Human Rights Violation Hearings — Newcastle — 1996-09-11

MR LAX: Mr Nkosi, just take your time.  It's not an easy story, I understand that.  (Pause)  We understand how painful it is to lose a child, we really do.  (Pause)

WITNESS:  The police said I should get to the police station to submit a statement to them.  It was on a Sunday, and at about 12 in the afternoon.  There's another one, a detective who came, and there were women from the ANC, and they asked him as to what he wanted at that place and he said he was the one who was responsible.  Then I said we should give him the statement because he said he was the detective, and the women were swearing at him and insulting him, and telling him that he was the one, he is actually the perpetrator.  And he took the statement of the damage, and they said I should also come to the police station to submit a statement with regard to my son's death.  I went on that very Sunday to the police station, Osizweni Police Station, and I introduced myself.  They kept on arguing between each other as to who should take my statement.  Then they said I should the following morning to submit a statement.  And they took me in a police van, and along the way in the police van I said, "There's the IFP," and they were from the rally.  They were marching towards the stadium, as well as the shops and the police station.  They were from the stadium.  As we were driving they were coming towards us, and I told the police that they were going to hurt us because they were members of the Inkatha.  I tried to hide myself, and we went past the Inkatha group.  Just as we were about to get to Enhloweni, just next to my place - this quite disturbed me - then they started loading their guns, and I asked myself as to why they did not load their guns when were going past the Inkatha group.  And they dropped me off at my place and they went away.  And they told me to come back the following morning to submit a statement.  And the following morning they were still continuing with the argument of the previous day.  Then ultimately one detective took the case, and he said I should explain as to what had happened.  I related the incident as it took place, and he wrote down the information, and he told me to identify the people, to disclose their identity as to who did what, and where did they go thereafter.  And he said I should not tell him where they were coming from, I should only tell him about when they were at my gate.  But I told him that that information was crucial to this case, because he had to know where they came from in order to understand who they were.  He said to me I should only write what they did when they got to my place, and I ultimately submitted to that.  And he said I should get some witnesses, and he said I should report Doreen, as well as Ndlovu youth, and that they should disclose the identities of the rest.  He said he could not do that, it was not legal for him to arrest people who had not done anything even if they had knowledge of an offence that was committed.  And there was a certain meeting, they called it a Peace Accord, and there were certain people who were staying there, and this person's father said he did not want to get involved in that matter.  And Icecream(?) came to me and denied that he did not want the case to continue.  These people came from Nxumalo's place, that is the Inkatha youth.  It was on a Tuesday, and they were moving and prancing up and down the street, and we decided to call the police.  We phoned the police and they promised us that they were coming.  And the ANC league members said they wanted to keep a vigil on my house, they wanted to surround my house and protect me, because the police were not protecting us, they were protecting the Nxumalo family where the Inkatha youth members were.  And some of the neighbours also kept an eye on my house, and the police used to come and search, and they would take whatever weapons, even if it was a knobkerrie.  We decided that we should bury my son at Top Rank, but the ANC Youth League said we should bury my son where I was a resident.  We went to see Chairman Buthelezi together with the women of the ANC.  They are the ones who encouraged me and told me that I should bury my son at Osizweni.  We went to bury, and the funeral went on quite well.  The members of COSATU, as well as ANC members, came to me during my moment of grief, and the police wanted to harass them.  The funeral went on quite well, and we came back.  After about three days the police came.  It was white policemen, and the detectives were busy running up and down the street next to my place, and at some stage they came into my house and they said they were looking for guns.  And my wife speaks Afrikaans perfectly well, and she spoke in Afrikaans to the white policemen, and she told the policemen that I do not have any guns, because if I had guns we would have launched a counter attack on our attackers.  And we told them that they knew that we did not have any guns.  My son would not have died if we had guns.  And I was the one who was being accused of bringing ANC members into the area.

MR LAX: Has there been any case surrounding the death of your son, or an inquest that you might know of?  Have you been called to give evidence?

WITNESS:   In the Peace Accord they were trying to make a follow-up as to whether there was any case, and nobody was coming forward with any information.  When I went to the detective who was responsible he would always say I should bring my son, the surviving one.  And I used to tell him that he had absolutely nothing to do with the death of my son, but they said to me probably I had a hand in the killing of my son.  I told them that it had absolutely nothing to do with that.  My son was killed because of politics, and I would not bring my surviving son to come and say something because they would possibly kill him as well.  Then he said the case would not continue if I did not want to bring my son.  He said he wanted testimony from my son and not from anybody else.  And I told him about the three people that I have already mentioned, that he should fetch them because they knew more about the incident.

MR LAX: This policeman, is this the Mr Mapalala that you've spoken about in your statement?

WITNESS:   He is the one who was handling the case.

MR LAX: From which police station?  Osizweni?

WITNESS:   Osizweni Police Station.

MR LAX: (Inaudible)

WITNESS:   Yes, he was at that time, but I haven't seen him for quite some time.

MR LAX: You've told us about this granny who was connected to the IFP, and who had this connection with the youths from Nxumalo's place.  What is her name, this granny that you spoke of?

WITNESS:   It's his son who was a member, and he was staying at Nxumalo's place, but I do not remember this granny's surname, as well as her son's name, but - I have forgotten the granny's surname, but their clan name is Msibi or Masibi.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... mentioned a Ma Shabalala who was escorting ... (intervention)

WITNESS:   Ma Shabalala is Doreen, who was staying at that house and who went to fetch the youths.  The name is Doreen, and her clan name is Ma Shabalala.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... Doreen you've been speaking about so far, the same person?

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR LAX: Now, do you - or were you able to recognise any of the people that attacked your house on any of the two occasions you've spoken about?

WITNESS:   It was at night and I couldn't identify them.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... Doreen and this person you've just spoken about, an Ndlovu youth you've said, who is this Ndlovu youth?  How does he fit into the picture?

WITNESS:   Ndlovu was also staying at Nxumalo's place.  He was a youth who was staying at Umlazi.  This granny features into the whole thing, because they were coming from her place and they went to fetch Doreen, then they went to Nxumalo's place and they came back to attack my home.