Amnesty Hearings — Johannesburg — 1999-02-16

MS NHLAYISI: The next application is Sipho Japtha Maduna, page 107, amnesty application AM5475/97.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Maduna, what language would you prefer to use?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Zulu.

CHAIRPERSON: Have you any objections to the taking of the oath?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: ...(no English interpretation)

CHAIRPERSON: Well, let's start all over then.
Do you prefer to use Zulu when testifying?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Now it is customary to take the oath, to affirm that you will tell the truth when testifying.  Have you got any objection to the taking of the oath, or affirming that you will tell the truth?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: (sworn, states)

CHAIRPERSON: Please be seated.  Yes?

MS NHLAYISI: Thank you Mr Chair.  The applicant is applying for amnesty for the following offences.  Murder of - His ID number is 661011 5550 08 9.  The offences that he's applying amnesty for are murder of one Mkolise Sitwala, arson, malicious damage to property, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, possession of explosives, and attempted murder. ...(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: ...(indistinct)

MS NHLAYISI: The person is unknown.  The name of the person is unknown.

MS NHLAYISI: Mr Maduna, you were a member of the Self-Defence Unit in Mavimela section, also known as Sarajevo.  Is that correct?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: That's correct.

MS NHLAYISI: Mavimela section is in Katlehong.  You were a member of the Self-Defence Unit at Mavimela section in Katlehong, is that correct?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: ... (reply in Zulu - not translated).

MS NHLAYISI: Who was your commander?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Zwandile

MS NHLAYISI: When did you join the SDU's?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: In 1990.

MS NHLAYISI: You also informed in consultation that you also participated in the activities of the SDU's in Radebe section, also in Katlehong.  Is that correct?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: That's correct.

MS NHLAYISI: Who was your commander at Radebe section?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Mbongani.

MS NHLAYISI: You have applied for amnesty for the killing of one Mkolise Sitwala.  When did this incident take place?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: In 1993.

MS NHLAYISI: Where did it happen?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: In Radebe section.

MS NHLAYISI: With who were you when you carried out this particular order?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: I was alone.

MS NHLAYISI: Who gave you an order to kill Mkolise?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Mr Mbongani gave me the order.

MS NHLAYISI: What was the reason given to you for carrying out this particular order?  Why were you supposed to kill Mkolise?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: We discovered that Mkolise was a member of IFP.

MS NHLAYISI: What was your source of information regarding this piece of information?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: We discussed about it first in a meeting, as a civic association in Radebe.  At the time at Mkolise's place there were no other people, no other family members.  They were gone already.  We discussed about it.  We realised that people who were Inkatha members used to go visit Mkolise.  Mkolise used to go with them.  What assured me about this is that I asked him, I personally asked him, and he confirmed this.  He said to me he was a member of an IFP.

MS NHLAYISI: When did you ask him about his membership in the IFP?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: On the day when he was murdered, when I murdered him

MS NHLAYISI: At that stage the decision to kill him had already been taken.  Is that correct?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: That's correct.  We had already taken the decision.

MS NHLAYISI: So where and how did you carry out this order?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Mr Mbongani came to see me and told me that Mkolise was around.  I think it was on a week-end.  He told me that Mkolise was around at his girlfriend's place, and he told me to go there and kill him.  I went there, and I found out he was there, and another guy with him.  And his girlfriend was from the kitchen going towards the dining room.  And I went inside, I ask as to who was Mkolise and they pointed him.  I told him I needed to see him outside.  He asked me where we were going.  I told him we were going to talk about it outside.
	We went towards the graveyard and when we arrived there in a bush area like, next to the graveyard, I told him that I'm being sent to kill him, and he asked me who sent me to do so.  I told him that other people have sent me because he was a member of IFP.  And he told me that the truth was he was a member of IFP but he wanted to no longer belong to IFP.  And I said to him since his father was also an IFP and we have his father in our possession we are going to kill his father so that he join the ANC.  And I ask him if he will agree with this proposal, and he said no, and that's when I shot him.

MS NHLAYISI: What type of firearm did you have on the day when you carried out this particular order?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Nine millimetre shotgun.

MS NHLAYISI: How many times did you shoot him?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Once.

MS NHLAYISI: When you left, was he dead already?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: I think he was dead already.  9mm shotgun.  There are different types of 9mms, I'm referring to the short one, 9mm short one, the one that is almost the 765 size.

CHAIRPERSON: It's a pistol.

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Yes.

MS NHLAYISI: So the reason for killing Mkolise was there was information that he was an IFP member, therefore he had to be eliminated.  Is that correct?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: That's correct.

MS NHLAYISI: You've also mentioned, amongst other things, that you were involved in burning shacks at Mngadi section.  Could you briefly tell us about this incident?  When did it happen?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: It was in 1993.

MS NHLAYISI: Which month was it?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: No, I can't remember the month.

MS NHLAYISI: To who did this shack belong, or shacks rather, belong?  The shacks that you burned at Mngadi.  Do you know the owners thereof?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: I don't know the owners.  All I know is that in those shacks IFP members were living there.  There were no longer ANC.

CHAIRPERSON: And where were these shacks?  In an informal settlement, or off a particular road, or where?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Next to Mgati Street, near the church, a certain church.  There are no longer names in Katlehong.  I don't know the name, I don't know the address, but I can take you there.

CHAIRPERSON: Carry on.

MS NHLAYISI: It was in Mgati Street or Mgati section?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Mgati section.

MS NHLAYISI: Give then the full address as to the name of the street where it is situated.  Is that correct?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: That's correct.

MS NHLAYISI: What was the reason for you going to burn these particular shacks?  Could you explain?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Those shacks belonged to IFP members.

MS NHLAYISI: How did you know this?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: We could see them after fought with them, or after we were attacking each other, they would run to those shacks.  And even the same day when we went and burned down those shacks, we just had a fight with them earlier on and then they ran to those shacks.  Therefore we went to those shacks and burned them.  I went there and I entered.  I discovered that these other shacks were quiet.
	And then one particular shack which was at the centre, there were voices coming there, people were talking from that shack, that's when we started shooting towards that shack and then after that we took petrol and a box of match, we poured the petrol around, and then we set the shack alight.

MS NHLAYISI: Are you in a position to say today whether people were injured or killed in that particular incident, or you don't know?

SIPHO JAPTHA MADUNA: Yes, people were injured.  People who were inside, and those shacks were set alight, almost all of them, because it started by one shack and then it went on to the next and the next.

CHAIRPERSON: Were any people killed that day as a result of what you did?  That is the question.