Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1998-05-25

MR MBANDAZAYA: Were those words different from any other weapon which were written there, from any other 3.8?

INSPECTOR METE: In terms of 3.8, that gun, which is .38, the one which you normally use is not written Magnum 3.57, the one of the police.   That is why that one is written 3.57 and the words written on it are the ones that I remember having seen on that day.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Yes, that's what I'm getting at, that is there any other gun, no other gun which has the same writing as that one on it?

INSPECTOR METE: At that scene there was no other gun written like that one.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Okay, I agree with you, but my point is that, which goes to my first question, how do you differentiate that particular gun to any other gun which has the same make at that one?

INSPECTOR METE: What makes me to be sure that this is the gun is because I was the one who was dealing with that Meyers' case and it was that gun that I found in that case of Meyers.  I do not understand that the body of another, another case can be superimposed on the case of the Meyers.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Well that was not my question.   In any event, I'll pass that point.   You told the committee that you had a struggle with Zama Tuta on the scene, and my instruction is that that is not correct that you had struggled with Zama Tuta, but you had struggled with Luvoya Kulman, who you have beaten him up, and as a result he suffered severe injuries and is still suffering from that even today?

INSPECTOR METE: I do not know Mr Vuya Kulman, I never saw him.   It is the first time that I get to hear about Vuya Kulman.

MR MBANDAZAYA: And that after you have beaten Luvoya Kulman, you went on to beat Zama Tuta?

INSPECTOR METE: I would not have been able to assault someone I never saw, I do not know this person and I did not see such a person.   The person I was dealing with at that time was Zama Tuta, and the person who was moving with him was Maxwell Mima.   I do not know of Luvoya Kulman, and if he was assaulted saying that he was beaten by me, I would not be sure of that, because I never saw him.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Okay, thank you.   Mr Chairman, for the sake of clarity, before I follow up that question, I want to explain that Maxwell Mima, as he mentioned that he knows only Maxwell Mima, Maxwell Mima is Luvoya Kulman, Mr Chairman.   Yes, Inspector, definitely I'm talking, I thought that you know the name, I'm talking about Maxwell Mima.

INSPECTOR METE: At that time when I was there, nobody was assaulted.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Okay.   Have you ever, at any stage in your life as a policeman, never assaulted any suspect?

INSPECTOR METE: No.

MR MBANDAZAYA: And you have never heard that policemen assaulting suspects?

INSPECTOR METE: Yes, in courts it does happen that somebody would allege that a policeman was beaten by a policeman, an accused was beaten by a policeman and a trial within a trial would be held.   I never witnessed a policeman assaulting an accused or something like that.

MR MBANDAZAYA: If you have assaulted them, would you, today would you have said that you did that today?   Would you be in a position to say that you did that?

INSPECTOR METE: If I had assaulted them, then I would have had a reason to assault them, I'm sure that something that would not be a secret today, and if I had assaulted anybody, I would have said so.

MR MBANDAZAYA: I appreciate that you will be the first policeman to do that in any event.   Now, Mr Prior mentioned that you inserted in your handwriting that the suspects were never assaulted, which means that it was an afterthought.   What prompted you to insert that, to insert that paragraph, that sentence, that
"The suspects were never assaulted at any stage, neither by me nor anybody in my presence."
What prompted you to put that sentence in your statement?

INSPECTOR METE: Nothing prompted me.   What in fact happened was that this was not included, that the accused or the applicants were not assaulted, and I then decided to include it.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Did you not include it because you knew that there were allegations that these suspects were beaten?

INSPECTOR METE: No.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Is it a normal procedure that when you write a statement as a policeman after you have arrested somebody, you have to include that he was never assaulted, or do you always do that?

INSPECTOR METE: Yes, it is a common procedure, so that no allegations are made that the person has been assaulted.   You sometimes would then take this person to a doctor to verify that fact that he was not assaulted.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Are you aware that the suspects were taken to hospital after their arrest?

INSPECTOR METE: No, I do not know of such a thing, because I parted with them, unfortunately I was not in that Murder and Robbery Squad section at the time of that incident.

MR MBANDAZAYA: And let me go to the last point, the question of money.    You told the committee that you retrieved money from Zama Tuta in his private parts, and my instruction and his evidence here was that there was no money on his body?

INSPECTOR METE: There was money.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Lastly, not least, let me ask you something, which is personal, Mr Chairman, do you know me?

INSPECTOR METE: No.

MR MBANDAZAYA: When were you transferred to Umtata from Butterworth?

INSPECTOR METE: In 1983.

MR MBANDAZAYA: '81 you were in Butterworth?

INSPECTOR METE: Yes, that is so.

MR MBANDAZAYA: And you were playing rugby in Butterworth, is not that so, a team there in Butterworth, you were playing local team?   I still remember you.

INSPECTOR METE: That is so.

MR MBANDAZAYA: And you used to arrest many people in those days?   If I remember, you were driving a Datsun Laurel (indistinct)?

INSPECTOR METE: That is so, that's why I do not remember you, there was a lot of people I was working with.

MR MBANDAZAYA: Well you were just, I'm not trying to give any evidence, but I just wanted just to make a comment, I'm one of the victims of you, I was once driven by you in your boot of your car as a policeman.   Thank you, Mr Chairman.

INSPECTOR METE: I would dispute that I ever put somebody in the boot of my car.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR MBANDAZAYA

MS GCABASHE: When you were asked about differentiating between the firearms, sir, you said that you were dealing with this case, so you wouldn't superimpose material from one case on another, that's what you said?

INSPECTOR METE: Yes.

MS GCABASHE: By dealing with this case, what exactly do you mean, did you deal with it only on that day, or did you at a later stage continue to handle this particular matter?

INSPECTOR METE: I dealt with that case at that time, and that gun I made it at that point.

MS GCABASHE: And you never ever handled this case again after that?

INSPECTOR METE: No, I never again had to deal with this case until I had to go to court about it.

MR LAX: Mr Mete, I heard your explanation concerning the hand-written sentence that says
"Suspect was never assaulted at any stage, neither by me nor by anybody in my presence."
Is a suspect has been assaulted, do you ever write that one down and say, "This particular suspect was assaulted"?

INSPECTOR METE: I don't ever get to hear that the person was assaulted, but what happens is, if you arrest a person, or let me say that person is found by the people of the village and he's assaulted, and whatever damage to his body he may have sustained to his body during that arrest, those body injuries are then recorded before he is being incarcerated.

MR LAX: At what stage did you add this particular sentence to your typed statement?

INSPECTOR METE: It was after I had read it and having had decided, I then took it and wrote that added sentence.

MR LAX: At that stage had anyone alleged that the suspect had been assaulted, or did you think that such an allegation was going to be made about the matter?