Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1998-10-14

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: Yes.  The situation prevailing at the time was a cause of a political situation because these two organisations were against each other and everything that was taking place there was because of a political situation, because people wanted to overthrown Gozo's government.

MS COLLETT: Do have anything that you wish to say to the victims of the person that you killed and the persons that you injured?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: Yes, there is something.  I'm asking for forgiveness for what I did.  I did not feel good after that and life was not the same for me because in my entire life I never thought I could do such a thing ...[intervention]

CHAIRPERSON: What did you carry a gun for then?  Why did you carry a gun if you thought couldn't do it?  Why, did you think you're going to walk around like a cowboy, that's all?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: It was for protecting myself.

ADV SANDI: Yes, but that night you went to that house you were not protecting yourself, what you were doing you were just shooting.  You went on a shooting spree.  You say you pulled the trigger for about four times.  You could never have been protecting yourself, were you?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: The situation that day, or I was emotional at the time because I was shocked at the rejection.  I did not expect for such things to happen when I got to Mr Gangqa's house but unfortunately this mistake transpired.

ADV SANDI: Who is Nokupumla Gangqa?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: That is Mr Champion Gangqa's daughter-in-law.

ADV SANDI: You shot her also?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: According to the report I got from the police, yes, even though I did not see her in that house.

ADV SANDI: If you pulled the trigger four times in a house in which there were people, what did you think was going to happen?  Did you think that those bullets were going to hit someone in the house?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: Yes, that could happen.

ADV SANDI: How could that have been politically motivated, to shoot Nokupumla Gangqa?  Do you say that was also a politically motivated act?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: I can't say certainly that she was there because when I got there it is Mrs Gangqa who answered the door.  Nokupumla didn't even stay there, she stayed on her own.  But according to the police report I shot Nokupumla.  I did not dispute that because I never saw her.  It was dark in the house so I can't be sure.

ADV SANDI: Did you say you heard the voice of Champion Gangqa speaking from the background?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: This house had two rooms.  When this happened he was in the bedroom.  He said: "What are you doing my child, this terrible thing you're doing, what are you doing"?  I don't know when he emanated from the bedroom because it was dark.  We were in the front room, he came from the bedroom and when he spoke he spoke from the bedroom.

ADV SANDI: Okay.  You shot these people in that house and then what happened?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: After that I left, I went back to where I came from.

ADV SANDI: Where were you coming from, Kiep Kiep?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Those people who were making a noise coming in your direction, what happened?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: I just heard the noise, they never came to me.  There were a whole lot of people, chaos in the streets of Diketigana(?) that night.

ADV SANDI: What chaos was this?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: I don't know what was going on but something was going on.  I could hear shots.  People were trying to find protection from the school buildings.  There was something going on.  I don't know what was going on.

ADV SANDI: What happened to the gentleman who was in your company, Mr Makalela?  What did you say was his name, Zwelidinga Makalela?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: We left together.

ADV SANDI: Did he ask you what was happening in that house?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: He heard everything that was going on so he did not ask anything.  What he asked was whether I shot at Mrs Gangqa.  I said: "Yes, it seems as if I have shot her".

ADV SANDI: Did he ask you why you had shot her?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: No.

ADV SANDI: Why not, you had not gone there to shoot anyone.

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: I don't know what was going on in his mind.  I don't know why he didn't ask.

ADV SANDI: Maybe he knew that you had gone there to shoot, that is why he was not asking you for what reason had you opened fire there.

CHAIRPERSON: In any case you say you can't say why he never asked?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: That's a difficult question, Sir because it was his own mind, his own process of thought but we did not have an agreement that we were going there to shoot.

ADV SANDI: Thank you.

ADV DE JAGER: Mr Mahayiya, as I understand the position you're house was burnt down, your cattle were, or your goats were killed or taken away and in reaction to that you decided to go to Mr Champion, is that correct?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: I went to Mr Champion's house because I knew that he would help me.  He knew what was going on in my home, he know what was going on also in the community.  He also knew about my stock, my livestock.

ADV DE JAGER: Okay, you went to Champion.  He was a friend of yours, you'd grown up together, he's been your guardian and you wanted advice from him, is that correct?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: That is correct.

ADV DE JAGER: What sort of advice did you want from him, or what information did you want from him?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: As the police could not investigate or find out as to what happened to our livestock that was stolen, they said that the situation in Diketigana was difficult.  I wanted information about these things.  I wanted to know where my livestock had gone.

ADV DE JAGER: Yes, up to there I quite understand the position.  Now you knocked at the door and the woman opened and she refused you entrance into the house.

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: That is correct.

ADV DE JAGER: You got angry and you shot her.

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: Yes, because of the dispute that we had.

ADV DE JAGER: Now how could that help you to solve your problems, how could you achieve anything by shooting her?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: It did no help me because of the dispute between she and I, therefore I ended up not getting the help that I wanted because of what happened.

ADV DE JAGER: Did you think it could help you in any way if you would attack her and shoot her or shoot at her even if you didn't want to kill her?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: No, I did not think that it would help but what is important was that I could get Mr Gangqa so that he could help.

ADV DE JAGER: Yes, but now Mr Gangqa wouldn't talk to you after you've killed a person in his house, would he?  And you didn't even try after that because you went out  then.

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: I agree.  That is so, I did leave.

ADV DE JAGER: Thank you.

MS COLLETT: Is there anything further that you'd like to say in support of your application for amnesty?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: Yes, there is.

MS COLLETT: Please go ahead.

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: As the situation was such that I was emotional and I was not all there and my leader was Brigadier Gozo, we did not know what was going to happen.  There was no hope.  Our children had to leave the schools, they couldn't go to school.  It's all that was going on that contributed to this situation.
	As Mahayiya, I ask for forgiveness, I ask forgiveness from Champion Gangqa because it was the situation at the time.  He also saw what was going on.  Also I ask Nompumla to forgive me because it was not my wish to do this to their family but I had to because of the political situation at the time, because of the strife.  That is all.

MS COLLETT: Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MS COLLETT

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mapoma, have you got any questions?

MR MAPOMA: Chairperson, just a few.
	Mr Mahayiya, after you left Diketigana for Kiep Kiep, you never again stayed in Diketigana, is that correct?

DANIEL MAHAYIYA: That is correct.

MR MAPOMA: And in fact, at the time you went to the Gangqa family, you had already left Diketigana?