Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-08-29

WITNESS:   It is a hostel.  They came in during the night.  They broke the windows and they threw in petrol bombs.  We were 13 inside the house.  We were 13 in ages, 13 and 12.  Some went out through the kitchen, but I was not able to escape at that time and I hid myself underneath the bed which was next to the door.  This member of Inkatha poured petrol over the frame and the bed started burning, and I was hiding myself underneath the bed, and the bedspread started burning also.  And everybody else in the house had escaped, and they came in, they lifted - they first shot before they lifted the bed under which I was hiding.  When they came to my bed my bed was burning, and they neglected to lift it.  This other one tried to handle the frame, but the frame of the bed was hot because it was in flames.  But I could see their feet as they were walking past, and I could see they were wearing police boots.  They attacked and they left.  I was left inside the house.  When the house was now in smoke I managed to get out and escape.  They went away, and I also got a chance to escape from the house.  I went to sleep at a certain place.  Then the following day we went to the playgrounds.  When I got there I - I think Thulani was 11 years old, and he had been shot.  He was wearing a white T-shirt.  Thulani had been shot on the chest, as well as in the heart.  There was a big hole.  It looked as if they had actually tried to rip the bullet out of the flesh.  His fingers were missing.  His private parts were missing.  They had cut them out and they had placed a liquor, a home-brewed beer box on his private parts, and there was a big hold on the chest.  His tongue was also missing.  I went to make a statement because I was the one who was there.  I went to the police to submit a statement as to what had happened.  Before I went to submit the statement I saw Mr Mkhize, and I saw some tyres in front of Mr Mkhize's car.  I saw him taking some red meat from the tyres, and I was surprised as to what that red meat was doing.  It was in a certain plastic, and he noticed that I had seen him.  He looked at me with some surprise.  I asked myself as to what the meat was doing in a green plastic and between the tyres.  When I got to the police I submitted the statement.  When I came back from the police Mkhize chased me.  He tried to shoot me, but he missed.  I was having a steriliser in my hand, and he shot part of the bottle and I was left handling the neck of the bottle.  But I didn't notice that he had shot the bottle.  I only realised later on that I was left with the neck of the bottle thereafter.  And after that there was this serious harassment, as well as disturbances between Mr Mkhize and myself.  That's when they ended up attacking us.  I could not stay at home at that juncture because Mkhize, as well as Inkatha members, were harassing us.  What causes me to say it was Inkatha that was at my place to attack, they were singing their war cry.  They have some war cries that they utter, and they were uttering their war cries.  They have particular war cries that they utter whenever they attack.  And I had seen one of Inkatha members having something that looked like a baton, and the Inkatha members shot us - shot at us and they ran to Nyosini.  And the ZP Police used to go to that place at Nyosini.  That's where they used to meet apparently.  And thereafter I could not go to school.  I ultimately had to go away from the school, and whenever they looked at my document that said I was Ntuli family, and I was coming from KwaMakutha, I would not get a school, I would not be accepted because of my past and the place at which I was staying.  I went away in 1989, and that's where I schooled.  That's all I can say.

MR LAX: One last question around - you said you reported this case of the attack at that hostel and of Thulani Mkhize's death.  Was there ever an inquest or a court case about the attack, or anything of that nature?

WITNESS:   No, there is nothing that happened, but when I came back I was attacked by Mkhize for that.  He told me that I thought I was brilliant for having gone to make a statement against him.  But I was not fighting against Mkhize.

MR LAX: No, we hear you.  Thank you very much.  I hand back to the chairperson.

COMMISSIONER: Mrs Ntuli and Mbusi, we thank you both very much for coming here today and telling your respective stories.  As Mr Lax has said, only two kilometres from here, in the Supreme Court, a large number of people - I think there are 22 of them, including the former Minister of Defence, Magnus Malan, the Chief of the Army, and many other generals and senior officers, are on trial for the murder of your husband and daughters, and your father and sisters.  We don't know if these people will be found guilty of the murders, and if they are found guilty we will subpoena them to come to this Commission to tell you, and to tell the members of the public, why they did what they did.  It is also possible that even if they are not found guilty we will subpoena some of those people in order to shed light on the terrible massacre which took place.  As you know the evidence against these people is that Chief Minister Buthelezi, as he then was, requested the Defence Force to provide him with a covert or secret offensive unit which could be deployed against the UDF, and the evidence contained in the docket is that the South African Defence Force acted on this request, and that they recruited a number of IFP members in the townships around Durban, and they sent them to an army camp in the Caprivi Strip to be trained in the use of weapons.  And the evidence is that these people were then sent back to Durban, and they were housed in army barracks of the Defence Force.  And the docket goes on to state that these people became impatient, and they wanted to practice their newly acquired skills, and that, with the help of the Secretary of Inkatha, Mr M Z Khumalo, a target was chosen, and the target was a certain Mr Thusini, who was a tenant in your house.  And the evidence goes on to state that a Defence Force vehicle with false numberplates dropped off a number of armed men near your house in KwaMakutha in the middle of the night, and that they attacked and killed your family.

COMMISSIONER: Now, it must have been very difficult for you to have waited - lived for so many years without knowing who killed your family and why they killed them, and we hope that this ordeal will come to an end soon for you.  I am sure that you and many other members of the public are awaiting the outcome of this trial, which is due to be completed next week.

COMMISSIONER: Mbusi has also provided us with very graphic evidence of his own suffering and harassment at the hands of people like Mr Mkhize an other members of the IFP, and of the terrible mutilation and death of an 11-year-old boy.  We have heard many stories from witnesses at this Commission, and this surely must rank among the worst of them.  We have heard your mother's request - we have heard her say that she is destitute, she doesn't have a place to live, that there are other people living in her house and your house, and we presume that this is one of requests that she will make to the Commission, that she should be compensated for the loss of her house.  And when we make our recommendations to the Government this is certainly one of the recommendations that we will be making.

COMMISSIONER: Is there something else that you want to add to what you've already said?

WITNESS:   I want to ask a question.  I

COMMISSIONER: did not understand you when you said there were people who  /were targeted