Human Rights Violation Hearings — Port Shepstone — 1996-08-13

WITNESS:   No, we couldn't get any information.  You said Xolani had his friends, one of them was Thembelani.  Do you still remember these friends?  Are they still around?   ---   Yes, they are still around.

MRS GCABASHE: Do you know where Thembelani is?

WITNESS:   Yes, I know where he is.  However, there is not a single one of his friends who could come out and tell us, because most of them have - after the incident they decided to join the Inkatha, so they never wanted to meet us again.  They just didn't want to mix with us after the incident.

MRS GCABASHE: You said when you ran over the hill there were some people with you.  Who were they?  When you went to inspect the body.

WITNESS:   Malachius Vezi was one of them, and his sister, Albertina Vezi, and some other people.  There were many, I can't count them.

MRS GCABASHE: Are these people still around?

WITNESS:   Yes, they are still around.

MRS GCABASHE: Did you ever reported the matter to the police?

WITNESS:   We couldn't go to police to report the matter.  The last police we saw are those Khumalo, who came to pick the body after they found Thulani's body.

MRS GCABASHE: This Khumalo, is he the one who said these bullets cannot be identified because they don't have numbers?

WITNESS:   Yes, it's him.

MRS GCABASHE: From which police station was he?

WITNESS:   He was from Highflats.  And he also told us that he is not going to handle the case, the case will be under Mr Mthembu.  We don't even know this policeman, Mthembu.

MRS GCABASHE: Do you know where this Khumalo is at the moment?

WITNESS:   I don't know.  I last saw him at that time.

MRS GCABASHE: Did this Mthembu came to see you?

WITNESS:   No, he didn't.

MRS GCABASHE: You said he was shot by the chief, Chief Kawulengweni Mkhize.  Is it the chief who shot him?  What did he say?  Is he still alive?

WITNESS:   No, he is still around.  He's not around, but there are some people who are working with him.

MRS GCABASHE: Would you like to mention their names?  If you don't feel like it, you don't want to mention their names, you don't have to.

WITNESS:   I'm afraid I can't mention their names.

MRS GCABASHE: Thank you, it's okay if you can't mention their names.

WITNESS:   The chief himself, when we were going to the court, he was harassing me.

MRS GCABASHE: Can you explain how he harassed you?

WITNESS:   Normally when he used to see me when we had to go to court about this case he used to say, "I am going to shoot you," and I used to ask him, "What have I done?  Can you tell us why you are killing us?"  He said, "I am still going to kill you because I now know where you are staying."  He said, "I will search you until I find you, and I will kill the whole of your family because you are bad people."  Therefore we couldn't attend Sipho's case.

MRS GCABASHE: May we just go back?  Did you get a death certificate, Xolani's death certificate?

WITNESS:   Yes, but because we were running, always running on the move, it got lost.  The police who helped me to acquire the death certificate was Mr Mlawu.

MRS GCABASHE: Do you remember what was written in the death certificate?

WITNESS:   I can't remember.

MRS GCABASHE: Was there any inquest conducted in relation to the case?

WITNESS:   They didn't conduct any inquest.  I always wanted to know as to who killed my child and why he was killed, but I don't know at the moment as to what happened.

MRS GCABASHE: You mentioned all the names of your children.  How were they affected by the death of their brother?

WITNESS:  The children were greatly affected, especially his younger sister, Elizabeth.  She was grown up at that time.  She got confused at that time, and during that day she was doing standard 10, and she had to drop out from school the whole year.  She have to leave the school and attend another school.  Even there she couldn't go to school very well, and it was also difficult for me to send them to school because I wasn't working.

MRS GCABASHE: How is she at the moment?  You said she is now working.  How is she at the moment?

WITNESS:   Yes, she is not working.  She would like to go back to school.

MRS GCABASHE: Mrs Bashadile Vezi, we have heard the evidence as to what happened during those days as you have suffered losses as a family.  As we can see the person sitting next to you is coming to tell the same story I will take back everything to the Commissioner.

COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Mrs Vezi.  Is it your sister who will now continue with - sister-in-law will continue with her story.  Before you give your evidence can you please stand and take the oath?

UNKNOWN: (Sworn, States)   (Through Interpreter)

MR LACKS: Good morning, Mrs Vezi.  Thank you for coming.

WITNESS:   Good morning.

MR LACKS: Can you hear me properly through that?

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR LACKS: We've heard your sister-in-law tell a lot of the story so far, but there are some aspects that you know about that I'd like you to tell us about if that's possible.  Before you start if you could just tell us a little bit about your family, your husband and your children and so on.  Your husband was Sipho Chrisentos Vezi, your late husband.

WITNESS:   Yes.  He was 30 years old.

MR LACKS: How many children did you have together?

WITNESS:   One child.

MR LACKS: How old is that child?

WITNESS:   He is nine years old.

MR LACKS: What work was your husband doing at the time?

WITNESS:  He was studying at Ngoyi, doing his junior degree in social work.  He was in the third year in 1990.

MR LACKS: Your nine-year-old, is he at school at the moment?

WITNESS:   Yes, he is at school.

MR LACKS: And what do you do?

WITNESS:   I am a teacher.

MR LACKS: And you're presently working as a teacher?

WITNESS:   Yes, that's correct.

MR LACKS: Now, we've heard the story about the sad death of Xolani, your nephew, and it was following on that, and following after the funeral of Xolani, that your husband took some people to their homes.

WITNESS:   Yes.

MR LACKS: And he went to a different area.  Tell us where that place was that he was going to.