Human Rights Violation Hearings — Newcastle — 1996-09-11

WITNESS:   (Witness now speaking Zulu)  I would like to rectify just a minor mistake.  It was in 1982 when I was an activist in school.  I was doing matric in Misinga High School in Tugela Ferry.  What happened there is that we didn't approve or like the way or the kind of education that was given to us.  The decision-making was not very impressive.  We were able to try and organise certain meetings amongst ourselves as students, as well as the teachers, and we brought forth our grievances, as well as the system of teaching at that school at that time.  We had a problem at that time because the teachers did not accept our grievances, and that we wanted to talk to them.  From there they tried to organise some vigilantes to come and attack us as students at the school.  We went to the circuit office for that particular boarding school I was attending at Misinga and we put forth our grievances that we had a problem at that school, and we wanted to talk to them and explain what our problem was.  And along the way when we were talking we had some preliminary talks, and they said they would come to our school and they would speak to us as well as our teachers so that we can get a solution to our problems.  They gave us a particular date and they never turned up on that date.  And we were sent to go back to talk to them once  more, and we were representing the students.  When we got there we could not get any of the people that we spoke to before, and it was apparent that they had spoken to our teachers.  When we went back to the students to give them a report as to how the meeting went it was apparent from our discussions as students that we were not going to be heard, and we decided to organise a school boycott so that the circuit inspectors could come to our school to intervene.  We entered into a class boycott, and this school is in Msinga.  The place is infamous for violence.  There has been sporadic outbreaks of violence due to political reasons.  And our teachers organised that they were going to fetch people from Msinga, or the Msinga community, to come and deal with us accordingly, and part of that was that we should be shot.  They came and they told us that they were sent to come and kill us because we wanted to burn the school down.  And we wanted to sit down with them.  We pointed out to them that our grievances had nothing to do with politics, and we were not fighting, but we wanted solutions to our problems.  And they understood our problem, they accepted it.  On a particular night, that very same night, we heard some gunshots within the premises of this boarding school.  We tried some means of going to the circuit inspectors to alert them as to what was taking place at the school, and we organised a march to the circuit office.  The circuit office was about three and a half kilometres away from the school, and when we got there there was nobody.  The inspectors were not there, and we spoke to the clerks who were present on that day, and they said we should wait for them because they were going to be on their way quite soon.  We waited until late and we had to go back.  And the very same night there were shootings at the school, and the following day we realised that we were not safe and we decided to go to the Magistrate to tell him the problems we were encountering at the school.  And we were approaching September holidays, so we decided to go home on that day.  When we came back from the holidays we discovered that there were certain vigilantes who were resident in the school, and some of the vigilantes were our schoolmates who had been used to turn against us.  And we saw that these people posed as if they were people from outside who were going to come and cause some havoc within the school.  And they were going to start assaulting us because they were fully armed.  It was on a Saturday morning, and we were from the dining hall.  Some of the students ran away when we came across the vigilantes who attacked me.  When they attacked me they left me for dead.  I had lost consciousness at that time and they thought that I was dead, and they - they rushed to the dormitory.  At the time that they were chasing the others at the dormitory some other classmates of mine came to fetch me.  They took me to a certain cottage.  At that time when we were attacked by these vigilantes my classmates or schoolmates ran to the girls' dormitories and they heard there that I was not dead, I was taken to a certain cottage.  I was hidden in Mrs Sithanza's cottage in 'Maritzburg.  That's where I was receiving treatment as I was injured.  What happened thereafter was that they wanted to gain forceful entry into Mrs Sithanza's cottage, and I thought it would be safe for me to go out, but the people that I was with inside the house restrained me from going out.  And some  people went out, and at the girls' dormitory they were also chased.  Some ran from Tugela Ferry up to Newcastle in their pyjamas.  Some went to 'Maritzburg, Johannesburg respectively.  And at that time the police were starting to stream in, as well as the ambulances.  We decided to go into the forest.  I was taken through the forest.  We crossed the River Tugela on foot, and they were trying to take me to the hospital.  As we had just crossed we kept on stopping - they kept on stopping the ambulances to check as to whether we were not there and being ferried to the hospital.  Luckily we were not in those ambulances.  I went to the hospital and I received some treatment and I was admitted.  Within 10 minutes of being admitted one gentleman came, and it was apparent that he knew a lot about violence.  And I saw them indicating using their eyes and their fingers pointing at me.  They were actually using body language.  And some had already alerted my mother that I was injured and I was at the hospital.  I was taken to Dundee Hospital.  I was no longer able to write my exams in 1982 at Misinga High.  One of the things that I can say to this Honourable Commission is that at the time when we were negotiating with our teachers they used - my mother used to receive some phone calls from the school headmaster, who was warning my mother that if she did not fetch me she would fetch me later in a coffin.  And in the meantime there were these sporadic outbreaks of violence in the campus.  I got work in 1983, working in a cable firm.

COMMISSIONER: (Inaudible) ... to the next incident, which is when you were working.  Just tell us briefly how were you assaulted by these vigilantes?  What did they use to  assault you?

WITNESS:   They were using stakes, knobkerries,

COMMISSIONER: knives, as well as pangas and butchers' knives.  And the people who were present, I would meet a group of eight people or more.

COMMISSIONER: (Inaudible) ... they people from the rural area of Msinga, were they political party supporters?  Who were they?

WITNESS:   What happened is that at that time we had closed our schools for September holidays.  The headmaster arranged a certain group of vigilantes to plan an onslaught on us.

COMMISSIONER: (Inaudible) ... that was your first job, was it, after you left school in 1983?  You were working for a cable firm.  Okay, take it up from there.