Amnesty Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — 1997-02-10

ANSWER: Erasmus then proceeded to drive and Madlala and I came across a pocketbook in Jama's pocket.   In it was written that he was involved in acts of terrorism with a combat group in the Richmond area.   Due to this information the specials and I started assaulting Jama for more information about the activities mentioned and for his and the other people's weapons.   The specials labelled him an "ANC dog".   Jama caused a scene and screamed.   Erasmus stopped the vehicle, got out and opened the back door and slapped Jama and said that he should not make such a noise.
1.1	Erasmus /...
MR BANADE	14	W B HARRINGTON
Erasmus then proceeded to drive to the Elandskop area to go and pick up the next shift of special constables.   From there to the pick-up point it was approximately a 15 minute drive.   In this time I took Jama's belt and strangled him with breaks in between, just to give him a chance to answer questions which I put to him.   Erasmus stopped at the mentioned pick-up point, which was a bottle store.   I informed Erasmus about the pocketbook and the content thereof and that we had thrown the book out while we were driving.   Jama, according to special constable Nglamini, he saw Jama trying to grab his shotgun.   Jama failed and then jumped out the back.    He ran around the vehicle straight into Erasmus.   Jama was then loaded into the back of the vehicle again and then Bengu and Madlala went with the vehicle to Bengu's father's shop which was not too far from there, to go and get us some cold drinks.   When they returned, we stood conversing in a little group.  Erasmus mentioned that we had to kill Jama.   We as a group of eight policemen took a joint decision that we were going to kill Mr Jama.   Madlala said that he was going to shoot him.  Special constable Bengu said that he knew of an appropriate place where we could shoot Jama.   Bengu then got into the front with Erasmus and Van der Hoogen, who was the other policeman, to show them the place and myself and the others got into the back and I continued to strangle Jama.   After approximately five minutes' drive we stopped in a bush deep in Inkatha area, called Elandskop.   I called, I dragged Jama out of the back, still with the belt around his neck and he fell on his back on the ground and I continued to strangle him.   I got up and Jama suddenly jumped up again and started running deeper into the bush.   Erasmus drew his
1.1	9mm /...
MR BANADE	15	W B HARRINGTON
9mm and aimed so that he could shoot Jama and I shouted that he should not do that because they could conduct ballistic tests.   I ran after Jama and Madlala followed.   I dived at Jama and strangled him again for a while.   The others then came to the scene and I stood up straight with my one foot on his chest and throat.   Nglamini had his shotgun with him.   I told Madlala to shoot the ANC dog.   Madlala took the shotgun from Nglamini, before the shot was fired the rest of us started strolling back to the vehicle.   I looked back and saw Madlala standing over Jama with the shotgun approximately 1cm from Jama's forehead and the shot went off.   Back at the vehicle everyone got in.   I took loose branches to try and erase the tracks of the vehicle.   Back on the tarred road we offloaded the special constables and in our conversation we agreed that no one was going to say anything about the murder.   Our permanent members went back to the Unit and went off duty.   My feeling and state of mind at the time when we decided to kill Mr Jama at the bottle store and up until the time when he was murdered in the bush; when we picked Mr Jama up at the railway in Dambuza it was mere procedure to me to pick up ANC members for questioning and also assault, with the intention of obtaining more firearms and handing them to the Inkatha.   The feeling and state of mind at the bottle store; here we the policemen were sitting with an enemy, a self-proclaimed communist, plus/minus three years indoctrination against the ANC exploded inside me.   Major Terblanche was murdered by an ANC member, surfaced within me again.   I was angry.   I had to fight the enemy, the ANC.   I decided yes, let's kill him.   My indoctrination was my state of mind and not my motive.   The ANC feels the same about us, it was either my
1.1	life /...
MR BANADE	16	W B HARRINGTON
life or Jama's life kind of situation at the time.   How I felt when we were in the bush; after the strangulation and the death shot I felt relieved, I had made my contribution towards blocking the ANC's objectives.   I was also a border fighter.   We drove away.   Tomorrow was just another day, with more enemies to conquer.   I was not worried about being prosecuted for a murder or an assault case, I did what I had to do, it was what was expected of me indirectly.   In conclusion my motive and the context in which I committed this act; I wanted Mr Jama to die in the hands of the Inkatha specials and our rightwing policemen.   He represented the whole of the ANC which not only attacks me and my men, but also the cause of Major Terblanche's death at their hands.   Also Inkatha establishments and members of their families were killed and burned in their houses by the ANC.   I was taught that the ANC was "the enemy".   The nature of the offence; Mr Jama was first assaulted and then strangled by me with his belt and then with my bare hands and then he was shot with a single shot from a shotgun in his forehead.   The objective of the deed; I had proof that Mr Jama was an ANC member by means of his ANC T-shirt and the pocketbook in his pocket.   He was my political opponent as I was taught and since we, together with the IFP, were at war with the ANC, proof in his pocketbook was that he had participated in rallies in the Richmond area, in attacks against the IFP and the knowledge amongst us policemen was that Mr Jama had to be killed.   He had to give us more information on the firearm which he had used and also the firearms which his colleagues used.   On 10 February 1991, I went looking specifically for ANC attackers, that was before the murder case.   I looked for these ANC attackers
1.1	who /...
MR BANADE	17	W B HARRINGTON
who had attacked an IFP bus and killed 18 IFP supporters in the Kwashange area.   Mr Jama did not say a word about his or his colleagues activities or his colleagues weapons and in this time we picked up several ANC members since the beginning of 1990 with regard to the attack in Kwashange.  Mainly to prohibit him from committing any further acts of terrorism, such as the one in the Richmond area, Mr Jama had to die.   The organisation or institution to which I belonged; I was a constable in the Riot Squad in Pietermaritzburg.  On the day of the murder I was in charge of the vehicle squad.   The driver of the vehicle was 
Mr F S Erasmus.   My men were Constable Van der Hoogen.   The specials were Madlala, Bengu Nglamini, Kweswa(?) and Mlambu.   The course which I had completed in the police force were the Riot Squad courses, the protection of very important people and also the medical course and I obtained further training in the Riot Squad under the Riot Unit.  The relationship between the act itself and the political objective was Mr Jama was an ANC member, was deep in the IFP area namely Elandskop taken there.   So many members of the ANC were taken away as in my statement version to the TRC on 19 November 1996.   If Mr Jama's interrogation was unsuccessful, the same as so many before him, we would just have left him there in the Inkatha area.  He would definitely have died at the hands of the IFP.   Because he attempted to escape and at that stage represented the whole ANC in my mind, he simply had to die.   After Mr F S Erasmus mentioned that we had to kill him, the flashes of Major Terblanche's death and also other policemen, the state of mind in which I was then, the shots which were fired at me and the normal stone-throwing incidents in riot situations
1.1	overwhelmed /...
MR BANADE	18	W B HARRINGTON
overwhelmed me and influenced me to the deed which left Mr Jama behind us, a corpse.   I experienced a personal feeling which had made me a border fighter.   I could stop him from killing other people and burning more places as he had done in the Richmond area, which I had proof of.   I did not hate Mr Jama, I regarded his deeds later as the ANC's (indistinct) and that is what he had stood for.   I had no personal gain or cash remuneration by murdering Mr Jama.   I had no personal feat against Mr Jama.   I had no personal grudge against him and I did not know him personally except that he was an ANC supporter.   Also that they had launched attacks on the ANC(?).   In conclusion I would like to say I would like to grab the opportunity firstly to apologise to Mr Jama's family and parents for what I was and that I am sorry that politics turned me, as a young 21-year old man, to what I was.   Secondly, the previous government made me fight against the ANC and identified them as the enemy and I would like to ask you to forgive me for what I did to your son.   Thank you very much.