Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

MR LYSTER: Mr Mbongwe, you have given us a detailed background to the terrible massacre that took place in the Trust Feeds area in December 1988.  It is clear from what is now common knowledge about the Trust Feeds Massacre that the primary reasons for this tragic incident were, (1) to attempt to enforce the policies of the previous government of homeland consolidation, and, (2) to ensure the dominance in that area by leading figures in the  Inkatha Freedom Party.  It is interesting that this pattern took place in many other areas of this province.  Evidence was given at the Durban hearings of the Truth Commission of the attempts made by the former Deputy Minister of the Interior of the KwaZulu Government, Mr Jamile Mlotshwa, to have Clermont township incorporated into the KwaZulu homeland.  This lead to the death of many prominent citizens of Clermont, and the subsequent imprisonment for life of the Deputy Minister, Mr Jamile, who was subsequently released by the previous government after serving less than two years in prison.  On the other hand Captain Brian Mitchell is still in prison.
It is also significant to note that in both these cases the investigating officers of the South African Police were Mr Frank Dutton and his assistant, Mr Wilson Magadla.
The Trust Feeds Massacre shocked the community and shocked the country as well, because it was one of the first occasions when it was shown that senior members of the South African Police were actively involved in destabilisation of communities and murder.  
You have played an important part today in exposing and publicising this tragedy, and we thank you for coming and telling us what you have told us.  Your a lucky person, because it is clear that it was you and your family who were targeted for assassination on that night of 3rd December.  Instead of you and your family 11 people, many of them women and children, were shot down in cold blood whilst praying at a funeral vigil.  
It is clear from what you have told us that you have suffered financially, and we shall be making  recommendations to the Government as to how you, and other
people like you, should be assisted.  So we thank you once again for coming in and telling us your story, and we wish you well.  Thank you very much.  Sorry, one question from Dr Mgojo.

KHOZA MGOJO: I think your name is Mfanufikile.  I just want to ask you about the torture.  You have a brother, Vanga, who has passed away.

WITNESS:    He was also tortured severely.  He was also part of the leaders of the community.

KHOZA MGOJO: Where did he die?

WITNESS:   I pointed out that my family split.  That's one of the ways in which we were harassed, because when we grew up we grew up with our own home, with our own place.  We were not used to being tenants.  When my brother came out of prison, because he was also arrested, he went to rent a place in Eden.  He went to Hammarsdale, and then from Hammarsdale he ended staying at Ehlanzeni.  That is a very terrible situation, because my brother died it Ehlanzeni, though he didn't die violently, he died from lung cancer.  He was also harassed and tortured because he ended up not having a job, not being able to work.  He ended up dying far from us in Ehlanzeni, No 9.

KHOZA MGOJO: He had a family also?

WITNESS:   Yes, he had a wife, as well as one child from his wife.  But he also does have other children outside his marriage.  These are the children that I think have been even more traumatised, because even when he was working he had a way of earning his living, but now we are faced with a problem because he had already parted with their mothers. Do you count these children?   ---   Yes, they are

KHOZA MGOJO: part of the family, because they need to be educated, and the mother of the other kids is not working and the mother of the other is working.  But he is grown up now because he has passed standard 10.  He matriculated in 1992.  We buried him in Trust Feeds.

KHOZA MGOJO: Were you allowed?

WITNESS:   No, we were not allowed to bury him in Trust Feeds, but I felt there was no need for me to go and request permission from Nxumalo and Gabela to bury my brother.  I went there to bury my brother.

KHOZA MGOJO: Didn't they harass you?

WITNESS:   They had no way of harassing me because I realised that I couldn't bury my brother where we had no roots, we had no family.  Everybody else was buried in Trust Feeds.

KHOZA MGOJO: Thank you very much.  I didn't want your brother's children to be left out.

WITNESS:   There is another request that I would like to put to the Commission.  I don't know whether I can go on.  It's a short request.  I request this Commission to try and see as to what happened to my civil claims.  Secondly, I want to know that where Trust Feed - what can the Commission do as far as the 11 people who died in Trust Feeds are concerned?  Maybe we can have a national monument that can be built for the people who died there, especially because that case of Trust Feeds was the very first case where it was proven that police are directly involved in harassing people, as well as harassing the community in KwaZulu-Natal.

KHOZA MGOJO: Thank you.

MR LYSTER: (Inaudible) ... have said, and we thank you again very much for coming in to talk to us today.

MR LYSTER: (Inaudible) ... come to us from Imbali township, but you, like the previous witness, were originally from the Trust Feeds area.  Before you tell us your story please would you stand up and take the oath.

DUMISANI NYOKA: (Sworn, States)

MR LYSTER: I am going to ask my colleague, Mr Dlamini, to assist you with your evidence.

MR DLAMINI: Good morning, Dumisani.  We would like to thank you to come before us and explain before the community, not only the Pietermaritzburg community, but the whole South Africa, to the TV and the radios, about the events that took place in the Trust Feeds.  At the present moment you are residing at Imbali.  The home in which you are staying in Imbali, to whom does it belong?

WITNESS:   It is my brother's house.

MR DLAMINI: After you were dispersed at Imbali and then he got a house there?

WITNESS:   Yes, it's true.

MR DLAMINI: While we are still there, your other family, do you still have the parents?

WITNESS:   No, they are no longer there.

MR DLAMINI: Did they die because of sickness or because of other things?

WITNESS:   They died because of sickness.

MR DLAMINI: What about your brothers and sisters, how many are they?

WITNESS:   I have got three brothers and one sister.

MR DLAMINI: During the course of the harassment were they safe?

WITNESS:   Yes, they were not staying at Trust Feeds.

MR DLAMINI: Were you the only one who was staying at Trust Feeds?  Are you married?

WITNESS:   I was married before.

MR DLAMINI: And then what happened to your wife?

WITNESS:   We divorced. Were there children?   ---   Yes, there were children.

MR DLAMINI: How many were they?

WITNESS:   Just one.

MR DLAMINI: Where is your child?

WITNESS:   He is at Westgate with my younger brothers.

MR DLAMINI: Are you staying with your younger brothers?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR DLAMINI: How old is he?

WITNESS:   He is 22.

MR DLAMINI: 22?

WITNESS:   Yes, 22.

MR DLAMINI: Were you born in March 1942?  You have got 54 years?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR DLAMINI: What is your child doing?  He is studying or working?

WITNESS:   No, he is not working.  He was just trying to find some work.

MR DLAMINI: Can you speak up loud a bit?

WITNESS:   He is not working.  He is trying to find some ways to get some scholarship.

MR DLAMINI: Up to what standard did he study?

WITNESS:   He passed matric.

MR DLAMINI: If he got a scholarship or bursary what would he like to study?

WITNESS:   It will depend as to whether he will go to a technikon or university.  Either technikon or university.