Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

EDMUND ZONDI: (Sworn, States)

MR SINGH: Mr Zondi, can we commence by you telling the Commission what your occupation is?

WITNESS:   I am a teacher by profession.

MR SINGH:  How old are you?

WITNESS:   I am 51 years old.

MR SINGH:  Would you like to start by giving the Commission an overview of the events that led up to the Seven Day War?

WITNESS:   Could you please repeat the question.

MR SINGH:  Would you like to start by giving the Commission an overview of what led to the Seven Day War?

WITNESS:   Yes, but I will start on the 25th.

MR SINGH:  Yes, please proceed then, thank you.

WITNESS:   Okay.  On the 25th of March 1990 - I love music.  Let me first start by telling you about myself, and after the Inkatha buses had passed by heading for the Inkatha rally I was with my brother, Denis Zondi, Tim Zondi.  We went to Elandskop(?), and Philip Thabani was rendering a performance there.  When we got to Elandskop there's a certain businessman who was our neighbour, that is Themba Njilo, came by and he related to us that people had been attacked in our area, and he told us that a certain person had been injured.  After the performance that we had gone to attend at Elandskop we went together with Themba Njilo to the area, and when I got there I discovered that my son had been shot and killed.  And I was later told that the buses which were coming from Durban, one stopped at Mabeza, that is a shop, and when it stopped there at that shop the people from the bus alighted and they were armed.  They were Inkatha members.  They got off the bus and they provoked certain youths who were sitting at the shop.  And at that time my son was with his aunt, Grace Khabengani Zondi.  He was from work.  Grace was from work.  She was a domestic worker and she was off for that weekend.  She was weekend off, then she decided to go home.  She came across my son in the taxi and they got off together at Mabeza, the two of them.  And when they got off from the taxi there a certain bus which was waiting there and it was shooting certain people.  And they were not aware that this bus was carrying Inkatha members, and they came across Inkatha members who accosted them and they shot them, and they both died on the scene.  Then the following day on a Monday the investigators came to call me to go and identify my son's corpse, and I went with and identified my son, as well as his aunt.  And we came back on a Monday.  And at that time I could see that the atmosphere was tense at Xaluza, and I was not going to be able to stand by and see what was going on because I was preparing  for the funeral, which was going to be held on the following Saturday.  Then on Wednesday morning I went to make some preparations with Msima Funeral Undertakers in Eden.  When I came back home it was at about 10.00 midday, and when I got home, as I was staying at Mnyandu area, and the Shange area was just across the river, across Umsunduzi River, and I saw houses being burnt down.  I also saw white lorries, and I could not see whether they were ZG lorries or not, but when they were approaching us I could identify them as ZG lorries.  And they were ferrying Inkatha members from the scene, and there was the sound of gunfire.  As I was standing there in my yard, just watching all that was happening, and to me it didn't occur that from that area they would proceed towards our area.  And as I was just standing there I saw these two big trucks which unloaded people, who went around attacking the residents.  That's when I started to realise that now we were going to be attacked.  According to our culture when there's a person who has died the relatives would come and stay for quite a few days to pay their condolences, up til the day of the funeral, and at that time there were relatives - my aunts, my cousins from far and wide.  Quite a number of people had come to our home and the place was full.  I left these people in the house because I realised that there was a imminent attack, and they had started burning houses, that is my neighbours' houses.  They also burnt my neighbour, Mr Khoza's house, as well as Mr Ndlela's house.  All the surrounding houses.  They also stabbed the goats and the stock and burnt down houses.  And I decided to go to other members of the community and neighbours to try and find out as to what was happening.  And I saw people proceeding towards the mountains.  They were running away from their homes.  They were seeking refuge in the mountains because the houses had just begun burning down.  I will never forget what I saw that day.  Immediately thereafter I came back from the mountains.  I ran up to the mountain to seek refuge, and I thought of the people that I had left at my place, and when I thought of them I decided that I should go back home.  And I risked my life and went back home.  The members of Inkatha were still busy attacking people and killing them.  I went back home, and I tried to crawl towards my area because I wanted to save the people that I had left at my place.  I used to use taxis to ferry me to and from work, and unluckily on that particular day my taxi was not roadworthy, so I took my Escort.  If I can tell you maybe you will not believe it, because it can only take five people, but the whole family fitted into the car that particular day.  I even put some of the children just underneath or next to the pedals, the driving pedals.  We ran away and we got to Eden, and I went to my other relative in Imbali.  That's where we stayed.  From that time on I've stayed at Imbali, and I've never been able to go back to where I was staying before.  And I am quite scared to go back there.  They tried to burn my house down and they looted it, but the house was not totally burnt down.  They just burnt my kombi and vandalised the house, looted whatever they could lay their hands on, and they dismantled the doors.  Presently there is a person who is staying there, but I don't think it's in a habitable condition.  But I am also scared to go back because I don't know how safe I would be if I went back.  I think that's about all I can say with regard to this matter.  But the most disturbing thing is that my son who died was the breadwinner.  He was very brilliant, very diligent, and he was quite courageous, and I was hoping that he would be really my breadwinner.   And he wanted to continue with his education.  He had a very bright future, but it never happened.  I will stop there.

MR SINGH:  Mr Zondi, you have lost your son who was only in standard six.  Even way back when we used to fight he would be regarded as one of the women because he was still very young at that time.  They even killed his Aunt Grace.  This is an unheard of situation in our culture, where women are killed by men, and especially armed men.  We do understand the trauma that you went through, not physically, but psychologically as well, and mentally.  In your statement you also made mention of the fact that your wife suffered from high blood pressure thereafter.  Is there any help that your wife is getting medically, or is she receiving any treatment?  Or just give us a brief background as to how the whole family was traumatised by this incident, that is from yourself down to your wife as well as your children.  How did this affect your whole family?