Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-10-24

WITNESS:   One of them was Mr Moonlight Gasa, and all in all there were five, Moonlight Gasa was a mayor, and there was also Ebenezer Maphumulo, Mngadi, and Bangohlaba(?) Mbahule(?), he was the taxi owner and the two others who were the killers.   Julius Juja(?) and Vaguthethwa(?) Hlalo(?).

CHAIRPERSON: Where in Moonlight Gasa now?

WITNESS:   I heard that Moonlight Gasa has since died.   He died, he was - I suspect that he was sick, he had a heart attack whilst he was in prison.   The people were arrested.   They were found guilty.

CHAIRPERSON: What about Ebenezer Maphumulo?

WITNESS:   I don't know whether he is still around, or still alive.

CHAIRPERSON: What about Bangohlaba Mbahule?

WITNESS:   (No reply)

CHAIRPERSON: Let me help you, I don't blame you, it is quite a long time since this happened, and it is your brother who has died.   According to your statement, you said that Moonlight Gasa as well as Bangohlaba and Mngadi were staying in Lamontville, and they hired the two killers, Vaguthethwa and Julius Juja.   They hired them to go and kill your brother, but when the matter was being heard all were arrested as suspects.   Gasa was given 12 years, Mbahule - 8, and the other ones were given live sentence.  Hlahlo was given death sentence, and Mhlaba, who had orchestrated the whole thing and conspired to kill, he was killed during the trial.

CHAIRPERSON: Did you ever hear who killed him?

WITNESS:   No, I've got absolutely no idea.

CHAIRPERSON: Where is Mhlaba's family?

WITNESS:   I don't know where they are, I don't know whether they are still staying in Lamontville or not.

CHAIRPERSON: After your brother had been killed, is it correct that Lamontville was integrated into Zululand?

WITNESS:   No, that was not successful, because the Lamontville community flatly refused to be part of the KwaZulu region.

CHAIRPERSON: You remember what happened in 1984, during the unveiling of Mzizi's tombstone?

WITNESS:   Yes, there were certain  people from KwaZulu  who came and  they  said they were looking for  -  they said  they were  looking for their  King's handkerchief.   I don't  know  whether it was a  handskerchief(?), or a headkerchief(?), or a flag.

CHAIRPERSON: Who were these people?   Just give us a clear indication?

WITNESS:   They were Inkatha members.

CHAIRPERSON: How did you see that it was Inkatha?

WITNESS:   They had knobkerries and all sorts of traditional weapons, that's how I identified them.  They also had shields.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, how did you see that they were Inkatha members?  /---  Because

CHAIRPERSON: ---   Because Zulus do carry knobkerries.   We were talking to them personally at the unveiling of the tombstone and they said they were looking for this flag, headkerchief or handkerchief, I am not sure what they were looking for.

CHAIRPERSON: How many children were left by Mzizi when he died?

WITNESS:   It is two children, Seyathemba and Vuzimuzi, a boy and a girl.

CHAIRPERSON: Who is Patricia Ngcobo?

WITNESS:   Patricia Ngcobo was his fiancee.

CHAIRPERSON: Where is she?

WITNESS:   She was also killed very brutally in Hibberdene.

CHAIRPERSON: What about the grandchildren?

WITNESS:   Pat was killed, as well as the grandchildren and the caretaker, it is not known even today as to who killed these people.

CHAIRPERSON: Was there any inquest that was held with regard to the death of these three people?

WITNESS:   No, there was not any.

CHAIRPERSON: How did the death of your brother affect you as a family?

WITNESS:   We went through a lot of trauma and at that time my mother was very old, and my brother was a breadwinner.

CHAIRPERSON: Is your mother still alive?

WITNESS:   No, she is no longer alive.

CHAIRPERSON: What about Mzizi's children, are they working?

WITNESS:  Yes, they are old now and they are working.

CHAIRPERSON: How did this affect him psychologically and mentally?

WITNESS:   The girl was very close to her father, and I believe she is the one who is even more traumatized than the rest.   The boy was so very young, but now that

CHAIRPERSON: he is grown up, whenever he comes to my place he always tells me that it is so very painful not to have a father, because there is a lot of questions that he would like to ask a father as a boy, and he was not able to do that because he did not have a father.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, you have come to the truth commission.  What are your expectations from the truth commission, because according to your records the people who killed Mzizi were all arrested and they were found guilty and convicted?   What are your expectations from us?

WITNESS:   My request is that if I could get some answers from the words of the killer on the day that he was convicted, he stood up after being convicted and he said he wanted to know as to how he was going to get his money because now he had been convicted, because the government knew about whatever was happening.   I will be happy if you could give me an answer, because I would be laid to rest.

CHAIRPERSON: If I can hear you, you are saying the people who sent the killer to kill your brother, why did they send him to come and kill your brother?

WITNESS:   Yes, that's what I would like to know.

CHAIRPERSON: Do you have  any  other questions?  Mr Lyster?

MR LYSTER: It is not really a question, just an observation that I would like to make, I think it is important to make it.
Earlier on today Dr Boraine was talking about things like banning orders, one of the earlier witnesses, Dr Fatima Meer talked about banning orders, and Dr Boraine said that we forget that people in this country, political activists and other people were subjected to things like banning orders, where they were refused the ability to communicate openly and ordinarily with their peers and their colleagues and their families.  And we tend to forget these sorts of things.   
And one of the things that you mentioned in your evidence that your brother - in Lamontville  at the time was  this  process  of  unemployed  people being  sent away  from the urban  areas, and in our new young democracy we tend to forget the sorts of terrible pieces of  social engineering that the old government put in place to deal with people.  That process was known as section 29 of the Urban Areas Act.  And people, black people, who lived in townships like Lamontville and Chesterville  had a limited right to live in an urban area, and if they became unemployed for a certain period of time, if they in the government's terms if they lost their usefulness in an urban area, they could be sent away to a rural area that they may never have been to, that they may have never had contact with.   They were endorsed out of the urban areas if they became unemployed.  And many thousands, thousands and thousands of black South Africans were dealt with in this way.   
They lost their jobs in the city and they were endorsed out by the authorities, and many thousands of these people ended up as forced labour on farms in the Eastern Cape and in the Orange Free State.  
And many thousands of people suffered in that way.  And it is one of the most degrading and hurtful pieces of social engineering that the old government ever implemented.   And it is one of the pieces of legislation that your brother fought very bravely against, and although he is dead, it - we hope it is of some comfort to you that many thousands of people in Lamontville and elsewhere regarded him as a hero.   Thank you, Mr Chairman.