Amnesty Hearings — Potchefstroom — UNKNOWN

LUCY LOMANDLA: He was afraid of the comrades.  They were calling themselves Com-Tsotsis.  Therefore because he doesn't have an elder brother so he left to stay with his friends where he was staying.  When I left, I left because they said they were going to burn my house.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Was David any member of a political party?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I don't know that he was a member of any political party, but there was a T-shirt which was written PAC.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Did you know about the vigilante group?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I don't know the vigilantes.  They were calling themselves Com-Tsotsis and Azazim.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Do you know what Azazim means?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I don't know.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: You left where you said you did go.  You went to look for David.  Then you found him neat and clean.  May you continue from there.

LUCY LOMANDLA: Then I asked him that he must come and enjoy Christmas with us.  Then he said he wants to stay with his friends for three days, then on the third day I took him so that he must go to school in Transkei.  Then he said to me the situation is so tense because if they don't find me they are going to kill you or my sister, Depoa.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Did David tell you that why did they want to kill him?

LUCY LOMANDLA: Yes, he said to me he is not their member therefore he is not struggling with them, then he is always clean and wearing expensive clothes.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Go forth.

LUCY LOMANDLA: Truly that day I didn't stay.  Then I went
4	to/...
139	MS LOMANDLA
to pass to my grandmother's house.  At that time it was ten past five.  It is then that I heard that David was shot.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: How many minutes were you separated from him?

LUCY LOMANDLA: It was about 20 minutes, the last time I saw him.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Proceed.

LUCY LOMANDLA: The way it was I was afraid to go to the scene but when I went to the police station to look for him he was full of blood, I was afraid even to look at him.  I asked the person who was working there, that person told me that seven bullets - then he said the only one which has killed him is one on the head, and even if he would be alive, he couldn't have been well mentally.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: How old was David when he was killed?

LUCY LOMANDLA: He was 16 years and then on the 22nd May he was going to finish 17.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Was he a student or was he working?

LUCY LOMANDLA: He was a student.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Which standard was he in?

LUCY LOMANDLA: He was doing Std 5.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Which school, if you know?

LUCY LOMANDLA: He was at (inaudible), then he couldn't make it because of the Sotho, then I took him to Mbulelo.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: According to you, the way you knew David, could he be a political activist?

LUCY LOMANDLA: No, he was not for politics.  He didn't like them because he was afraid.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: According to your knowledge has David (inaudible).

LUCY LOMANDLA: All the time I knew him I was not staying with David.  It is the time when I flee my house.
4

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: /...
140	MS LOMANDLA

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Do you have the knowledge that David was befriending the police people?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I don't have the knowledge, but I remember one day when one policeman arrived at my workplace that I don't know where David is, he is staying in the location, then I directed him where he stays.  Then he said don't hide him because I want to see him.  But he just said to me I just want to see him.  Then I told him that I don't want to go to location because if they don't find David they are going to kill me.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: That policeman, was he a white policeman or a black policeman?

LUCY LOMANDLA: He was a white policeman.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: According to the discussion with the policeman was he looking like a friendly person or a person who was going to arrest him?

LUCY LOMANDLA: It seems he was coming to arrest him.  The way I was looking at him it seems he was coming to arrest him.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: I explained to you that David was killed the way I have explained.  How do you feel about this act?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I am painful because I cannot even forget David, because I had hoped that he was going to be something in the community.  I had only two children.  I thought David would be one that was going to work for me.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: You did explain when we were together there that the funeral of David was not according to the plan and it has some other things.  Can you explain to the Court?

LUCY LOMANDLA: David's funeral, there was no prayer, there was nothing.  Then they said if there is a prayer they are going to shoot and they are going to burn, and I buried David without their knowledge and when David(>) arrived at 4	my/...
141	MS LOMANDLA
my work - this Faltein he said I should stop hiding him because he is going to rot in a mortuary and then he is going to live for a long time.  I am a woman.  Then I was afraid of this Faltein.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: This Faltein was talking to you straight?

LUCY LOMANDLA: No, he was talking indirectly.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: But he was talking these things when you were passing.

LUCY LOMANDLA: I didn't believe that this Faltein was the one who killed my son, but I think he was trying to make me hurt.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: This Faltein and Ncube, they came before this Committee to ask for amnesty in terms of what they have done.  What is your feeling in terms of their request for amnesty?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I don't know how can I forgive them.  They've taken my son who was going to work for me when I am old.  They are going to work for their parents.  Even if I forgive them, but I am not going to forget.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Do you have a sense of reconciliation?

LUCY LOMANDLA: Yes.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Do you see the need for reconciliation so that they should be forgiven?

LUCY LOMANDLA: It is me who should forgive them because there is no one who is going to forgive them because they have killed my son.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: During your son's funeral you had expenses.

LUCY LOMANDLA: Yes.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: In these expenses, was there somebody who was helping you?

LUCY LOMANDLA: There was nobody who helped me.  I borrowed
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money from my work so that I should pay back.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Who was your employed?

LUCY LOMANDLA: That's Mohamed Coovadia.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: How much did you borrow?

LUCY LOMANDLA: I asked her to borrow me R2 000.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Did she give it to you?

LUCY LOMANDLA: Yes.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Were you able to pay her back?

LUCY LOMANDLA: Yes, I was paying it in instalments.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: We have the Committee which helps people
4	CHAIRMAN/...
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CHAIRPERSON: Ladies and Gentlemen please.  This is a very sad and solemn occasion for this lady who is giving evidence, and show her the respect by listening peacefully to what she has to say.

<UNKNOWN>: Thank you Mr Chairman. What kind of a help do you need?

UNKNOWN: I want to put a tombstone for my son.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS

CHAIRPERSON: Are there any questions which you might want to put to this witness?

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Only one.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: I heard your answering the question which was asked about forgiveness.  You said there is no other person who is able to forgive the applicants without you, other than you.  It has been explained by my learned that the applicants, one of them is Voltuin, another one is Ncube, they have asked for amnesty to the Amnesty Committee which is in front of us here.  The question is if these two people may take other steps in a different way that they may ask forgiveness from you as the parent of the deceased, will you forgive them?

UNKNOWN: Yes I will forgive them.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS

ADV DE JAGER: Did they at any stage ask forgiveness from you or approached you and said they are sorry?

UNKNOWN: They haven't come Sir.