Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1977-08-07

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: I'm referring to myself because I was the one who was at home because my brother was not staying at my place at that time and all the members of my family had to hide themselves, that's when they threw in the bombs inside the house.  I also shot back without aiming at anyone in particular, I just wanted them to get scattered and I wanted to protect my family and I wanted the attackers to run away.  My gun was a self-made gun and whenever this gun goes off anyone would be scared because of the sound it emits.  The attackers realised that I was also fighting for my life, they all scattered.  They ran away and when they ran away we were able to see as to how much the damage was.  When I looked around I realised that part of the wall had fallen off as well as the curtains and I went to the back of the house -  I saw some petrol bombs.  We collected all the evidence and we sat and waited to see as to whether they were going to come back but luckily they did not come back, that's when I realised that it's very important or imperative upon us or upon myself to protect myself and that was the way that I was going to protect myself because our neighbours were scared to come out whenever these attacks took place and it was ...(intervention)

ADV DE JAGER: We've got to write down whatever he says or we're trying to do so to get a clear picture so if he could go a little bit slower it would be of great assistance.

ADV SANDI: And also Mr Shembe, when your client goes further can you ask him to connect Mr Makanja to this, can you tell us how ...(intervention)

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: I will do that in the course of time.

ADV SANDI: Okay.

MR SHEMBE: Were you able to see whether in that firing of yours on the day of the burning of the house, were there any persons injured there?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: I'm not positive, I cannot say as to whether there was anyone who was injured at that time because what was important at that time was my safety as well as the damage that had been done to the house.

MR SHEMBE: ...(inaudible)  identify anyone, anyone as to whether these are the members of ...(intervention)

INTERPRETER: Could you please finish your question?  Could the speaker please finish his question.

MR SHEMBE: ...(inaudible) in a position to identify the attackers?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: No, I was not able to positively identify anyone but I heard voices that I could identify and I knew that they were the members of the UDF. As I was a member of Inkatha, I believed that Inkatha was fighting for freedom and I believed that the UDF was trying to thwart our attempts to fight for freedom.

MR SHEMBE: So before coming to that, how did you feel about the attack on your family toward ...(intervention).

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: Thereafter I felt very unsafe and not free because there were these sporadic attacks.  I also had some scars which had been inflicted by the members of the UDF.  It became clear to me that even when I was arrested under the State of Emergency, they had pointed me out and I realised that the UDF was my enemy or our enemy as Inkatha members and they wanted to kill us.

CHAIRPERSON: ...(inaudible) and general you know, I want to know for example when was he arrested during the State of Emergency, where was he arrested, for how long because he might want to make enquiries from the police whether that is true.

MR SHEMBE: I understand Mr Chairman.  You have just mentioned that you were having, you are having scars now or wounds which you've sustained through the attack by the opponent, where are those scars in your body?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: Xhosa, no Englsih translation.

CHAIRPERSON: What wounds did you have?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: The first one is where I'm pointing, the second one I was shot where I'm pointing, it's the back and they extracted the bullet at the hospital, it was fired from a 38 calibre gun.  I was shot on my right leg as well.  That's when I realised that I had to arm myself because if I didn't arm myself I was going to get killed because other members of Inkatha had been killed by that time.

CHAIRPERSON: ...(inaudible) to say that these are the injuries he received on that occasion when people came there to attack his house and he fired and they scattered, is that the occasion when he got these injuries?

MR SHEMBE: That's where I was coming to ...(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: ...(inaudible)

MR SHEMBE: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr Hlengwa do you, just wait ...(intervention)  You ... (intervention)

ADV DE JAGER: Could you, could the applicant kindly listen to me.  Wait for your Counsel to ask the question - he'll lead you in order to bring out the dates and the occasions so don't answer before he finished his question because he'll help you to give us a, the full picture if you only listen to him and answer his questions.

MR SHEMBE: You have just mentioned the injuries, on which day or on which incident did you sustain those injuries?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: These were on different occasions but on this particular day of the attack they were not able to injure me because I was able to defend myself.  These happened on different occasions, there were many times where we had fights with the UDF, where they would attack us and at times we would launch some counter attacks or defend ourselves.

CHAIRPERSON: Once again to make just, there must be some coherence Mr Shembe in his evidence and one can't allow him to ramble about events in a disjointed way.  Now you've asked him about when this house was attacked, he was not injured on that occasion.  Now please carry on from there and don't let him ramble about other incidents on other occasions and so on please.  If it becomes relevant from your point of view, then say so and give us the date and time and so on but if it is in relation to offences for which he has been previously convicted and involved in shootings and fighting's then it's another matter.

MR SHEMBE: I would also request Mr Hlengwa when he speaks to look at me so that I can stop him when he's rambling.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, we'd like him to look up then we can see him.

MR SHEMBE: So you have just said - we are on the incident of the burning of the house now and the day of that incident you didn't suffer any injuries so now the issue of  those incidents - of those injuries you sustained, were they reported to the police that you have been attacked?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: There was no time for you to go to the police to report any injuries because it was even difficult for us to go to the hospital.  The police would just come at random especially after they've heard some gunfire and they would come and sort the matters out but it was difficult for us to go to the police at that stage.  ...(no sound)

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, he repelled the attack on his house, we've heard that.  He did not get injured on that occasion, what is the next thing that happened which is relevant for the purpose of this application?

MR SHEMBE: Now, you have correctly said that on the day of the attack on your house, you repelled the attack and you didn't sustain any injuries and then thereafter, from there onwards, how did this political fighting, how did this political misunderstanding between your party and the opponent carry on?

VUSI LINDA HLENGWA: Xhosa, no translation.

CHAIRPERSON: Between himself, as we are concerned not with his political party, we are concerned about his involvement.

MR SHEMBE: Let's take - today let's say we are being attacked, your house is being attacked and then you are chasing the attackers away from your house, you individually not your party.  Now, how did you feel and what was your reaction thereafter to the opponent, after the day of the attack on your homestead?