Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — 1996-11-20

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Monica, I greet you.  I think what we are going to need from you is just a narrative of your experiences during the time of the Seven Day War.  We know that you are one of the people with a certain group who were very much involved, especially at Imbali.  And there was a time when you were shot there at Imbali, which was very unusual for the white people to be at Imbali during that time.  Can you give us your whole experience, your whole narrative about what you know about what was happening during the Seven Day War, especially with reference to Imbali.

WITNESS:   Thank you.  I could give much more.  I was asked to relay just one incident of the 29th, and I'll be very brief on that.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Yes.

WITNESS:   But I want to record that I was there from the beginning, or nearly from the beginning.  I was a bit late due to compiling that box, first aid box in which the famous tweezers were missing.  It was not an act of sabotage, it was an oversight.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  This is why I didn't want to pin you to the 29th, because I know that from the very word go you were very much involved in the affairs there.

WITNESS:   And I do want to record that I agree completely with all the evidence given during these days.  Now, to the incident on the 29th March.  Due to atrocities done by white policemen in Imbali at night we were asked to come and monitor the situation.  A group was formed, who stayed overnight in threatened houses, made reports, and tried to prevent further incidents.  On the evening of Thursday, the 29th March ... (Inaudible - end of Side B, Tape 4) ... days earlier when Graham had stayed in the house of police torture victim, Larry Silwane.  Incidentally, may I include that that policeman confessed, that is Mr Harrington.  He confessed, and he is forgiven.  When we reached the area of Imbali Breweries Graham watched a black car, allegedly belonging to Councillor Awetha, to do a sudden U-turn and then following us closely.  Graham accelerated, and suddenly it turned up a street, when a shot hit the rear end of the car.  We drove fast to the house of our destination.  The black car roared up the next street.  Everybody ran into the house.  I had left my handbag and camera in the car, and swiftly went to retrieve it.  There was no time now for me to run into the house.  I quickly had to duck behind the thigh-high garden wall.  I thank God for that garden wall.  Mr Mlotshwa was standing behind a pillar.  Through the ornamental holes in the wall I could see everything clearly.  Three rather handsome young men came up through the bushes on the empty plot opposite the house carrying an R1 rifle.  The older of the youth handled this gun skilfully.  He struck me as being well trained.  He went around the car and shot and shot and shot, first into the tyres, then into the front and rear windows.  He repeatedly shot into the petrol tank, but it did not explode.  The cheek with which they moved about showed me clearly that they were certain that nobody in the surrounding houses had guns.  They could have shot them 10 times over.  I was so mad at them, and sitting so close that the thought came up that I could easily photograph them.  I grasped my camera, a flash went off, leaving me terrified and them running off.  Meanwhile the occupants of the house had huddled together on mattresses in the pitch dark passages.  Many people had been shot through the windows.  As soon as the first shot ran out they phoned the police, the families, and the newspaper.  The police arrived three hours later with four squad cars.  They wanted us to enter the completely gutted car immediately and leave Imbali with their escort.  When they realised this was impossible they wanted to take us in the police vans.  The hosts were very afraid of a petrol bomb attack in case we left, so we had to sign a statement that we had refused to be rescued from this dangerous township.  About half an hour later we saw huge flames.  Graham's car was burning fiercely.  This time the police did not take so long.  They were four young men from Transkei, who hardly could speak English and were pleased to be able to talk Afrikaans to me.  After a while, having asked many questions, one of them said an amazing thing to me.  "What I see here and what I am told on TV does not click.  Why does the Government lie so much to the people on TV?"  Again I realised that one policeman is very different from the next.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Thank you very much, Sister Monica.  I just want ask you just a few questions.  You've said that here you were asked to monitor the situation.  Who asked you?

WITNESS:   The family of Mr Sipho Gabela, who was my foster son for many, many months, had suffered very much at the hands of police.  He has given evidence previously before this Commission.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  So when you went to Mlotshwa's house you were already involved in the Imbali situation?

WITNESS:   Yes.  We started after the last very severe attack on Mr Sipho Gabela. By the way, Mama Monica, how many were there in the

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER: group?

WITNESS:   In the beginning we were 42.  42 in the beginning.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  All white?

WITNESS:   All white.  It was because of the white policemen, not because of Inkatha.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  In the group it was a mixture of women and men?

WITNESS:   There were lecturers, there were African Enterprise members - ja, we were a very mixed group.  Mostly middle-aged, not young adventurers.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  What reaction did you get from your community, because this thing was so popularised, you know?

WITNESS:   Ja.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Because people could not believe that whites could be there at Imbali during that time?

WITNESS:   I think they didn't want to know.  Not - I mean I come from the German-speaking Lutheran community.  Nobody asked me any questions.  They didn't want to know.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  They didn't want to know.

WITNESS:   And they didn't especially want to know what I saw there.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Who was Mlotshwa?

WITNESS:   We had a group in Imbali with whom we liaised.  We had to have the people with telephones.  The Mlotshwa's was one of the houses with telephones, and that's why that evening we went to the Mlotshwa's house to have a telephone at hand.  They are both working in Fort Napier Hospital.  Mrs Mlotshwa is one of the matrons there.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  To which group or party was Councillor Awetha?

WITNESS:  He is a known Inkatha councillor of Imbali.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Was it common for him to invade the houses of the UDF people?

WITNESS:   I guess that there are many cases.  I wouldn't like - I must give evidence that I know about, and this case I must say I heard about it.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  In your statement you say that when there were shots you grabbed your camera and a flash went off.  Did you manage to take the ... (intervention)

WITNESS:   I would have been killed.  I didn't.  I didn't photograph them.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  And you were so terrified too.

WITNESS:   Yes.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  This newspaper which was invited, what newspaper was that?

WITNESS:   That was the Natal Witness.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  The Natal Witness.

WITNESS:   We found them quite supportive.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Quite supportive.

WITNESS:   Ja, I must say.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  Did you get any support from other papers?

WITNESS:   I can't remember.  We didn't do the trouble to phone them.

DANIEL JOHANNES MEYER:  You didn't trouble to phone them.  Who was leading the police force which arrived first?

WITNESS:   We had our course about being good witnesses after that.  At that time I didn't do the trouble to take car numbers and names yet.  Afterwards I knew better.