Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1998-04-17

MR WILLS: You indicate here as did Mr Mkhize that certain people were involved, but sorry, prior to that you say in paragraph 57 that there was a meeting at the IFP regional offices in Empangeni.  What was discussed at this meeting?  We discussed Welcome Mthimkhulu's duties and his job that he was doing for the ANC.  He was already in the hit list about which I spoke earlier on and we decided that we should kill him that very same evening.  We had M.R. Mkhize in the meeting, Joyful Mtetwa, Dina Mkhize, Zwele Dlamini and Israel Hlungwane.  Zwele and Israel were working at the IFP office already.

MR WILLS: Okay, this R.M. Mkhize, who is he?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: He is Robert Mkhize who was in charge of the office, he resided at Ingwelizani at the time.

MR WILLS: In charge of the IFP office?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: Do you know what he's doing today?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: It transpires that he was fired for misappropriating office funds.  I don't know where he is at the moment.

MR WILLS: But obviously this individual knew exactly what was going to happen later that evening?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes we planned everything with him.

MR WILLS: Okay, I see in paragraph 58 that again you availed upon the Mayor for the usage of his car and you used the white Meteor and then certain people accompanied you to Mr Mthimkhulu's house is that correct?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: Who were the people who were involved in this operation?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: It was myself, Dina Mkhize, Zwele Dlamini, Joyful Mtetwa, Victor Buthelezi and Constable P.S. Ndlovu whom I referred to as Umbusayfeli.

MR WILLS: Okay we know from Mr Mkhize's evidence that if you lay in ambush and you fired at the car when you eventually saw it and Mr Mthimkhulu it turned out was not in the car and in fact certain other people were in the car and as a result a certain female was injured, is that correct?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: Did you yourself fire that night?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: Now later on that night you went to attack persons at Motokozweni bus stop, is that right?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: And that's on page 27 of the record and paragraph 60 of your affidavit.  Why did you go and attack this bus stop?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Intokozweni is a place in H2, a place called Emmakandaleni.  It is the ANC stronghold.  That is where people board the bus to Richards Bay where they are working in factories such as RPM and Alusaf, Mondi and several other factories here.  It is therefore known that people who board those buses in that area are members of COSATU which is affiliated to the ANC and therefore we attacked that mob to hit COSATU and ANC simultaneously.  This we did after having received instructions that we should hit the mob where they are gathering as a group, we should not discriminate, we should just hit for as long as they are in an ANC area.

MR WILLS: And you indicate as did Mkhize that people started firing back at you and that you eventually returned to the Mayor's house where you reported to him what had transpired, is that correct?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: Now you'll recall that certain of the Committee Members raised issues with Mr Mkhize about these attacks on bus stops and such like.  I think also Mr Ngubane was quite concerned about this incident in particular and during his cross-examination.  Can you describe what the political motivation could possibly be in an attack of this nature?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Firstly, it was to send a message to the ANC so that the ANC should clearly understand and acknowledge the presence of the IFP at eSikhawini and that the IFP was strong with an intention of trying to drive a point or create a situation where later the IFP leaders would address people and give them reassurance that they must join the IFP to be protected.  Those who did not want to join the IFP should ultimately realise that they were not protected and therefore they should move and vacate eSikhawini so that the whole of eSikhawini would be an IFP area.
	That would be easier for the IFP leaders at eSikhawini because as we have already explained that there are four sections at eSikhawini.  All these other three sections are ANC sections.  It is only J2 that is IFP and these three are the ones that were attacked and that is where people died.  J2 was not attacked, nobody died there as well and that simply explains the fact that if a person was a member of the IFP was therefore protected, such a person was protected.
	If something was going to happen or something similar to that happened which happened at Ensilini, people knew there, people who were members of the ANC.  
	Dina has also given an example of Bonani Insomi, he was one of the ANC leaders who were prominent in Empangeni, he resided at Ensileni himself as well but he was attacked with his followers and they were expelled from Ensinleni.  I don't know whether it's still the case now but before my arrest if you entered Ensilini at the enter point there is a police station there.  Next to the police station there was a flag that was hoisted there, that was the IFP flag indicating that Ensileni and surroundings was an IFP area and it was truly the case.  That was the intention of the IFP leaders at eSikhawini.

MR WILLS: Is this what you understood by the instructions given to you by Prince Gideon Zulu when he mentioned the issue of the march of the cleaning pots?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Yes that is correct.

MR WILLS: Now you've indicated that after this - or where did you go after this incident was completed?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: You mean the incident at Umtokozwine bus stop?

MR WILLS: Yes, sorry the incident at Umtokozwine bus stop.

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: We dispersed, myself and Dina went away on foot until we arrived at Mayor B.B. Biele's house at H2.
	When we arrived there he was shocked at why we were arriving, just the two of us.  We told him that we didn't know where the others were we thought that we would find them already at his house.

MR WILLS: We've heard that evidence from Mr Mkhize, Mr Mbambo, but what was Biela's - did you mention anything about this attack to Biela?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: Firstly before we went to attack Mr Mthimkhulu, even going to Umtokozwene, Biela knew about this very well because we had actually left from his house.  All the final planning was done at his house, he was also present.  It was for that reason that we returned to his house afterwards.

MR WILLS: And what did he say to you when you returned?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: He asked how we had fared and we told him that we attacked Mthimkhulu but we were not certain whether indeed he had been hit or killed.  We explained how we had attacked and how he had escaped.  We also explained that thereafter we had proceeded to Intokozwene and attacked there.  This all pleased him but he was also worried that Mr Mthimkhulu had not been killed.

MR WILLS: Okay, again in respect of these incidents you haven't been prosecuted or charged or you haven't been investigated to your knowledge in any manner whatsoever as regards these two incidents.

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: No I've not been investigated nor prosecuted for this case.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry just before you move on Mr Wills, Mr Mbambo, this attack at the bus stop were you of the opinion that people that you fired at were killed or injured?

ROMEO MBUSO MBAMBO: The way which we shot I was sure that certain people did die because some fell.  I think that is also the reason why the others returned fire so that they could pick up those that had fallen.