maybe that makes you suspect that there might be foul play? Could you please try to remember what can you think that can make you believe this was not an accident?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: In 1992 when I was just following the Goniwe case, on the 20th May 1992, there was an article on paper which was published. It was said there was confirmation by the Hammer Unit. Somebody phoned the Daily Despatch and it was said that there was a group of the Hammer Unit which was in the Eastern Cape which started in 1993 which was trained by the Selous Scouts. It was said they were trained in the Wild Coast here in the Transkei. This anonymous caller said they were behind the assassinations. They said they operated in Umtata in 1984. I was very shocked to learn about this. .... (inaudible) Security Director, Mr Peter Bezuidenhout said " ...(indistinct)", then I was surprised to learn and I was shocked because they talked about somebody who died mysteriously in Umtata and I could not think of anybody else but my husband, because I had a suspicion that this husband was taken from the bed because it is said in the paper "verified snatch" and then I could remember that my husband just disappeared from the bed and then I went home. I wrote this article to them and I asked them about their opinion concerning this what we are reading. We tried to interpret every detail and then they asked me "why do you say so" and then I said, "these are my suspicions". My father said I must call my brother who is just after me. He is a lawyer and then I explained my suspicions to him. My father asked me, "what are we going to do" and then he said we must got to Court to find out about the inquest report. I bought the inquest record and fortunately we got it and then I took a copy back home. We started this in detail.

MR SANDI: Do you have that copy of the inquest report? Can you give this to the Commission so that when the Commission tries to investigate they have some details from the report?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: The copy that I've got here is not quite clear, but I've got it. When I come out I think we can make a clearer copy.

MR SANDI: Do you have anything maybe, the cuttings, the newspaper cuttings or documents that can assist us?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: Yes, I have. I've got these news articles that I am talking about, about the 20th - Daily Despatch of May 1992, again on the Sunday Times the same week somebody was talking about this Hammer Unit and this one also confessed to say they were in the Eastern Cape, they were killing people and they were assaulting people and they would say they would go to the extent of just hitting everybody on the road and even assault people in cars and then the other thing that made me suspicious about this Selous Scouts is that my husband hated the Selous Scouts. If you can remember the legal system would go to the Courts and the Magistrates were those Rhodesians. He would go mad and would like to know what do you want here because you are killing people in Rhodesia and you come here, and he would just come and have outbursts. Even if he meets them at the hotel, wherever he meets them, he would just lose his temper and would just insult or just shout at them. I was suspicious then because it was said they were the people who were training these Hammer Scouts and people who were in the Hammer Unit. So because he had this conflict with them because he used to always pester them, wanting to know what do they want here in South Africa, and then I suspected that they might have been involved.

MR SANDI: Are there anythings that you can say they are supporting your suspicions? Do you have anything that makes your family to be suspicious?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: Yes, there are so many things. When I read this inquest record, I could see that the statements given by the witnesses were contradictory to one another. The position of the car at the time, the scene of the accident, injuries, everything was just contradictory, even the post-mortem report. I didn't want to be hurt and I knew in what condition I found him when I went to the mortuary, but I said I must read the post mortem report. It was said there was nothing abnormal detected, but there was such glaring injuries on the head, I was shocked.

MR SANDI: Can you believe this about this content which is contained by the post mortem report and the Court inquest because the investigation you need will be trying to get as much information as possible and we would look into these details and compare them? Do you have anything there at home that make you to be suspicious of what might lead you to believe that your husband was murdered?

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: The people who gave statements made me suspicious.

MR SANDI: I think some of the things can be handed over to the Investigation Unit.

NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: Yes, I agree with you, you should please do so.