Human Rights Violation Hearings — Empangeni — 1996-11-05

WITNESS:   At Mbulili in Swaziland.  When they took him they sent a friend of  theirs - his name is Gerald Mngomezulu - they sent him to check if my father-in-law was there and he found that my father-in-law was there.  When he realised that he was there he went back to these boers and he told them that he's there and when they arrived there they took my father-in-law.  He was a commando.  He left Saudi Arabia and he went to Tanzania and then he came back home.  His wife was Sephiwe and they were staying with her but she wasn't there when they took him.  He had gone to Ingwavuma to check for their stocks which were left there.  When they arrived there, they took him.  They left with him at the border gate and they put a balaclava on him and they also took others as well and those people who they took, they came back.  It was Lokutu Mngomezulu, Mkhetwa Mngomezulu and they just beat them and they took them to Ndumo.  There they went with Mr Schoon(?) - I'm not quite sure whether he was a commander of the police, but that's what I heard.  When they arrived at Ndumo they took them again to Vryheid and from Vryheid they took them to 'Maritzburg.  That's where they were assaulted badly and they also tortured them with something which is called a "cat" and he was hurt.  Even today he can't walk.  Mkhetwa was assaulted and his buttocks were injured.  And my father-in-law was taken by them.  We never heard anything about him.  What we are asking, we as Swazis who want them to tell us where they've taken him and we want his bones back home, that's if they killed him.

MR LYSTER:  Mrs Mngomezulu, your father-in-law - was this now the father of your husband?

WITNESS:   Yes, he is my husband's father. Now, you said that he underwent training abroad.  What was he?  Was he a member of MK?   ---   Yes, he was a member of MK.

MR LYSTER:  And he went to Tanzania and elsewhere?

WITNESS:   Saudi Arabia and Tanzania and then he came back home at Ingwavuma.

MR LYSTER:  And then he stayed at Ingwavuma for some time and then he left Ingwavuma and went to Swaziland.

WITNESS:   It's one area for Mngomezulu family - Ingwavuma up to Swaziland.

MR LYSTER:  And you said he was attacked by people from Ingwavuma who were in collusion with whites.  Was that when there was a split in the Mngomezulu clan?

WITNESS:   Police attacked him.  I don't know whether the policemen were from South Africa but among these policemen there was one policeman whose name is Mr Schoon.  And he was staying at Jozini.

MR LYSTER:  And these people who were abducted with him, Lokutu and Mkhetwa Mngomezulu, were those relations of his?

WITNESS:   Yes, it's family.

MR LYSTER:  And you said that he was abducted by two white police officers and one African, Gerald Mngomezulu.

WITNESS:   Yes, they are the same policemen who abducted my father-in-law.  The same policemen who took my father-in-law are the policemen who took these other guys.

MR LYSTER:  And Gerald Mngomezulu, was he a policeman or was he - you said here in your statement he was a member of the IFP.  What do you know about Gerald Mngomezulu?

WITNESS:   He was a member of IFP.

MR LYSTER: Now, you said that they were all severely beaten.  Is this the story that you got from Lokutu and Mkhetwa?   /Is that

MR LYSTER: Is that how you know what happened to them?  Are they now back in Swaziland?

WITNESS:   We knew that because they'd taken Mkhetwa and my sister-in-law Lokutu and they were also beaten and assaulted and the second time that's when they took Mr Jimson.

MR LYSTER:  And Lokutu and Mkhetwa, are they now back with you in Swaziland?

WITNESS:   Yes, they are in Swaziland.  They are even scared to come back here.  They think they might experience what they experienced.

MR LYSTER:  And just to recap.  They said that they were taken from Swaziland to Ndumo.  Is that to the police station?  Where were they taken at Ndumo?

WITNESS:   Ndumo Police Station.

MR LYSTER:  And they were also taken to Pietermaritzburg, is that right?

WITNESS:   Initially they took them to Ndumo Police Station and then after Ndumo Police Station they went to Vryheid and then after Vryheid that's when they were taken to 'Maritzburg.

MR LYSTER:  And when did Lokutu and Mkhetwa - when did they last see your father-in-law?  Was it in Ndumo or in Vryheid or in Pietermaritzburg, do you know?

WITNESS:   No, they were taken immediately after they left the border gate they went to 'Maritzburg to order clothes and they took them at the border gate.

MR LYSTER:  And did they tell you - did Lokutu and Mkhetwa - did they tell you what did the police ask them?  What did they want to know from them?  Why did they abduct them?  Why did they beat them?  What information were they looking for?

WITNESS:   What they asked from them is that why are they refusing with Ingwavuma, why the chief denied that the boers should possess that area and they  told them that they wanted that area to belong to Africans not boers or Zulus.  And then again they said to them they must agree that they were ANC members and they said, "No, we aren't."  That's when they started assaulting and beating them and they beat them until they were confused.  One of them collapsed and lost consciousness.  My sister-in-law, Lokutu, lost consciousness until they called me at Bethesda to come and fetch her.

MR LYSTER:  At that time you were working as a nursing sister at Bethesda Hospital, is that right?

WITNESS:   No, I was a nurse.

MR LYSTER:  And who told you to come and fetch her?  The Police?

WITNESS:   They called at home and they asked me I should check if she's not there and when I asked other people, they told me that they were at Ndumo.  I met them at the border gate.  That's when they told me they're from 'Maritzburg and then I went with them to home.

MR LYSTER:  Is your husband still alive, Mrs Mngomezulu?

WITNESS:  Yes, he is still alive and he's staying with his wife.

MR LYSTER:  Where's he staying, in Swaziland?

WITNESS:   No, at Bonjeni(?).

MR LYSTER:  And does he know that you are here making enquiries about the disappearance of his father?

WITNESS:   He doesn't know anything.  We don't contact each other.

MR LYSTER:  And Gerald Mngomezulu, is he a distant relative of the Mngomezulu family?  Do you know him?  Do you know where he is today?

WITNESS:   I don't know where he is.  Yes, he is a relative, a blood relative at Mngomezulu.  But at this moment I don't know where he is.  I don't  know.  After they abducted my father-in-law, I don't know where he's gone to.

MR LYSTER:  What other means have you used to try and find your father-in-law or to try and trace what happened to him?  Did you lodge a complaint with the police here at any stage?  Is this the first time you've talked about it in public?  What steps have you taken to try and find him?

WITNESS:   We met as a family, all of us.  Each and every one of us made suggestions and we wanted clues as to where he went to and we discovered that no one had any ideas and they told me that because I'm here in South Africa -I'm working here - they asked me to go and ask at the ANC offices that can't they try to find out what happened to him.

MR LYSTER:  So did you go to the ANC offices here in Empangeni?

WITNESS:   Yes, I went there.

MR LYSTER:  And did they make some enquiries on your behalf?

WITNESS:   They tried to make contact for me that on the 17th, 18th, 19th at the church at Empangeni I should go there, there will be ANC representatives.  I went there.

MR LYSTER:  And your father-in-law, how many other children did he have?  Have they made enquiries or are you the only one, as his daughter-in-law, who is making enquiries about his disappearance?

WITNESS:   I don't know what happened to my sister-in-law.  I only have one sister-in-law in Swaziland who is the one who has been asking me to try and find out and she's the last-born.