Human Rights Violation Hearings — Benoni — 1997-02-05

MR LEWIN: Ladies and gentlemen it is very hot and it is fairly late, but we do have two further witnesses that we will hear this afternoon, if I could ask people's patience and forbearance with us.  I would like to call Samson Xakeka to come forward please.
 Mr Xakeka thank you for coming.  Are you comfortable and can you hear through the earphones?

MR XAKEKA: I am quite comfortable and I would like to speak Xhosa.  Thank you.

MR LEWIN: Thank you.  Before you give your evidence and I will ask Russell Ally to lead that, could you please stand to take the oath?

MR XAKEKA: (sworn states)

MR LEWIN: Thank you.  I will ask Russell Ally to lead your evidence.  Thank you.

RUSSELL ALLY: Samson welcome.  It has been a long wait.  You are actually coming to speak about the very same incident as the previous speaker, what has become known as the Daveyton Massacre.  It took place on the 24th of March, 1991.
 We have actually heard from the previous witness some of the background and the events of that day.  
 I am going to ask you, if you do not mind, to stick specifically to your experience, to what actually happened to you and also to the issue of the murder charge which 
you experienced.  Thank you.

MR XAKEKA: Thank you.  I would like to thank you firstly for the opportunity and also thank God for having brought me thus far.
 Very briefly, I would like to say, my statement is very similar to David's, except for a few differences.    In 1991 on the 24th of March there was an agreement between the leadership of the ANC and the Civic Organisation in Daveyton and the police, that the IFP, since it was going to come to Daveyton, the Civic organisation and the leaders asked that they do not come through the location by foot but that they be brought to the stadium by bus.  And they agreed.
 What then happened and what surprised us was the breach of agreement between the police and the leadership of the ANC and where we saw the IFP roaming the streets of the location and not being transported by bus.  That surprised some of us.   
 And some of us ran because we were trying to find places of safety and watch these people from places where we were safe, because when they used to leave the rallies which they attended they would just cause damage and we tried to all be at a place of safety.
 Very briefly, while we were there, trying to caucus about what to do, what I saw is that we were surrounded by police and they ask for two of our leaders.  These two leaders then went to them and they told them that they want us to disperse within five minutes.
 We were still amazed by this request for between one and five minutes to disperse, because while we were there we were on no man's land, we were not damaging anything.  
Why were we told to disperse in that fashion?  We did not see ourselves as doing anything wrong.
 And while we were caucusing there we heard gunshots ring out and all hell broke loose.   And they have surrounded us completely, is you started running you would run into a policeman.
 I found myself on the ground without even having got out of there.   I lay there for quite a while, if I am not mistaken it must have been for approximately three hours.   When I lifted my head I realised that I was not breathing and I looked up, I just saw red.  And my memory started to come back and I remembered that we were at Sagala and I put my hand into my breast and I started breathing again.   And I lay down again and pretended to be dead, because these men were coming back and there were so many dead men around.
 I held my chest for quite a while, pressing it and in the meantime these white policemen and also black policemen were swearing all over us, saying, die you kaffirs, die you dogs, yes, die.
 Because I was so afraid I decided not even to move, for fear of them coming to finish me off.  And I lay very still for quite a long time.    
 A policeman appeared in camouflage uniform, a white policeman with a video camera on his shoulder, and he had a firearm.  He put the firearm down next to him. While he was recording the deceased lying there, he would put a firearm next to each deceased and record it.
 What I saw there really disturbed me, because there was a Caspir standing in front of us and as it left, it trod on one of the deceased.  It drove over his head and he was he was not dead at the time, but he was killed by that.
 And if I should take a guess I would say that that lasted for approximately three hours and then a police van arrived.   It approached us in reverse and what really disturbed me the way in which these people were being loaded into the van.  They would be taken and thrown into the police van.
 I was also taken and thrown amongst the deceased.  And when I was thrown in my hand came away from where I was holding my wound and blood started flowing and when I came to I put my hand back on my chest and I thought we were on our way to the mortuary, but thank God we were on our way to the police station.
 When we got to the police station I assessed that I was the only person who was alive amongst all these corpses.
 This white policeman then came and opened up the van and there was someone standing there.   I see that it must have been some authoritarian figure, but this person was being shown and he was congratulating these policeman on a job well done.
 Thereafter when they were going to close the door I cried out, because I realised that we were going to the mortuary.  They said, there is someone still alive there and I was taken out of there and put into an ambulance and taken to hospital.  I was hurried off to hospital.
 When I got to the hospital, at the hospital I met several nursing sisters that I knew and they attended to me very quickly and I said to them, if you could stitch up this wound that would be better.   They stitched that wound thrice, because it was quite big, because the bullet
which penetrated me was a certain type of bullet, it was from a pellet gun and I think that several of them must have penetrated my body because in the hospital I would secrete bullets.
 I remained in hospital for approximately four months and I was in intensive care for those four months.  And what was so bad, what hurt me the most was that I should be in such pain for having done nothing.    You were treated like a convict with police guarding you day and night, one at your head and one at your feet.
 I remained there until I was discharged and by the time I was discharged from hospital I had not recovered fully.   
 I was then taken to the police station and I was in custody as ill as I was.   We remained in custody, I think for approximately two months, if I am not mistaken, and we would go to court in Benoni from time to time and be taken back to prison.
 If you were fortunate enough you would be taken to hospital for treatment, otherwise we remained in custody up until we received bail with the assistance of ANC attorneys, when some of us were released.
 Those of us who did not have family or friends to assist us were assisted by the ANC attorneys and the matter was referred to the Supreme Court in Johannesburg and we were then acquitted when this white man was charged.  
 We were charged for killing a white man and we were taken to the Supreme Court where we were acquitted, because the judge said that he does not see how we could be guilty, because the police used 250 bullets for no reason.
 What was very distressing is that there was a little child that died amongst those 11 people and I would like to ask the Truth Commission, this child's matter never even surfaced.   The child's name was Norma Tamsang and this child was merely walking around in the location and was shot.   I think this child was approximately six or nine years old at the time and died as a result of this although it was never ever mentioned.
 That is all I would like to say for now.