Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-05-10

WITNESS:   Those were the Cosatu lawyers representing that case.  I asked them, "How can a lawyer represent a family and never go to the family to inform them about anything?"  He said he was in Gauteng.  He'd been fetched from Gauteng to come and represent the family.  Fortunately I have documents with me.  I know the

KHOZA MGOJO: /lawyers and

KHOZA MGOJO: 20A/6 lawyers and I know the telephone numbers.

KHOZA MGOJO: Was he a student or was he a scholar?

WITNESS:   Yes, he was a scholar.  He was at standard 7 at Carmel Commerce.

KHOZA MGOJO: Did he belong to any organization?

WITNESS:   I don't know how to put this.  That was a place and people were scared, maybe because of the farmers.  There wasn't an organization, but there was a youth organization that was to be started to be called Mbongeni Cultural Organization.  I don't know whether was he involved.  He was a curious person.  He used to ask me questions.  He asked me, "What is it, this Mbongeni Cultural Club all about?", and I said to him, "It's a South African youth organization".  I want to say he didn't have a card - organizational card - at that time.  He was enquiring about that youth club.  I must say he challenged everything.

KHOZA MGOJO: The last question that I have, did you get a death certificate?

WITNESS:   Yes, I got a death certificate from the funeral undertakers, because we asked the post-mortem not to be done at Kokstad and we sent him to the lawyers and the lawyers took him to Port Shepstone, but he was transported by the police.  I don't know how are we going to solve this thing, because it still disturbs me.  There was not even one member of the family during the post-mortem.  We can say the doctor belonged to Cosatu.  He did a perfect work.  The police never gave me a proof of death.  I've been searching all over for it and they would tell me it's in that van.  We would move from one van to the other and I said, "I want a death certificate".

KHOZA MGOJO: The last question, as you were sitting, you listened to the Commissioners when talking to other witnesses.

KHOZA MGOJO: /What is your

KHOZA MGOJO: 20A/8 What is your wish?  What do you want the Truth Commission to do for you?  I'm not saying what you would request will happen, but what is your wish?

WITNESS:   This affected my family.  I am anti-white where I am working and the promotion was very close and I can never be given a position of trust.  I've been working for 20 years in that company, but I will be trusted.  I will never be given a position of trust.  I would be told that I am anti-white.  There is a rumour that I am anti-white.  My father is not working any more.  He doesn't work in town.  He'd only get employed in the township.  I don't know how can this problem be solved.  The last thing, my wife was very much affected.  There is nothing that she can do.  She is not working.  She is just at home.  I would request the inquest to be started again.  That person who killed my son knows himself.  Let him come up.  Let him come forward and say, "I did this".  They are the people who killed.  We didn't make anything wrong.

KHOZA MGOJO: The Commission is going to try its best.  Do you know that there were people on that day who were also killed?  I just want to help the Commission, so that when they investigate those people should also be included.

WITNESS:   Yes, many people were shot on that day, but one person died on that day.  I think one of the children who died was killed by the teargas.  Many of them were shot but they only received multiple injuries.

KHOZA MGOJO: Thank you, Mr Tuntulwana.  The Commission will try to investigate this, because you say there is something that puzzles you.  You said in your statement your son was shot by shotguns.  We are going to try and get the inquest in order and see whether we can restart it.  We want to

KHOZA MGOJO: /thank you

KHOZA MGOJO: 20A/12 thank you very much.

WITNESS:   Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: Anyone with a question?  Ilan Lax.

MR LAX: Just one quick question.  This inquest, you said you had some documents relating to the lawyers and the inquest.  Can you make those available to us, please?

WITNESS:   In the statement that I gave in yesterday I also submitted those documents.  I think you have them.

CHAIRPERSON: May God be with you, bless you, console you.  We thank you very much for your narration, which is very clear, which you brought here.  Thank you.
/DR BORAINE
20A/13

DR BORAINE: Chairperson, the following witness is Mrs Gertrude Mbambo, and I'd like her to please come up to the witness stand.  Thank you, Mrs Mbambo.  Can we just check to make sure that you can hear all right.  Can you hear the voice coming through the headphones?

CHAIRPERSON: Order, please.

DR BORAINE: Can you hear me all right?

GERTRUDE MBAMBO: Yes.

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much and thank you so much for coming to the Commission.  Sometimes we wish that there was some good news, instead of the sorrow and the sadness that witnesses have to bring with them, but the good news is perhaps that at long last you are able to tell other people about what happened.  We are going to listen to you in a moment about the death of your son, Muntuwenkosi Khanyile, but we will come back to that in a moment.  Let me first ask you please to stand to take the oath.

GERTRUDE MBAMBO: (Sworn states) (Through Interpreter)

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much.  Mrs Mbambo, you live at Chesterville?

WITNESS:   Yes.

DR BORAINE: And you had a son by the name of Muntuwenkosi Khanyile.  Is that right?

WITNESS:   Yes.

DR BORAINE: Can you tell me, do you have any other members of family?

WITNESS:   Yes.

DR BORAINE: Please tell us about them.

WITNESS:   It was in 1986 at night.  We were all sleeping.  One of my children, Bonginkosi, was in Johannesburg.  Now, these other two went to - he was in a shack and these other two went to visit him in his shack.  On that same night they died.  There were six, because he used to have visitors and they

DR BORAINE: /would go after

DR BORAINE: 20A/16 would go after watching TV.  At 10 o'clock I called the other ones who used to sleep with me in the house, because the deceased slept always in the shack.  I said to them, "It is now late.  Come and sleep".  They came in.  It was at about 2 o'clock.  I wanted to go and urinate and I went into the toilet.  I switched on the light and I tried to relieve myself.  I heard a loud noise, sounding like a machine gun.  It was a terrible sound that I couldn't understand.  I cried and I went into the children's bedroom and I said to them, "Please, we don't have to go out".  We were afraid even to peep through the window.  We  hid ourselves underneath the bed and we kept quiet. We heard, when it was just about to be morning, that people were talking outside.  When I got out I found many children lying dead on the ground.  Their brains were scattered.  I didn't know what happened, because they were dead.  Their parents arrived at my place and they were all crying.  I didn't know what happened, because they would come and visit him, watch TV and thereafter leave.  I asked myself, "What happened now that they should be killed on this night?".  Their brains were scattered all over the wall.  There was the other one who tried to hide himself under the bed, but his body was full of bullets, all over.  Two of them survived.  Those are the children that we said they should go to give a statement what happened to them.  I am just here to give testimony on what I didn't see.  I only heard of this.  After relieving myself in the toilet I heard these sounds.  I didn't know what it was.  Our children were so badly damaged they were like porridge.  The whole shack was full of bullet holes.  They were so big.  I think it was a machine gun, because

DR BORAINE: /it wasn't