Amnesty Hearings — Vanderbijlpark — 1999-05-13

MR STRYDOM: Chairperson, I don't know who handed out this statement, but we were told that this will be one of the next witnesses and we prepared a statement so long, to be handed in during his cross-examination and in the meantime it's been handed out.  I don't know who did that, but it is a, we were told that you will be one of the witnesses later on.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay.

UNKNOWN: We never said that he would be the witness, we said Mrs Buwa would be one of the witnesses.

MR STRYDOM: Then I misunderstood, but that is the statement of a person we thought is going to be a witness.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.

MR STRYDOM: Ja, it hasn't got any status at this stage.

CHAIRPERSON: Shall I return this?

MR STRYDOM: Well do whatever - handed them out, but we'll accept that.

CHAIRPERSON: Well I assume you are the source.
MACHINE SWITCHED OFF

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, Mr Malindi?

MR MALINDI: Thank you, Chairperson.
	Mr Rahantlhane, in June of 1992, where did you reside?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I resided at 684 Mosheshwe Street.

MR MALINDI: Do you remember the day of 17 June 1992?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: ...(no English interpretation)

MR MALINDI: Is there anything of significance that happened on this particular day?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, I can.

MR MALINDI: What do you remember that happened on 17 June 1992?

CHAIRPERSON: Just before he answer that, Mr Malindi, may I just interrupt for a moment?  Mr Rahantlhane, what is your standard of education?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Standard 10.

CHAIRPERSON: How old are you?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: 36 years old.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay, you understand English, do you?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: No.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, Mr Malindi?

MR MALINDI: Thank you, Chairperson.
	Mr Rahantlhane, although you have a standard 10 education, you prefer to give your evidence in Sesotho.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, in Sesotho.

MR MALINDI: My last question was whether you remember what happened on 17 June 1992.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I remember very clear.

MR MALINDI: What happened?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: We were on patrol in Baralong Street, at the corner of Thaba Baseu.  At about five to ten a Hippo arrived.  The police officers in the Hippo told us to go and sleep.

MR MALINDI: And when the police in the Hippo told you to go to sleep, do you remember any particular words being used?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: They spoke in Afrikaans and in Zulu and said: "Hamba lala".

MR MALINDI: You say you were patrolling near the corner of Baralong and Thaba Baseu.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, Baralong and Thaba Baseu, at the corner of Baralong and Thaba Baseu.

MR MALINDI: How many were you on this patrol?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: We were about 10 or 15.  There were many of us.

MR MALINDI: And why were you conducting this patrol?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: We were on the alert to avoid the Inkatha attack.

MR MALINDI: The group which included yourself, in what capacity were you conducting this patrol?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: We were patrolling barehanded.

MR MALINDI: As this group that was patrolling, did you represent any structure in Boipatong?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: There was no structure in Boipatong that I represented, except the Sporting Coats.

MR MALINDI: After you were told to disperse by the police who were on this vehicle, what did you do?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I decided to go and sleep because I had a feeling that we would be safe as the police informed us to go and sleep.

MR MALINDI: Did the police do anything else besides telling you to disperse?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, they dispersed us through teargas.

MR MALINDI: Did you go to sleep after you took that decision?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, I did.

MR MALINDI: Did you sleep in this address that you have given to the Committee, 684 Mosheshwe Street, in that particular house?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Definitely.

MR MALINDI: Is there anything else that happened during the time you were in the house?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, I think it was at about five to ten, I got into bed.  I was with my girlfriend who was already asleep by then.  I always leave my radio switched on the whole night.  At about 10 - we had the news on Sesotho Stereo, at about ten past ten or twenty past ten I heard a sound of gunshots and sound made by windows.

MR MALINDI: What kind of sound was made by windows?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Breaking windows, that was the sound made by breaking windows hit by stones.

MR MALINDI: After you heard gunshot sounds and the breaking of windows, what happened?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I asked myself two questions.

MR MALINDI: What were they?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I asked myself, whereas we were told to go and sleep, was it members of our team who are breaking windows?

MR MALINDI: And was your, the question to yourself answered in due course?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: The question did receive a response, because I found out that these were not people of our group, they were a group of Zulus who came in swearing.

MR MALINDI: When you say "they came in swearing", what do you mean?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I heard them say: "Get out dogs of Mandela".  In Zulu that would be ...(Zulu).

MR MALINDI: And when you heard those words you were still in your room?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, that's correct.

MR MALINDI: Could you tell where these people who were uttering these words were in relation to your room?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I think they were at the second house from where I stay.

MR MALINDI: After you heard these words, - before I proceed, you said earlier that you asked yourself two questions, what was the second question?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I asked myself whether these were members of our group or was this an Inkatha group that has started to attack.

CHAIRPERSON: Was then the second question whether this was an Inkatha attack?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Yes, that was my second question.

MR MALINDI: And you have said that you got the answer to your questions.  What happened after you heard these words being uttered: "Get out dogs of Mandela", or words to that effect?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: I woke up dressed in my trousers not a T-shirt.  It was fortunate that they did not enter the house neighbouring mine otherwise I would have left for the streets.  They got into 684, the yard where I stayed.  They broke windows, windows to the whole house, by then I stayed in a shack.

MR MALINDI: Was it a shack at the back of house 684?

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: That is correct.

MR MALINDI: Proceed.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: Whilst they were breaking windows, I told myself that they have not yet arrived at the shack.  They broke the kitchen window and then kicked the shack door.  God does work in miraculous ways.  After they had kicked the shack door - I heard an iron behind the shack door, I was leaning against a cabinet and the door was not kicked open that much, only slightly opened.  It was dark inside the shack.  I could see people outside because there was moonlight.
	Three men arrived at the door after the door was opened.  One of them said: "They are asleep".  I was not asleep by then.  They used a sharp object to stab my girlfriend, called Nxula.  The eighth time when he tried to stab her, I took or grabbed this sharpened instrument from his hand, so much that I tried to stab him with this instrument for him to feel how it was.  They ran away.  As they did so one of them tripped and fell at the house door.

CHAIRPERSON: Will you just slow down a bit?  You grabbed this instrument.

THABO JOHANNES RAHANTLHANE: The first one that stabbed my girlfriend, as I pulled it from his had I could not stab him, he ran away.  As they did so ...

CHAIRPERSON: Yes?