Amnesty Hearings — Richards Bay — 1998-04-14

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: Yes.  Mataba was a member of the Central Committee and also a member of the legislature in the then kwaZulu government.  His aim to come to Mrs Mbuyasi's place at that time was so that arrangements can be made to call me to rush to his place at Nyoni to assist.  He is a Chief at Nyoni.  He also indicated to me that there is one person in the area who was a bus driver and I am just thinking that there must be some place where I am confusing the surname.  I cannot differentiate the surname as to whether he was Myale or Mbanza, but I think one of these is his surname.
	The Chief indicated that this person was problematic in his area, because this person would make sure that the drivers were divided into two.  There was this UWUSA group that was in loggerheads with COSATU.  UWUSA itself was formed by Inkatha, formed by Chief Mangosuthu so that if a driver belonged to UWUSA he would therefore be a member of Inkatha, and if a driver was on the side of COSATU he would automatically be associated with the ANC.
	There was a problem because there was this unionism and it became a problem, there came a time when these people started fighting one another, some died and this person was alleged to recruiting people to COSATU leaving UWUSA and therefore this would mean that the organisation was losing support by so doing.
	He further indicated that this person was organising people so that when they were going to a meeting, a conference at Ulundi they were attacked on their way going via Nyoni.  Such busses would be attacked on their way to Ulundi.
	One person who was alleged to be behind everything was this very same person.  He requested that this person should be attacked as a matter of urgency because he was dangerous. 	That is how we came to kill him.

MR WILLS: There was a discussion between you and Mataba and Mrs Mbuyasi when this plan was hatched at Mrs Mbuyasi's house, is that correct?

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: Yes, that is correct.

MR WILLS: Mrs Mbuyasi expressed her favour for the plan and it was arranged that you would go down to Chief Mataba's area that very same night, is that correct?

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: Yes, that is correct.

MR WILLS: And Mataba left a white Toyota Corolla car for the purposes of your transport, is that correct?

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: Yes, it is correct but I only got hold of the Corolla after everything else.  We were using Jerry Mbanda's car who is now deceased.  He was also IFP, he was a guerilla before and he defected from the ANC to the IFP and he is Jerry Mbanda.
	We drove in his Golf going down to Nyoni to Chief Mataba's place.

MR WILLS: Can you explain what happened?

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: We went down Israel road, or should I say Israel and myself, can I just explain this or rectify this.
	It might happen that in the affidavit I have indicated that we went down with Zweli Dhlamini, but to the best of my recollection Zweli Dhlamini was not there, but only his brother was present and he worked at eSikhawini, not Zweli Dhlamini and Israel Hlongwane.

MR WILLS: Mr Mkhize, I know that you have given a lot of evidence today and you have been concentrating all day, but that we will deal with that, that is involved in the next incident.
	In this incident you don't refer to Mr Dhlamini whatsoever, it was just you and Israel that you say in your affidavit was involved in this incident.

SISI KHAMPEPE: Mr Wills, will you also ascertain if he is correct if he says he used Jerry Mbanda's car, because that is referred to in the next incident that you will be dealing with.

MR WILLS: Yes, thank you Ms Committee member.  Also the incident, if you look at page 47 of your affidavit where you talk about the incident of murdering an ANC induna, that is where you mention Jerry Mbanda's car.

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: I am sorry.  Now, I remember.  I remember very well now, I am confusing two different incidents where I was requested by Chief Mataba to do some job for him.
	At one place where we used Jerry Mbanda's car was the incident where we were going to kill Mzimela, the induna.
	We used the white Corolla when we were going to kill the person whom I said I am not sure whether it is Mdanza or Myale.  Now I remember very well.

SISI KHAMPEPE: Mr Wills, is he saying he is confusing the two surnames between Myale and Mbamba or Mdanza?

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: This is one person, it is just me who cannot remember whether he is Myale or Mdanza, but I am talking about one person who was a driver, a bus driver who was killed for the squabble over COSATU and UWUSA, this is one person.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mkhize, just for convenience, seeing that you have referred to him as Mr Myale in your affidavit, you can refer to him as Myale and we will understand that it might not be the correct name.

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: Thank you, I will continue to refer to him as Mr Myale.
	In that incident, that is where I went down with Israel Hlongwane, not with the other two.  These two were involved in the Mzimela incident, I am just sorry about that, I was confusing the two.
	I went down with Israel Hlongwane where we went to Mandeni and we found inkosi Mataba at a certain house at Mandeni, but Israel Hlongwane knows the place very well.
	On leaving the house, our cars one after the other, with the same Chief, myself driving the Corolla and the Chief in his own car, the house was along the road.  This particular house can be seen from a distance from the road and we proceeded to a particular spot where there were trees, that is where we parked the cars.
	We got off the cars.  The Chief himself pointed the house to us and he came back, went back into the car and drove away.  We went into the house.  This house itself being one of those houses you would find in the rural areas, women responded to our knock and we asked about the whereabouts of this person and they pointed to the upper house and we did not give any indication that we were there for something bad.
	They pointed to a house further up where he was said to sleep.  We knocked at that house.  He first of all refused to open the door, and we told him that we were Police, we wanted to search the house because we have information that he had guns and then he opened the door.
	On opening the door, we just shot him.  We did not ask him anything.  I think we were using a .38 if I still remember very well, and we just left.
	We went back into our car and followed Chief Mataba who was no longer anywhere near by, we would reconnect with him at a garage, at a place called Nyatini where we indeed found him waiting for us.
	We went to him and we explained to him how we fared.  He was delighted on receiving the news and we were arranging to see him as time went on.  On getting into the car we remembered that we did not have enough petrol in the car and I went to him to say we did not have enough petrol.  He gave us R100-00 for petrol.
	We then came back.  We were not arrested, charged or prosecuted for the case.

MR WILLS: Thank you.  Mr Mkhize, finally I just want to clarify one point here.  You have indicated in your affidavit that you were the person who shot this Mr Myale at close range, is that correct?

BRIAN QUNA MKHIZE: Yes, that is correct.  I was using .38.

MR WILLS: Thank you.  Mr Chairperson, I see it is four o'clock.  I am finished with this incident.  I wonder if we could adjourn at this stage?

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr Wills, I think this will be a convenient time seeing that it is four o'clock, we have come to the end of today's hearing and we will then adjourn until tomorrow, that will be the 16th of April, here at 09h30 again.
	We will adjourn until tomorrow at 09h30.
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