Human Rights Violation Hearings — Empangeni — 1996-11-06

WITNESS:   Yes, a Commissioner of Police was sent.  They replied and they told me that they had referred the matter to Ulundi, because the matter took place in KwaZulu and when it came from Ulundi I went to the post office.  I received a very big envelope.  All the letters that I had written to the State President were returned and there was no reply, nor was there any explanation as to why they had sent them back and I realised that nothing was going to be done with my case.  I phoned the police station and explained to the detectives that the Commissioner ... (intervention)

MRS GCABASHE:  Did you phone the ZP at Esikhaweni?

WITNESS:   Yes, I phoned the ZP at Esikhaweni and I told them that all the documents I had submitted for the investigation had been returned to me and I asked them to ask Buchner, who was the Commissioner of Police at that time, and find out as to what he was going to do with the matter because there was no explanation whatsoever.

MRS GCABASHE:  Did Buchner reply?

WITNESS:   After I had spoken I never got a reply, but other people helped me and they told me that I was in hit list No 1.  I was going to be killed.

MRS GCABASHE:  Now, what did you do after hearing that you were on the hit list?

WITNESS:   I phoned the police station and I explained that I did not need to die, because all I wanted was the truth about my husband's death and I will knock at every door to try and find out the truth about my husband's death.  If it caused for me to die then I was prepared to die for the truth.

MRS GCABASHE:  Take your time, Mrs Luthuli.  We do understand this is a very painful experience.  When last did you hear from the KwaZulu Police?  When last did the KwaZulu Police contact you or give you a reply as to the fact that you were on hit list No 1?

WITNESS:   No, they never replied.  They just told me that they had a problem.  They never explained what this problem was, but the detective who was investigating this case was shot and killed and, if I remember well, it was Detective Dlamini.  I heard that he had also been killed.  That is one of the detectives who had come to my place.

MRS GCABASHE:  Are there any suspicions as to who could have  possibly killed your husband?

WITNESS:   At that time we never heard anything except now that the inquest has started I heard that there were certain queries that it could possibly be members of the Vlakplaas.  They say it is possible that it's them, but there is no surety.  I saw it in the newspaper last month.

MRS GCABASHE:  Besides that was there ever a person who was arrested?

WITNESS:   No, nothing was done.  Nobody was arrested.

MRS GCABASHE:  Let's come back to the inquest that is taking place now.  Have you got the results now?

WITNESS:   No, the inquest is still on-going.  Nobody has been arrested as yet and nobody has been held responsible.

MRS GCABASHE:  Let's come to your health now, as well as your offspring.  You told us that your father-in-law got ill and he died because of this incident.  Was he not sick before that?

WITNESS:   No, he was not sick.  He was quite healthy.

MRS GCABASHE:  Tell us how you and your family were affected by this whole incident and the death of your husband.

WITNESS:  Nolundi was severely traumatised.  She has been mentally and emotionally affected, because she is the one who actually saw what happened, and the other one was 10 years and 4 years, respectively.  They did not know that their father was dead.  They were touching him and calling out his name and at the time the police were not coming to investigate the matter.  She was later diagnosed as suffering from diabetic shock ever since, after her father's death.  That's when it started.  Now she's receiving treatment.  She never cried at the time, because she was still very shocked, but later on it was discovered that she was severely shocked and she got ill.  Ever since then she's been ill.  Last year she was in a coma twice.

MRS GCABASHE:  Take your time, Mrs Luthuli.  We understand your problem.  We know you've gone through a lot.  How is Nolundi psychologically?  Is she coping?

WITNESS:   She never wrote the exams two consecutive years.  That was in 1994 and 1995, as well as last year.  Last year she was very ill and she was supposed to be the main witness in the inquest and when we went to Mtunzini I was speaking to another woman, explaining to her that the witnesses in this matter or in this case were killed and I think thereafter she got scared.  She collapsed after hearing that the witnesses had been killed and that there was going to be an inquest.  Now she's very scared of police.  She literally shivers when she sees the police.  I had to take her to Durban.  That's where she is attending school, and I spoke to the principal to take extra care of her, because now she's not even responding to the treatment that she is taking.  She is highly traumatised.   I took her to Durban because in Durban there are specialists.

MRS GCABASHE:  Which school is it in Durban?

WITNESS:   It's Cambridge College.  That's where she is.  She was from St Catherine's in Empangeni.

MRS GCABASHE:  What is the name of the principal?

WITNESS:   It's Mrs Johnson at St Catherine's and it's Mr Coley at Cambridge.

MRS GCABASHE:  Now, is she still taking the treatment?

WITNESS:   Yes, she's receiving three injections a day.

MRS GCABASHE:  Who is treating her?

WITNESS:   It is a specialist - it's an Indian doctor.  I can't remember his name.  As well as another doctor, who stays quite close to the

MRS GCABASHE: /school. She's

MRS GCABASHE: school.  She's got two doctors who are treating her and they usually admit her at the nearby hospital whenever she is ill.  The other doctor is a physician.  I don't remember what his name is.  I think I'm a bit tired, but I can fax you the information.  The first doctor who treated her was Dr Masuku and Dr Masuku referred her to a certain physician in Durban.

MRS GCABASHE:  Dr Masuku referred her to - you will send us the information.  We do understand.  Let's come to the other children now.  Tell us about them.  We've already discussed Nolundi.  Let's talk about Augustine now.

WITNESS:  I think Augustine was fine, but now he's having a problem.  He's abusing liquor.  I think he's suppressing something, some inner feelings, but he's not talking about those feelings.  He is a very intelligent person, but ever since then he's not proceeding with his studies.  He's having problems.

MRS GCABASHE:  Have you ever tried to get some medical help for him or to go for counselling - some psychological treatment or anything?

WITNESS:   I think he will need counselling because the past Sunday he was involved a hi-jacking and he was kidnapped.  He is in hospital at the present moment.

MRS GCABASHE:  Let's come to the second one.

WITNESS:   The second one got very ill.  She developed asthma and she had bronchospasms and they even operated on him.  He underwent a tonsillectomy.  That was when he was still at school and he was not even responding to the treatment, but thereafter the bronchospasm got worse and at some stage he was admitted for a few weeks at the hospital.

MRS GCABASHE:  Does he have any mental stress?

WITNESS:   Boys are like girls.  They like to suppress their feelings, but I do see some signs that they are not feeling quite well, but they are trying to suppress their feelings and they are trying to hide it away from me.

MRS GCABASHE:  And what about Nonhle?  How is she?

WITNESS:   I can see she is also disturbed.  They don't want to sleep in their bedrooms.  They want to sleep in my bedroom or they want to be huddled together in one bedroom.  Yena doesn't want her own bedroom.  Even when she is sleeping she usually grabs me the whole night.  Nolundi does the very same thing and we will sleep in the one bed, all of us, the whole family.  They said they are scared to use their own bedrooms.